8 language game theory 4 f. C2T4 Religious Language as a language game. Popper's criticism of Wittgenstein. Meaning is use: Wittgenstein on the limits of language – Philosophy for change. Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889 – 1951) was one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century. Wittgenstein made a major contribution to conversations on language, logic and metaphysics, but also ethics, the way that we should live in the world.
He published two important books: the Tractatus Logico Philosophicus (1921) and the Philosophical Investigations (1953), for which he is best known. These were major contributions to twenty century philosophy of language. Wittgenstein was a difficult character. Those who knew him assumed he was either a madman or a genius. Sometimes a crisis can be productive. Wittgenstein’s early work inspired a generation of logical positivists – critical analytic thinkers who set out to debunk unverifiable ‘pseudostatements’ in an effort to define the limits of meaningful language. Communication, on this model, involves using conventional terms in a way that is recognised by a linguistic community. Jokes are not ephemera. Like this: Like Loading... Wittgenstein and religion. When contemporary atheists criticise religious beliefs, they usually criticise beliefs that only crude religious thinkers embrace.
Or so some people claim. The beliefs of the sophisticated religious believer, it’s suggested, are immune to such assaults. Those making this kind of response often appeal to the later work of Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) – in particular, to remarks he made in Lectures and Conversations on Aesthetics, Psychology and Religious Belief (1967) and Culture and Value (1970), both published posthumously.
Wittgenstein made a number of interesting, if rather cryptic, comments about religious belief in these books, and did seem to suggest that such atheist criticisms miss their mark. What follows is a brief guide to the leading ‘Wittgensteinian’ defences of religious belief, rooted in Wittgenstein’s later work. In Lectures, Wittgenstein said that, as a non-believer, he couldn’t contradict what the religious person believes: I can’t say.
Overview religious language game. A different conversation: Wittgenstein and a new type of atheism. Discussion between religious believers and atheists tends to produce much heat and little light, with the latter often adopting a hostile stance in dismissing the believer’s ideas as irrational and unbefitting of intelligent conversation.
How can we break this cycle? Simon Glendinning has identified in the works of Ludwig Wittgenstein an intriguing passage which opens the path to a different type of atheism. Wittgenstein’s atheist need not see religious claims as irrational and contradictory to their own views. The culture of atheism that is most visible in European societies today is best known for its expressions of outright hostility to, and even contempt for, religion. The basic reason for this is often a conception of reason itself: a conception which affirms a radical opposition between faith and reason, religion and science. Modern atheism can be criticised in turn. If someone said: “Wittgenstein do you believe in this? The text continues: “They might describe the same things.
The Philosophy of Wittgenstein with Bryan Magee (1976) BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Wittgenstein. Melvyn Bragg discusses how Ludwig Wittgenstein, one of the greatest philosophers of the modern age has influenced contemporary culture with his ideas on language.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life, work and legacy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. There is little doubt that he was a towering figure of the twentieth century; on his return to Cambridge in 1929 Maynard Keynes wrote, “Well, God has arrived. I met him on the 5:15 train”.Wittgenstein is credited with being the greatest philosopher of the modern age, a thinker who left not one but two philosophies for his descendents to argue over: The early Wittgenstein said, “the limits of my mind mean the limits of my world”; the later Wittgenstein replied, “If God looked into our minds he would not have been able to see there whom we were speaking of”.
Language was at the heart of both. Wittgenstein stated that his purpose was to finally free humanity from the pointless and neurotic philosophical questing that plagues us all. Wittgenstein & Religion - Sea of Faith. Wittgenstein Ludwig at a Cambridge class. PHILOSOPHY - Ludwig Wittgenstein. BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Ordinary Language Philosophy. F. Language Games.