This book 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.
Author(s): William J. Deangelis
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 204
Contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 12
Introduction – Wittgenstein and “The Darkness of this Time”......Page 16
I. Introduction......Page 22
i. The Comparative Morphology of Cultures......Page 23
ii. A Principle of Cultural Insularity......Page 24
iii. An Assessment of Contemporary Civilization......Page 26
III. The Nature of the Influence: Examining Some Suggestions......Page 27
i. Von Wright and Family Resemblances......Page 28
ii. Von Wright: A Disease of Culture......Page 29
iii. Cavell and the Natural Decline of Culture......Page 30
IV. The Nature of Spengler’s Influence on Wittgenstein: Possibilities and Caveats......Page 31
i. Wittgenstein’s Rejection of “the Comparative Morphology of Cultures”......Page 32
ii. An Indirect Influence: More on Family Resemblance......Page 33
iii. Another Indirect Influence: Metaphysics as Misconstrued Grammar......Page 34
V. A Direct Spenglerian Influence?: Meaning and Context......Page 39
VI. Final Remarks and a Glimpse Ahead......Page 43
I. Introduction......Page 46
ii. The Prefatory Remarks: A Spenglerian Account of Cultural Decline......Page 47
iii. The Prefatory Remarks: Beyond Cultural Decline to Civilization......Page 50
i. The Question of Continuity......Page 55
iii. Preserving the Investigations for a Better Sort of Reader......Page 56
iv. The Investigations’ Opposition to its Time – Hope for the Next Century?......Page 57
v. Civilization and Culture: Again......Page 58
vi. A Negative Picture of Civilization......Page 60
vii. A Tangent: Wittgenstein’s Uses of First-person Plural Pronouns in the Investigations......Page 61
viii. A Fragment on Art and Technology......Page 63
IV. Concluding Remarks......Page 64
I. Introduction......Page 66
II. Spengler’s Prescription for a Philosophy of Civilization......Page 67
III. Spengler’s Prescription and Wittgenstein’s Practice: A Striking Agreement......Page 72
IV. Afterword: On What Has Not Yet Been Shown......Page 78
I. Introduction......Page 80
i. Departures – Philosophical and Cultural......Page 81
ii. Departures from Home: A Loss of Home......Page 85
iii. Externalization......Page 86
iv. Repudiations of Community and Inheritance......Page 88
v. 1) and 2) as Homologous Forms......Page 90
vi. Combating Cultural Decline......Page 91
i. Wittgenstein’s Builders: A Question and a Controversy – Rhees and Malcolm......Page 94
ii. Wittgenstein’s Builders: A Cultural Analogy?......Page 102
iii. Private Language: A Philosophical Concern......Page 107
iv. Private Language: A Locus of Cultural Concern?......Page 113
I. Introduction......Page 116
i. Religious Inexpressibility in the Tractatus......Page 117
ii. Religious Inexpressibility in “A Lecture on Ethics”: The Impossibility of Expressing Ultimate Values......Page 119
iii. Case Studies in Inexpressibility of Absolute Value in “A Lecture on Ethics”......Page 124
iv. The Transition from Ethical Inexpressibility to Religious Inexpressibility in “Lecture”......Page 127
i. A Weakening of the Earlier View of Religious Expression: A Lesser Form of Pessimism?......Page 129
ii. Two Divergent Tendencies in Wittgenstein’s Later Remarks on Religion......Page 133
iii. A Connection with Wittgenstein’s Later Contextualism......Page 135
iv. A New Sort of Pessimism: A Spenglerian View of Religious Expression?......Page 138
v. Further Support for a Spenglerian Interpretation......Page 139
I. Introduction......Page 142
II. Malcolm – A Problem and his Approach......Page 143
III. Malcolm on Wittgenstein’s Religious Life......Page 144
i. The First Analogy......Page 146
ii. The Second Analogy......Page 147
iii. The Third Analogy......Page 148
iv. The Fourth Analogy......Page 149
V. Winch’s Response: A Fundamental Criticism of Malcolm’s View......Page 150
i. A Basic Strategy......Page 153
ii. Rebutting the First Analogy......Page 154
iii. Rebutting the Second Analogy......Page 155
iv. Rebutting the Fourth Analogy......Page 158
i. Winch’s Criticism......Page 159
ii. Engelmann on Wittgenstein’s Early Religious Point of View......Page 160
iii. Life’s Problems and Philosophy’s Problems: Wittgenstein’s Approach to Philosophical Problems in the Investigations......Page 164
iv. Malcolm’s Third Analogy and a Contrary Claim in Winch......Page 165
I. Wittgenstein as a Spenglerian Atheist – Clack’s Position in Outline......Page 168
i. Clack on Wittgenstein’s View of Religious Language and Religion......Page 170
ii. Did Wittgenstein Reject Religion Per Se?......Page 174
iii. Did Wittgenstein Accept Spenglerian Atheism?......Page 177
iv. Did Wittgenstein Accept Spengler’s Ideal of Religion?......Page 184
v. Why the Term “Atheist”?......Page 185
Afterword......Page 194
Bibliography......Page 196
C......Page 200
L......Page 201
R......Page 202
W......Page 203
