Ludwig Wittgenstein - A Cultural Point of View: Philosophy in the Darkness of this Time (Ashgate Wittgensteinian Studies)

In the preface to his Philosophical Investigations Ludwig Wittgenstein expresses pessimism about the culture of his time and doubts as to whether his ideas would be understood in such a time:'I make them public with doubtful feelings. It is not impossible that it should fall to the lot of this work, in its poverty and in the darkness of this time, to bring light into one brain or another - but, of course, it is not likely'. In this book William James DeAngelis develops a deeper understanding of Wittgenstein's remark and argues that it is an expression of a significant cultural component in Wittgenstein's later thought which, while latent, is very much intended. DeAngelis focuses on the fascinating connection between Wittgenstein and Oswald Spengler and in particular the acknowledged influence of Spengler's Decline of the West. His book shows in meticulous detail how Spengler's dark conception of an ongoing cultural decline resonated deeply for Wittgenstein and influenced his later work. In so doing, the work takes into account discussions of these matters by major commentators such as Malcolm, Von Wright, Cavell, Winch, and Clack among others. A noteworthy feature of this book is its attempt to link Wittgenstein's cultural concerns with his views on religion and religious language. DeAngelis offers a fresh and original interpretation of the latter. 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The Nature of Spengler’s Influence on Wittgenstein: Possibilities and Caveats 31 i. Wittgenstein’s Rejection of “the Comparative Morphology of Cultures” 32 ii. An Indirect Influence: More on Family Resemblance 33 iii. Another Indirect Influence: Metaphysics as Misconstrued Grammar 34 V. A Direct Spenglerian Influence?: Meaning and Context 39 VI. Final Remarks and a Glimpse Ahead 43 2 Wittgenstein’s Spenglerian Assessment of his Time 46 I. Introduction 46 II. Remarks on Remarks 47 i. The Prefatory Remarks for Philosophical Remarks 47 ii. The Prefatory Remarks: A Spenglerian Account of Cultural Decline 47 iii. The Prefatory Remarks: Beyond Cultural Decline to Civilization 50 III. The Investigations and “The Darkness of this Time”: A Continuation of Spenglerian Attitudes? 55 i. The Question of Continuity 55 ii. The Investigations and the Darkness of this Time 56 iii. Preserving the Investigations for a Better Sort of Reader 56 iv. The Investigations’ Opposition to its Time – Hope for the Next Century? 57 v. Civilization and Culture: Again 58 vi. A Negative Picture of Civilization 60 vii. A Tangent: Wittgenstein’s Uses of First-person Plural Pronouns in the Investigations 61 viii. A Fragment on Art and Technology 63 IV. Concluding Remarks 64 3 Philosophy for a Time of Civilization: Spengler’s Desiderata and the Investigations 66 I. Introduction 66 II. Spengler’s Prescription for a Philosophy of Civilization 67 III. Spengler’s Prescription and Wittgenstein’s Practice: A Striking Agreement 72 IV. Afterword: On What Has Not Yet Been Shown 78 4 The Investigations as a Philosophy of Culture 80 I. Introduction 80 II. The Investigations as a Spenglerian Portrayal of Cultural Decline: Cavell’s Interpretation 81 i. Departures – Philosophical and Cultural 81 ii. Departures from Home: A Loss of Home 85 iii. Externalization 86 iv. Repudiations of Community and Inheritance 88 v. 1) and 2) as Homologous Forms 90 vi. Combating Cultural Decline 91 III. The Investigations as a Philosophy of Culture: More Evocations of Cultural Decline 94 i. Wittgenstein’s Builders: A Question and a Controversy – Rhees and Malcolm 94 ii. Wittgenstein’s Builders: A Cultural Analogy? 102 iii. Private Language: A Philosophical Concern 107 iv. Private Language: A Locus of Cultural Concern? 113 5 Religious Inexpressibility: Continuity and Change from Wittgenstein’s Early to Late Views 116 I. Introduction 116 II. Religious Inexpressibility in Wittgenstein’s Early Thought 117 i. Religious Inexpressibility in the Tractatus 117 ii. Religious Inexpressibility in “A Lecture on Ethics”: The Impossibility of Expressing Ultimate Values 119 iii. Case Studies in Inexpressibility of Absolute Value in “A Lecture on Ethics” 124 iv. The Transition from Ethical Inexpressibility to Religious Inexpressibility in “Lecture” 127 III. The Problem of Religious Expression in the Later Work 129 i. A Weakening of the Earlier View of Religious Expression: A Lesser Form of Pessimism? 129 ii. Two Divergent Tendencies in Wittgenstein’s Later Remarks on Religion 133 iii. A Connection with Wittgenstein’s Later Contextualism 135 iv. A New Sort of Pessimism: A Spenglerian View of Religious Expression? 138 v. Further Support for a Spenglerian Interpretation 139 6 A Religious Viewpoint in Wittgenstein’s Later Writings? Norman Malcolm’s Four Analogies 142 I. Introduction 142 II. Malcolm – A Problem and his Approach 143 III. Malcolm on Wittgenstein’s Religious Life 144 IV. Malcolm’s Four Analogies 146 i. The First Analogy 146 ii. The Second Analogy 147 iii. The Third Analogy 148 iv. The Fourth Analogy 149 V. Winch’s Response: A Fundamental Criticism of Malcolm’s View 150 VI. Winch’s Response: Rebutting Malcolm’s Analogies 153 i. A Basic Strategy 153 ii. Rebutting the First Analogy 154 iii. Rebutting the Second Analogy 155 iv. Rebutting the Fourth Analogy 158 VII. Defending Malcolm’s Third Analogy 159 i. Winch’s Criticism 159 ii. Engelmann on Wittgenstein’s Early Religious Point of View 160 iii. Life’s Problems and Philosophy’s Problems: Wittgenstein’s Approach to Philosophical Problems in the Investigations 164 iv. Malcolm’s Third Analogy and a Contrary Claim in Winch 165 7 Was Wittgenstein a Spenglerian Atheist? 168 I. Wittgenstein as a Spenglerian Atheist – Clack’s Position in Outline 168 II. A Critique of Clack’s Position 170 i. Clack on Wittgenstein’s View of Religious Language and Religion 170 ii. Did Wittgenstein Reject Religion Per Se? 174 iii. Did Wittgenstein Accept Spenglerian Atheism? 177 iv. Did Wittgenstein Accept Spengler’s Ideal of Religion? 184 v. Why the Term “Atheist”? 185 Afterword 194 Bibliography 196 Index 200 A 200 B 200 C 200 D 201 E 201 F 201 G 201 H 201 I 201 J 201 K 201 L 201 M 202 N 202 P 202 R 202 S 203 T 203 V 203 W 203

In the preface to his Philosophical Investigations Ludwig Wittgenstein expresses pessimism about the culture of his time and doubts as to whether his ideas would be understood in such a time: 'I make them public with doubtful feelings. It is not impossible that it should fall to the lot of this work, in its poverty and in the darkness of this time, to bring light into one brain or another - but, of course, it is not likely'.

In this book William James DeAngelis develops a deeper understanding of Wittgenstein's remark and argues that it is an expression of a significant cultural component in Wittgenstein's later thought which, while latent, is very much intended. DeAngelis focuses on the fascinating connection between Wittgenstein and Oswald Spengler and in particular the acknowledged influence of Spengler's Decline of the West. His book shows in meticulous detail how Spengler's dark conception of an ongoing cultural decline resonated deeply for Wittgenstein and influenced his later work. In so doing, the work takes into account discussions of these matters by major commentators such as Malcolm, Von Wright, Cavell, Winch, and Clack among others. A noteworthy feature of this book is its attempt to link Wittgenstein's cultural concerns with his views on religion and religious language. DeAngelis offers a fresh and original interpretation of the latter.

In the preface to his Philosophical Investigations Ludwig Wittgenstein expresses pessimism about the culture of his time and doubts as to whether his work would be understood in such a time: "I make them public with doubtful feelings. It is not impossible that it should fall to the lot of this work, in its poverty and in the darkness of this time, to bring light into one brain or another - but, of course, it is not likely."

In this book William James DeAngelis develops a deeper understanding of Wittgenstein's remark and argues that it is an expression of a significant cultural component in Wittgenstein's later thought which, while latent, is very much intended. DeAngelis focuses on the fascinating connection between Wittgenstein and Oswald Spengler and in particular the acknowledged influence of Spengler's Decline of the West. His book shows in meticulous detail how Spengler's dark conception of an ongoing cultural decline resonated deeply for Wittgenstein and influenced his later work. In so doing, the work takes into account discussions of these matters by major commentators such as Malcolm, Von Wright, Cavell, Winch, and Clack among others. A noteworthy feature of this book is its attempt to link Wittgenstein's cultural concerns with his views on religion and religious language. DeAngelis offers a fresh and original interpretation of the latter.

In the preface to his Philosophical Investigations Ludwig Wittgenstein expresses pessimism about the culture of his time and doubts as to whether his ideas would be understood in such a time: 'I make them public with doubtful feelings. It is not impossible that it should fall to the lot of this work, in its poverty and in the darkness of this time, to bring light into one brain or another - but, of course, it is not likely'. In this book William James DeAngelis develops a deeper understanding of Wittgenstein's remark and argues that it is an expression of a significant cultural component in Wittgenstein's later thought which, while latent, is very much intended. DeAngelis focuses on the fascinating connection between Wittgenstein and Oswald Spengler and in particular the acknowledged influence of Spengler's Decline of the West. His book shows in meticulous detail how Spengler's dark conception of an ongoing cultural decline resonated deeply for Wittgenstein and influenced his later work. In so doing, the work takes into account discussions of these matters by major commentators such as Malcolm, Von Wright, Cavell, Winch, and Clack among others. A noteworthy feature of this book is its attempt to link Wittgenstein's cultural concerns with his views on religion and religious language. DeAngelis offers a fresh and original interpretation of the latter