Rules and social community

By reflecting on the notion of rule following, I will draw attention to the way Wittgenstein’s therapeutic method operates, although the real issue I am concerned about is the spirit in which Wittgenstein's remarks should be read. Relying on seminal works by Cavell, Conant and Diamond, I start by clarifying what is possibly meant with the expression therapy. To exemplify my claim I turn to rule following, and to Wittgenstein's idea that rule following is not an interpretation but a practice. I then discuss a number of cases taken from ordinary life (cooking, road traffic), drawing lines of connection between rule following and language learning, and show how language allows, though within limits that competent users are expected to master, for new and unexpected projections.