Page 132 - Cultural Studies Dictionary

LIBERALISM

Nevertheless, as Wittgenstein argues, when it comes to explaining the word game
to others we are likely to show them different games and to say this is what games
are. In a sense, to know what games are is to be able to play games. Thus, while
language-games are rule-bound activities, those rules are not abstract components 109
of language (as in structuralism) but constitutive rules, rules that are such by dint of
their enactment in social practice. The rules of language constitute our pragmatic
understandings of ‘how to go on’ in society.
One of the better known ‘uses’ of Wittgenstein’s concept of the language-game
within cultural studies is that of the postmodern philosopher Lyotard. He argues
that Wittgenstein has shown that there is no unity of language and that languages
are untranslatable and incommensurable. From this follows the celebration of
difference and ‘local’ knowledge regimes. However, Rorty, who is also influenced by
Wittgenstein, argues that we should see language as a practice that utilizes skills so
that, though exact translation of languages is not feasible, we can learn the skills of
language to make cross-cultural communication pragmatically possible.
There are similarities between the concept of différance in the writings of
Derrida and that of language-game in the work of Wittgenstein. For example, both
writers stress the non-representational character of language, the arbitrary
relationship between signs and referents and the contextual character of truth.
However, Wittgenstein more than Derrida underlines the pragmatic and social
character of language. While meaning may formally proliferate in the rarefied world
of texts, this is not so in social practice where meaning is regulated and stabilized
for pragmatic purposes.

Links Anti-essentialism, deconstruction, language, meaning, pragmatism, signs

Liberalism Classical Liberal philosophy is founded on the work of John Locke and J.S.
Mill and involves consideration of the principles of individual freedom of action
and an equality of rights. Here the purpose of government is to protect individual
liberty while not itself transgressing that freedom. Thus Liberalism addresses what
it sees as the inherent tension between the spheres of liberty and authority, between
individual freedom of thought and collective opinion. Thus Liberalism is a political
and cultural philosophy concerned with the balancing act between individual
freedom and the reduction of suffering through community action.
For Liberals, a ‘better’ culture is often taken to be one that fosters individuality
and individual freedom provided that this does not violate the freedom and rights
of others. Thus in the more contemporary formulations of Rawls and Rorty,
Liberalism is also connected to notions of cultural pluralism, diversity and justice.
Here the hope of Liberalism is to find ways for human beings to be freer, less cruel,
more leisured and richer in goods and experiences while trying to maximize
people’s opportunities to live their lives as they see fit. That is, to pursue a private
project founded on their own values and beliefs while not causing suffering to
others.
Within the domain of cultural studies writers have demonstrated a range of
attitudes towards Liberalism. Thus Marxism is generally opposed to the political