Wittgenstein, Last Judgement and German Aeroplanes. The Concept of Distance in Lectures on Religious Belief Cover Image

Wittgenstein, Sąd Ostateczny i niemieckie samoloty. Pojęcie dystansu w Wykładach o wierze
Wittgenstein, Last Judgement and German Aeroplanes. The Concept of Distance in Lectures on Religious Belief

Author(s): Łukasz Borowiecki
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: Wittgenstein Ludwig; Lectures on Religious Belief; religious belief; faith; religious language

Summary/Abstract: This paper investigates different accounts of the distance between religious and nonreligious persons, postulated by Wittgenstein in his Lectures on Religious Belief: the hypothesis that religious and nonreligious language is incommensurable, the supposition about “ordinary” and “extraordinary” uses of word “belief,” and the non-cognitive approach to religious language. I argue (after Cora Diamond) that none of these accounts can be regarded as sufficient, because the text of Lectures does not contain any general theory of disagreement between believer and nonbeliever. Instead of that, Wittgenstein offers a picture of several different relationships that may occur between them.

  • Issue Year: 46/2013
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 95–105
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: Polish