Religion Within the Limits of Language Alone: Wittgenstein on Philosophy and Religion
Dissertation, University of New South Wales (Australia) (
1996)
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Abstract
Wittgenstein has had an extensive influence in philosophy. In this thesis, I critically examine the way in which his work has been developed within philosophy of religion. In particular, I discuss three controversial themes in the Neo-Wittgensteinian account of the nature of religious language: their claim that religious language is not fact-stating, referential or metaphysical. My aim is to show that the position developed by followers of Wittgenstein should not be understood as Wittgenstein's own because it rests on a misunderstanding of what he considered to be the nature and limits of philosophy. There are, therefore, two distinct parts to the thesis. In the first, I provide an interpretation of Wittgenstein's view on the nature and limits of philosophy; in the second, I offer a critique of the Neo-Wittgensteinian account of the nature of religious language in the light of my reading of Wittgenstein