The Problem of Religious Language 'Look at it this way' (Wittgenstein)

Sophia 51 (4):479-493 (2012)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This essay is critical of some of the attempts made to solve problems of meaning in religious languages, but remains open-minded about them and accepts the Wittgensteinian invitation to look at their dissolution by way of the experiences of meaning and the aspects of language on which they rely. I have argued that there were and are no lasting problems with religious language per se and that the force and meaning of what is said in using religious language over time and circumstance may vary even to the point of having to retrieve concepts feared lost. We may in addition give ourselves our own personal interpretations by which we want to live and discuss with those in our space of reasons where good conversation is ever an inexhaustible provision on the way to enlightened understanding. Furthermore, we are not merely passive recipients of the meanings and significance of the languages we know. Finally, much of the meaning of religious language comes with the experience of being struck again by what has always been loved and by new aspects of, or different ways of taking, what is presented

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Religious language as poetry: Heidegger's challenge.Anna Strhan - 2011 - Heythrop Journal 52 (6):926-938.
Religious language.Michael Scott - 2010 - Philosophy Compass 5 (6):505-515.
Religion and Bioethics: Can We Talk? [REVIEW]William E. Stempsey - 2011 - Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 8 (4):339-350.
Wittgenstein and the possibility of discourse.Rush Rhees - 1998 - New York: Cambridge University Press. Edited by D. Z. Phillips.
Metaphysics and religious language.Frank Brown Dilley - 1964 - New York,: Columbia University Press.
Wittgenstein's Philosophical investigations: a critical guide.Arif Ahmed (ed.) - 2010 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
An Oath of Silence.Charles W. Johnson - 1991 - Philosophy and Theology 5 (4):283-295.

Analytics

Added to PP
2013-03-10

Downloads
89 (#175,831)

6 months
1 (#1,042,085)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references