Wittgenstein, Biography, and Religious Identity

What is it about?

Chapter 2: “Wittgenstein, Biography, and Religious Identity” argues that studying Wittgenstein's biography is relevant to understanding his philosophical achievements and shortcomings. For Wittgenstein, philosophy was a personal practice as much as an academic discipline and one can see this practice in action in his life. The fragmentary and enigmatic remarks on religion found in places across his corpus can be better appreciated against the background of Wittgenstein’s life. The purpose of this chapter is to better appreciate the sources of discontinuity between Wittgenstein, who appears to have been alienated and possibly self-loathing, and his philosophy, which contains powerful resources for dismantling the very forces that bewitched him.

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