The Meaning of a Word Is Its Use in the Language

The Meaning of a Word Is Its Use in the Language (2010) Medium: Installation / wood, vinyl lettering Dimensions: 50 × 50 × 50 cm.
The Meaning of a Word Is Its Use in the Language (2010)
Medium: Installation / wood, vinyl lettering
Dimensions: 50 × 50 × 50 cm.
The Meaning of a Word Is Its Use in the Language (2010) Medium: Print on paper Dimensions: 47 × 30 cm.
The Meaning of a Word Is Its Use in the Language (2010)
Medium: Print on paper
Dimensions: 47 × 30 cm.
The Meaning of a Word Is Its Use in the Language (2010) rendering.
The Meaning of a Word Is Its Use in the Language (2010) rendering.
The Meaning of a Word Is Its Use in the Language (2010) rendering.
The Meaning of a Word Is Its Use in the Language (2010) rendering.
In 2017 The Meaning of a Word Is its Use in the Language was featured in The House that Pinterest Built book by Diane Keaton.
In 2017 The Meaning of a Word Is its Use in the Language was featured in The House that Pinterest Built book by Diane Keaton.

The Meaning of a Word Is Its Use in the Language (2010) is a text-based object, a piece of multipurpose 50 × 50 × 50 cm wooden furniture (a chair, a table, a shelf, a box) with black lettering. Its title refers to a quote by Ludwig Wittgenstein: “For a large class of cases — though not for all — in which we employ the word ‘meaning’ it can be defined thus: the meaning of a word is its use in the language” (PI 43).

The installation is part of What Is Philosophy series of tongue-in-cheek interpretations of selected concepts in analytic philosophy.

In 2017 the work was featured in The House that Pinterest Built book by Diane Keaton.