Wittgenstein: A Religious Point of View?

Ludwig Wittgenstein once said to a friend, "I am not a religious man: but I cannot help seeing every problem from a religious point of view." This puzzling, but intriguing remark is the focus of Norman Malcolm's essay, which forms the centerpiece of this three-part work. Malcolm first draws together a large and illuminating collection of remarks made by Wittgenstein at various stages of his life and in many different contexts that express his attitude toward religion. He discusses some of the ways in which Wittgenstein was drawn to religious modes of thinking and speculates concerning the barriers which kept him from full religious commitment. With great vigor he discusses what be considers the most important features of Wittgenstein's philosophical work and the nature of and reasons for the changes which took place in his thinking between Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigation. He concludes by offering four analogies between Wittgenstein's philosophical methods and his religions attitudes generally. Peter Winch, who opens the volume with an introduction that places Malcolm's essay in the context of his other writings, concludes with a substantial critique of the proposed analogies and suggests an alternative reading of the "spiritual" dimension in Wittgenstein's inquiries.

The late Norman Malcolm was the author of many books, including Wittgenstein: A Religious Point of View? also from Cornell. Malcolm spent the larger part of his career as a distinguished member of Cornell University's Sage School of Philosophy.