Wittgenstein on Ethics and Religious Belief

The ethical and religious views of an influential philosopherThe twentieth century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein is perhaps best known for his works related to logic and language. Wittgenstein on Ethics and Religious Belief offers insight into the philosopher's thoughts on value in ethics and religion. Barrett shares how Wittgenstein's views of ethics and religion are in keeping, at least to some extent, with more traditional theological and philosophical beliefs. The author maintains that the philosopher considered it highly important to relate his thoughts on the two interwoven topics.

Acknowledgements vi Abbreviations vii Preface viii Part I: The Earlier Wittgenstein 1 1 The Sayable and Unsayable 3 2 Ethics 27 3 The Ethical Will 53 4 The Mystical 71 5 God 91 Part II: The Later Wittgenstein 109 6 Language-games and Forms of Life 111 7 Relativism 145 8 Religious Discourse 163 9 The Grounding of Religious Belief 178 10 The Beliefs of Primitive Peoples 208 11 Wittgenstein on Predestination 219 12 Whatever Happened to Ethics? 227 13 Conclusion 249 Notes 269 Bibliography 271 Index 277