Ludwig Wittgenstein did not explicitly use the term "form of life" (German: Lebensform) as a systematically defined concept, but it is a significant idea in his later philosophy, particularly in Philosophical Investigations (1953). The term captures the shared, practical, and cultural context that underpins human activities, language, and meaning. Below is a concise explanation of what Wittgenstein meant by "form of life":

Meaning of "Form of Life"

For Wittgenstein, a form of life refers to the shared patterns of behavior, practices, and ways of living within a community that give language and actions their meaning. It is the background of human activities—social, cultural, and practical—that shapes how we use language and understand the world. Language, for Wittgenstein, is not just a set of abstract rules but is embedded in the lived practices of a community.

Key points about "form of life":

1. Context for Language: Language games (the ways we use language in specific contexts) are meaningful only within a form of life. For example, the word "pain" has meaning because of the shared human practices of expressing, responding to, and understanding pain in a community.
2. Shared Practices: A form of life encompasses customs, habits, institutions, and activities that humans engage in together, like greeting, promising, or playing games.
3. Non-Theoretical Foundation: Wittgenstein suggests that forms of life are not something we can fully justify or explain theoretically; they are simply given as the bedrock of our understanding. As he writes in Philosophical Investigations (§241): “So you are saying that human agreement decides what is true and what is false?—It is what human beings say that is true and false; and they agree in the language they use. That is not agreement in opinions but in form of life.”
4. Diversity of Forms: Different communities or cultures may have different forms of life, leading to variations in how language is used or what counts as meaningful.

Example

Consider the practice of "promising." The concept of a promise only makes sense within a form of life where people share expectations about trust, obligation, and social interactions. If you were in a community where no one valued or understood the concept of keeping a promise, the word "promise" would lose its meaning.

Wittgenstein’s Key Insight

The form of life is the ultimate foundation for meaning and understanding. We cannot step outside our forms of life to justify or critique them in absolute terms; they are the conditions that make language and thought possible. As Wittgenstein puts it in Philosophical Investigations (§19): “To imagine a language means to imagine a form of life.”

Why It Matters

The idea of a form of life shifts philosophy away from abstract theorizing toward the concrete, lived practices of human beings. It emphasizes that meaning is not universal or detached but deeply tied to how we live together.