ABSTRACT
This chapter enquires how such defences are supposed to work, and what they actually prove; but first we must see what sort of attack they are intended to repulse; what is this scepticism, which transcendental arguers will defend us all against? ‘Language-game’ is a made-up term of art, suggesting an analogy which is striking in places and fairly weak at other points. One suggestion is to carve linguistic activities up into distinct segments which are then declared ‘autonomous’. Every doubt is based on some previous knowledge or belief, by which to do the questioning. The doubt which Descartes proposed was to apply to each belief in turn but not to all of them at once. A philosopher anxious for an audience will sometimes suggest that his philosophic doubts could undermine all our ordinary purposes. Doubt is the reagent which reveals their character, for indubitables actually give off a contradiction when experimentally denied.
