Abstract

In this paper I argue that the dilemma"s of cultural incommensurability that confront both the universalist and the relativist can be avoided by taking seriously Wittgenstein's „übersichtliche Darstellung” („perspicuous representation”), as it shows itself in the coherent whole of Wittgenstein's eludictions of „form of life” (Lebensform), which pervade his entire work. I argue that human utterances ought to be understood as the local expression of formal patterns common to all human „forms of life”. Three internal relations can be discerned in these formal patterns: that between language use and forms of life; that between beliefs and world view; that between the private and the public. Here „internal relation” should be understood along the lines of Wittgenstein's „the meaning (of a rule, a concept) is manifest in the use (the action, the utterance)”, implying that such relations are present in the language use and the behaviour of participants in any form of life. Therefore each participant in a form of life can understand and be understood by a participant in any other form of life