A History of Wittgenstein and the Philosophy of Religion

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Why is it important?

Chapter 3: “A History of Wittgenstein and Philosophy of Religion” explores historically how the ideas of “meaning as use,” “language-games,” and “forms of life" were of interest to philosophers of religion in the middle to late twentieth century due to the influence of verificationist tendencies in theories of meaning and austere naturalistic metaphysics. The chapter also traces the development of criticisms of Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion, with special attention given to the work of Kai Nielsen. Critics such as Nielsen have detected an intellectually evasive or protective trend in Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion, and interpretations of Wittgenstein that suggest or propose a strong identification of language-games with religions clearly ought to be left behind.