Wittgenstein's (Misunderstood) Religious Thought

by Earl Stanley B. Fronda

Wittgenstein's religious thought is not well understood. And Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion is charged with fideism, religious non-realism, and even crypto-atheism. These charges, however, are borne of misunderstandings that are a result of the critics' being oblivious of apophatic theology. This book is intended to help clear some of those misunderstandings and neutralize the above-mentioned charges. It argues that Wittgenstein's religious thought shares kinship with the thought of apophaticists in Christendom such as the Pseudo-Dionysius and St. Thomas Aquinas. What appear to be fideism, non-realism, or crypto-atheism to the critics appear differently to those who see Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion from the apophaticists' point of view--Wittgenstein's religious point of view.

264 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2010

Reviews

[Ali Reda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking closely at Wittgenstein’s early thought one can glean what seems to be a theological underpinning that in all appearance is mystical theology (also known as negative theology, or apophatic theology),a theology is not unlike the Pseudo-Dionysian theology in that (a) God Is regarded as not a being—God is Nothing: the Pseudo-Dionysian theology says it, but Wittgenstein just shows it by tantalizingly identifying God with certain transcendental concepts but not identifying God as any of them; (b) negative theology is placed on a pre-eminent position over affirmative theology to evince a stronger emphasis on the transcendence of God over human comprehensibility of God; (c) statements about God have a stretched sense—i.e. are literally nonsense,and transcend even the so-called laws of thought—and they ought tobe so owing to the wholly-otherness of God, even if, nonetheless such statements necessarily have to be made for spiritual purposes as they are conveyors of the transcendent to the human spirit and the human spirit to the transcendent; (d) it is given to paradoxical discourse as aresult of running against the limits of expression of thought, and (e)in it can be found an advocacy of apophatism, i.e. the highest spiritual attainment is that which only calls for a resounding S.I.L.E.N.C.E…