Wittgenstein: A Religious Point of View?

Description

'I am not a religious man; but I cannot help seeing every problem from a religious point of vew.' - Ludwig Wittgenstein. Such were Wittgenstein's words to his friend Drury. This essay is the last work by the distinguished philosopher Norman Malcolm, before his death in the summer of 1990. Malcolm first draws together a large and illuminating collection of remarks made by Wittgenstein at various stages of his life and in many different contexts, which are expressive of his attitude to religion. He discusses both some of the ways in which Wittgenstein was drawn to religious ways of thinking and also speculates concerning the barriers which stayed him from full religious commitment. Malcolm connects these barriers with Wittgenstein's commitment to philopsophy. He discusses with great vigour what he takes to be the most important features of Wittgestein's philosophical work and the nature of and reasons for the changes which took place in his thinking between Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigations . He highlights those features that he takes to be most relevant to Wittgenstein's attitude to religion. He proposes that Wittgenstein saw an analogy between religious thinking and his own thinking about philosophical questions and the book ends with an attempt to substantiate this and describe the nature of this 'analogy'. Malcolm's essay is followed by a critical discussion by Peter Winch, which raises questions about Malcolm's interpretation of Wittgenstein's philosophy and also about his account of the relation between Wittgenstein's philosophy and attitude to religion.