Abstract
The usual view is that the role of rules within human thought is marginal. Thinking, so the story goes, is a process that is essentially free, non-mechanical and creative - and hence governed by no rules.
Moreover, it is often held that it is precisely the absence of rules that makes of human thinking what it is and what makes the principal difference between man and machine. In a sharp contrast to this, Wittgenstein claims that in fact we cannot trespass on the rules of logic - that we cannot think so that it would contradict logical rules.
How could Wittgenstein say something that sounds so obviously awkward? In this lecture I want to discuss the role played by rules within thought from a viewpoint slightly different from the usual one. I do not think there are rules which would generally direct our thought processes; however, I am convinced that a certain kind of rules plays a truly key role from the viewpoint of thought - they are rules that constitute the 'space of meanings', on which our, human