Wittgenstein and Religion

This monograph examines Ludwig Wittgenstein's profound influence on twentieth-century philosophy of religion, offering both an exposition of Wittgensteinian approaches and a defense of their continued relevance. Phillips traces how Wittgenstein's later philosophy, particularly his concepts of language games and forms of life, revolutionized religious discourse by shifting attention from metaphysical proofs to the grammar of religious language within lived practices.

The work systematically explores how Wittgenstein's method dissolves traditional philosophical problems about God's existence by revealing them as conceptual confusions arising from misunderstandings about how religious language functions. Phillips argues that religious believers are not making quasi-scientific hypotheses about supernatural entities but rather engaging in distinctive forms of life with their own internal logic. This approach challenges both traditional natural theology, which seeks to prove God's existence through rational argument, and reductive naturalism, which dismisses religious language as meaningless or false.

Phillips develops a non-cognitivist interpretation of religious belief, suggesting that statements about God express attitudes, commitments, and ways of seeing rather than factual claims about metaphysical realities. He examines how prayer, worship, and religious rituals constitute their own language games that cannot be evaluated by external criteria borrowed from science or empirical observation. The monograph engages critically with both sympathetic interpreters of Wittgenstein like Rush Rhees and Norman Malcolm, and critics who argue that this approach undermines the reality of religious belief.

A central contribution lies in Phillips's argument that Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion avoids both fideism and reductionism. By attending to the actual use of religious language in believers' lives, philosophers can understand religion without either defending or attacking its truth claims. This methodological neutrality allows for genuine philosophical investigation of religious phenomena without predetermined theological or atheological commitments.

The work addresses objections that Wittgensteinian approaches make religion immune to rational criticism or reduce God to merely human projections. Phillips contends that understanding the grammar of religious discourse actually enables more precise criticism by distinguishing genuine religious expressions from philosophical distortions. His analysis has influenced subsequent debates about religious epistemology, the nature of religious truth, and the relationship between philosophy and theology, establishing Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion as a major alternative to both analytic theology and scientific atheism.