Roger Albritton - On Wittgenstein’s Use of the Term ‘Criterion’
● A criterion for so-and-so’s being the case was to be something by which one might know
that it was the case
○ a criterion of having a toothache is a phenomenon by which one would
be justified (under certain circumstances) to say that a man had a toothache
■ hence it is a phenomenon by which we may know that a
man has a toothache, though we can be justified in saying that we know even if
we don’t know, because it isn’t true
■ a man behaves in this way always or almost always
because he has a toothache
■ for W, it is a necessary truth that anyone who witnesses
the man behaving in this manner is justified in saying that he has a toothache
Postscript
● If a kind of behaviour is a criterion of having a toothache, it is part of the use, the
grammar of the word toothache that in some circumstances another person who so behaves may
be said to have a toothache
○ this is a matter of convention/definition, but not one of
necessity/entailment
● A criterion for so-and-so’s being the case was to be something by which one might know
that it was the case
○ a criterion of having a toothache is a phenomenon by which one would
be justified (under certain circumstances) to say that a man had a toothache
■ hence it is a phenomenon by which we may know that a
man has a toothache, though we can be justified in saying that we know even if
we don’t know, because it isn’t true
■ a man behaves in this way always or almost always
because he has a toothache
■ for W, it is a necessary truth that anyone who witnesses
the man behaving in this manner is justified in saying that he has a toothache
Postscript
● If a kind of behaviour is a criterion of having a toothache, it is part of the use, the
grammar of the word toothache that in some circumstances another person who so behaves may
be said to have a toothache
○ this is a matter of convention/definition, but not one of
necessity/entailment
