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Int J Philos Relig (2007) 61:5155
DOI 10.1007/s11153-006-9108-3
BOOK REVIEW
Richard Amesbury
Published online: 25 January 2007 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007
The cover of this volume features photos of its principal contributorsthe preeminent Wittgensteinian philosopher of religion D.Z. Phillips and the well-known atheistic philosopher Kai Nielsenjuxtaposed as if in anticipation of a confrontation of apocalyptic proportions. That and the question mark in its title suggest a contest between Wittgensteinian deism and its criticsa latter-day clash between faith and reason. But as the old saying goes, you cant judge a book by its cover. For as it happens, Wittgensteinian deista term coined by Nielsen nearly 40 years agois not a label that Phillips accepts. Indeed, it seems that no one who uses the termwith its connotations of irrationalism and religious conservatismhas ever claimed to be one. Thus, contrary to what one might initially expect, the debate between Nielsen and Phillipswhile titanicis not over the validity of this way of thinking, but about whether it is a way of thinking of which Wittgensteinian philosophers of religion are in fact guilty.
Divided into four parts, the volume brings together essays from a recent conference at Claremont Graduate University, as well as previously published papers by Nielsen and Phillips. Part One, entitled Wittgensteinian Fideism?196789, examines the origins of the term and the ensuing debate over its application. This section begins with Nielsens essay Wittgensteinian Fideism (which rst appeared in the July 1967 issue of Philosophy), in which he coined the phrase. The essay was written prior to the publication in English of Wittgensteins Lectures on Religious Belief (1967), Remarks on Frazers Golden Bough (1979), and Culture and Value (1980)which helps to explain Nielsens otherwise curious remark, in the essays opening line, that Wittgenstein did not write on the philosophy of religion (21). However, Nielsen goes on to suggest that certain strands of his later thought readily lend themselves to deistic interpretation, and that this is in fact how they have been interpreted
R. Amesbury (B)
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Valdosta State University, 1500 N Patterson St., Valdosta, GA 31698, USAe-mail: [email protected]
Kai Nielsen and D.Z. Phillips, Wittgensteinian Fideism? SCM Press, London, 2005, 383 pages. Pb 35
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