Form(s) Of Life

Abstract

That people understand one another and themselves is due to their common
participation in certain forms, patterns, modes, ways, or forms of life. Growing up
is growing into a form of life: an open-ended set of contextualised ways and patterns
of acting and speaking. Form(s) of life refers to the complex of natural and cultural
circumstances which are presupposed in using language and in any particular
understanding of the world. It is that which makes meaning in a community
possible.