Wittgenstein and the epistemology of religion / edited by Duncan Pritchard, Nuno Venturinha.
| Other author | Pritchard, Duncan, editor, contributor. |
| Other author | Venturinha, Nuno, editor, contributor. |
| Other author | John Wiley & Sons, publisher. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication | Hoboken, New Jersey : Wiley Blackwell, [2026] |
| Copyright Date | ©2026 |
| Description | xviii, 344 pages ; illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Introduction: Removing Misconceptions / Nuno Venturinha and Duncan Pritchard -- Part I. Beyond Cognitivism and Non-Cognitivism. -- Wittgenstein on Religious Faith and Beauty / Hanne Appelqvist -- No Gaseous Vertebrates: Wittgenstein's 'Third Way' / Genia Schönbaumsfeld -- Part II. From Fideism to Quasi-Fideism. -- Was Wittgenstein a Fideist? / Gordon Graham -- 'Undermining Reason': Logic, Exemplarity and Religious Belief / Edward Guetti -- The Ghost of the Tractatus: Fideism, Scepticism and 'Hinge' Epistemology / Michael Williams -- Honest Doubt: Quasi-Fideism and Epistemic Vertigo / Duncan Pritchard -- Part III. Anthropological and Ethnological Approaches. -- Wittgenstein on Religion as a Form of Life: From a 'Jamesian Type' to Remarks on Frazer / Mauro Engelmann and Juliet Floyd -- Understanding Other Languages, Understanding (Other) Religion / Alois Pichler -- Shall We Dance? A Non-Intellectualist Approach to Human Practices / Julia Tanney -- Part IV. Context over Scientism. -- Wittgenstein on Religion / Paul Horwich -- The Concept of Belief in Comparative Religious Perspective / Thomas D. Carroll -- On Certainty and Religion: A Prolegomenon / Nuno Venturinha -- Part V. Evidentialism and Non-Evidentialism off the Fence. -- Epistemology and Freedom of Religion: Locke and Wittgenstein / Gorazd Andrejč -- Wittgenstein and the ABCs of Religious Epistemics / Guy Axtell. |
| Abstract | "Wittgenstein and the Epistemology of Religion is divided into five parts, each of which addresses key themes essential to understanding Wittgenstein's view of religious phenomena from an epistemological standpoint. The rationale behind this structure was to bring together kindred perspectives explored from different angles, as well as divergent or even opposing viewpoints, in order to offer the reader - within a field characterized by inevitable disagreements - a coherent and accessible snapshot of the principal positions. Wittgenstein was consistently critical of the attempts to formulate definite 'theses' concerning the philosophical topics that preoccupied him. In a remark penned on 18 December 1948, he wrote in English : 'Philosophy serves to remove misconceptions.' He then wrote parenthetically in German : 'The role of philosophy in thinking about religion.' His primary aim was precisely to dissolve the conceptual confusions that obscure our grasp of things. For this purpose, he maintained that a descriptive approach was preferable to a theoretical one, as the former allows insights to emerge without being shaped from the outset by explanatory or interpretative frameworks. Naturally, any description inherently involves a degree of explanation or interpretation, but reorienting the inquiry in this way was central to Wittgenstein's effort to avoid dogmatism. This is particularly relevant in a domain such as religion, where a one-sided stance can hinder arguments from remaining philosophically compelling. Thus, this volume is a genuinely Wittgensteinian exercise in assembling descriptions of religious language-games and practices, with the intention of forming in the reader a composite picture that transcends the individual perspectives presented in each chapter."-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Issued in other form | Online version http://id.loc.gov/entities/relationships/onlineversion Wittgenstein and the epistemology of religion Hoboken, New Jersey : Wiley, [2026] 9781394360826 |
| LCCN | 2025034986 |
| ISBN | 9781394360802 |
| ISBN | 1394360800 (hardcover) |
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| ISBN | (pdf) |
| ISBN | (epub) |
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