Playing Language Games with BB8

Abstract

This chapter brings together the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the pop culture phenomenon Star Wars.

Wittgenstein’s philosophical writings, especially in the later part of his career, explore how language works, the relationship of communities to language (particularly the need for language to be communal and not private) and how human language is shaped by our ‘form of life’, what it is to be human.

My pop culture reference, Star Wars, is a long-running series of extremely popular science fiction and/or fantasy films. Several ‘pop culture and philosophy’ volumes have already focussed on Star Wars, and it is ideal for my purpose because it presents a range of scenarios in which humans seek to communicate, and sometimes succeed in communicating, with people whose lives and bodily forms are very different.

This explainer could be used in a variety of fields—as a very basic introduction for philosophy students who will later explore Wittgenstein in more detail, as a thought-provoking exercise for film, media studies or literature students who are considering the relationship of science fiction to our self-understandings, or as a quick way to grasp Wittgenstein’s ideas about language for students of linguistics, media studies, social work, medical ethics, science communication or other fields where language and communication are important but philosophy is not the main focus.