Email RIS file
Bookmark
Report an Issue

Wittgenstein, religion and ethics : new perspectives from philosophy and theology / edited by Mikel Burley

Published
London ; New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2018.
Physical Description
1 online resource
Additional Creators
Burley, Mikel, 1972-
Access Online

Availability

I Want It
I Want It

Finding items...

Contents
Cover page; Halftitle page; Series page; Title page; Copyright page; Dedication; Contents; Notes on Contributors; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Introduction; From passing over in silence to the elucidation of grammar; Thinking about religion and ethics in Wittgenstein's wake; Summary of chapters; Notes; 1 The Early Wittgenstein on Ethical Religiousness as a Dispositional Attitude; The Transcendental Reading; The Dispositional Reading; Notes; 2 'The Problem of Life'; Introduction: The personal and the universal; The problem of Wittgenstein's life: The insidious poison of anxiety, Moving towards the universal problem of life: From anxiety over philosophical work to anxiety over everything; Is life really as insecure as all that? And is its insecurity really significant enough to be worthy of such great anxiety?; Conclusion: The difficulty of acknowledging the problem; Notes; 3 Wittgenstein and the Study of Religion; The 'Wittgensteinian fideism' debate; Rejecting and affirming Wittgensteinian fideism; Wittgenstein's naturalism; The natural and the religious; Concluding remarks; Notes; 4 Wittgenstein, Kierkegaard and Chalcedon; Wittgenstein, ethics and aesthetics, Wittgenstein, Christian belief and Kierkegaard; Chalcedon and the grammar of 'God'; Notes; 5 On the Very Idea of a Theodicy; A critique of the anthropomorphic view; God as moral consequentialist; An alternative conception: Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein; Conclusion; Notes; 6 Wittgenstein, Analogy and Religion in Mulhall's The Great Riddle; Nonsense and its uses; Analogy and projectibility; Theology and philosophy; Notes; 7 Riddles, Nonsense and Religious Language; Absolute value, riddles and great riddles; Silence speaks: Three glances at the 2013 Gifford Lectures; Notes, 8 Wittgenstein and the Distinctiveness of Religious Language; The face value theory of religious language; Challenging the face value theory; Wittgenstein on religion; Wittgenstein and the opposition; Conclusion; Notes; 9 Number and Transcendence; Number, logic and reality; Numerical Platonism; Number and sign; The strange numerical kinship of Wittgenstein with Plato; Infinity and calculation; Platonizing Cantor, rendering Wittgenstein realist; Wittgenstein and Aristotle: Infinity and motion; Cantor versus Wittgenstein's Fregeanism, and From number to the divine, from motion to metaphysics: Against Wittgenstein's transcendentalism; Notes; 10 What Have I Done?; Double effect and the limits of negative responsibility; The publicity of the mental; What intention isn't; Against closeness; Intention and convention; Intention, convention and some familiar old chestnuts; Notes; 11 Wittgenstein and the Value of Clarity; Wittgenstein against reduction; Examples of blurring distinctions; Orwell versus vagueness; Williams on power; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index
Summary
"Ludwig Wittgenstein was an outstanding 20th-century philosopher whose influence has reverberated throughout not only philosophy but also numerous other areas of inquiry, including theology and the study of religions. Exemplifying how Wittgenstein's thought can be engaged with both sympathetically and critically, Wittgenstein, Religion and Ethics pushes forward our thinking about religion and ethics and their place in the modern world. Bringing Wittgenstein's ideas into productive dialogue with several other important thinkers, including Elizabeth Anscombe, St Thomas Aquinas, Georg Cantor, S ren Kierkegaard and George Orwell, this collection fosters a highly informative picture of how different strands of contemporary and historical thought intersect and bear upon one another. Chapters are written by leading scholars in the field and tackle current debates concerning religious and ethical matters, with particular attention to the nature of religious language. This is a substantial contribution to religion and ethics, demonstrating the significance of Wittgenstein's ideas for these and related subjects."--Bloomsbury Publishing.
Subject(s)
ISBN
9781350050235 (electronic bk.)
1350050237 (electronic bk.)
9781350050228 (electronic bk.)
1350050229 (electronic bk.)
9781350050211 (hardback)
1350050210 (hardback)
Bibliography Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
View MARC record | catkey: 43280018