Reviews for Wittgenstein and religion

The average rating for Wittgenstein and religion based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-11-22 00:00:00 Francesca Serale The essays contained in this anthology is Phillips's more mature views on Wittgenstein, especially in light of (misleading criticisms) that Phillips is advocating for fideism. I think his discussions on primitive people and religious belief is a good source trying to understand Wittgenstein's relation to philosophy of religion and religious concept formation. I think this book is a must read (unless one has read Phillips's book Religion and Understanding).

Review # 2 was written on 2010-09-06 00:00:00 David Rockey This is a really nice introduction to Wittgenstein, with particular attention to the religious dimensions of his thought. Especially the first chapter, which focusses on Wittgenstein's ed. book Culture and Value, is of much value. It mostly focusses on Wittgenstein's later work though. As Pierre Hadot already said: Wittgenstein's later work is less interesting than the Tractatus, because Wittgenstein at some point stopped seeing philosophy as a spiritual exercise. I think it would have been interesting if Malcolm would have payed more attention to the Tractatus. The Tractatus ends in a kind of mysticism that seems to me also deeply religious. Indeed, Wittgenstein explicitly says in T. 4.112. that philosophy is an activity and not a set of doctrines. That is to say, whereas his later work is only able to evaluate religion from a third person point of view, the tractatus seems to be also open to a first person religious perspective. Either way, I enjoyed Malcom's book (and, not to forget, Peter Winch's afterword)!