Wittgensteinian Realms of Religious Beliefs, Values and Metaphysics

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Most of the essays contained in this anthology are revised versions of the papers presented either in the 2nd Wittgenstein Conference at Manipur University, Imphal or in the 3rd Wittgenstein Conference at IIT Bombay held during 2017 and 2018 respectively. As both the conferences were related to the philosophical ideas which had family resemblances among themselves, it was decided to publish a single volume which could contain insightful ideas of both the conferences.

I'm grateful to the organisers of these conferences of Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosophical Society (LWPS) - Dr. Biswanath Sharma and Dr. Ratikanta Panda. These conferences would not have been successful without the participants' academic zeal. Therefore, I'm thankful to all of them for their participation. I'm grateful to the Vice Chancellor, Manipur University for inviting LWPS to organise the conference as well as to the Director, IIT Bombay for granting permission to hold the 3rd Wittgenstein Conference.

The Indian Council of Philosophical Research, New Delhi had provided financial assistance to the Department of Philosophy, Manipur University for organising the 2nd Wittgenstein Conference. On behalf of Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosophical Society, I extend my sincere thanks to all the office bearers of the council for their support.

Dr. Lalruatfela has been a constant source of cooperation in arranging, editing, proofreading etc. I'm personally grateful to him for his kindness and academic passion in the area of the philosophy of Wittgenstein as it would not have been possible for me to do all the task single-handedly.

I am grateful to all the members of LWPS as well as to all the persons related to the conferences. I hope that these essays will infuse new philosophical consciousness in the world in general and in India in particular.

This anthology contains eighteen essays which are divided into three sections: (1) Religious Beliefs, Wittgensteinian Fideism, Religious Pluralism, and Cultural.

Debates, (II) Absolute Value, Ethics, Aesthetics, Architecture, and (III) Subjectivism, Solipsism, Metaphysics, and Hermeneutics. The first section contains eight essays which could further be delineated as dealing with issues such as being religious, nature of a religious belief as different from a superstitious belief, religious inexpressibility, issues in Wittgensteinian fideism, resemblances between the notions of the religious beliefs of Wittgenstein and Kant, and reflections on the recent issues such as religious pluralism, intercultural debates and new atheism in the Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion.

Bijoy H. Boruah delivered the presidential lecture "Attitudes Towards the World and Finding The Soul: An Interpretation of What Being Religious Means For Wittgenstein" of the 2nd Wittgenstein Conference of Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosophical Society at Manipur University on 2nd November 2017. In the revised version of the presidential lecture published as the first essay of this anthology, he has reflected on the sense in which Wittgenstein was a religious person, and asserted that though Wittgenstein was not religious he could not help but see every problem from a religious point of view. According to Boruah, being religious and adopting a religious point of view are not synonymous for Wittgenstein. The difference is: practicing religious rituals and having an attitude towards religion. It is generally held that Wittgenstein's view on religion was largely influenced by William James which can be found in the entries of his Notebooks. The human subject is independent of the objective world. Being religious is the surrendering of oneself willfully and joyously to the way the world is, which is independent of one's Will. The surrendering of oneself, to the way the world exists, is the key in understanding Wittgenstein's view of religion and his conception of philosophy as related to religious problems. When one accepted the suffering this world has, one has the strength to carry on when one is bothered by evil. This acceptance is not based on any doctrine or systematic belief, but on an attitude towards the world which is laden with problems. The peace of life which is attained through working on one's suffering can be compared with the clarity which is achieved in philosophy by changing one's way of thinking and outlook. For establishing his conclusion, Boruah has divided this essay into following sections: (i) Towards Life and the World: Through the Lens of William James, (ii) Suffering, Endurance and the Religion of Self-transformation.

In the next essay "Wittgenstein on Religion" K. Srinivas establishes that a superficial understanding of the Tractatus reveals that Wittgenstein completely sidelined the subjects like religion, ethics, and aesthetics. But Tractatus itself contains a lot on transcendentalism. Somehow this transcendental element is concealed by his overt concern for logic and mathematics. His concern for religion and other values is very much conspicuous in his later writings, but their philosophical moorings are already present in the Tractatus. Along with his reflections on Tractatus, K. Srinivas has tried to show Wittgenstein's attitude towards religion and religious belief as found in his later writings.

The issue of religious belief as belonging to the realm of inexpressible has been taken up further by Kanti Lal Das in his essay "Wittgenstein on Religious Inexpressibility, Continuity and Change". This essay shows Wittgenstein's argument for his thesis of the inexpressibility of religious beliefs in TLP and 'A Lecture on Ethics. Further, Das has shown as to how we find a dramatic change in Wittgenstein's view on religion in his later period in Philosophical Investigations. This is a kind of religion which is non-conventional and non-classical as Wittgenstein conceived religion as a form of life, a way of life. According to this later Wittgensteinian view religion is culture and religion is life. In this way Wittgenstein, according to Das, has introduced a new web of religion having social relevance and this new interpretation of religion sets up the direction of future religion. Among others, Das has raised and discussed following issues: What is religion according to Wittgenstein? In what sense religious assertions are inexpressible? In what sense Wittgenstein's initial religious position has been attributed pessimistic? In what sense his pessimistic stance about religion remains relevant beyond TLP? What would be the turning point of change of the religious position of Wittgenstein? In what sense Wittgenstein's religion has been attributed as New-Religion?

In the next essay "Wittgensteinian Fideism: debate between Kai Nielsen and D. Z. Phillips on whether everything can be explained away?" KC Pandey brings out a critical analysis of the debate between Kai Nielsen and D. Z. Phillips on a particular issue concerning alleged criticism of Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion which is well-known as Wittgensteinian Fideism. It revolves around what Wittgenstein has mentioned in his "Remarks on 'Frazer's Golden Bough" s the 'soul-stone' - a symbol of the immortality of soul. This position is adopted y D. Z. Phillips as well who holds that not everything can be explained away. or Kai Nielsen, to say that there is something which cannot be explained through nguage is to admit the 'non-rationalism' which actually is a 'metaphysical mud'. against Phillips' view which is based on his critique of Mounce's position, Kai elsen's argument has been shown in the light of Wittgenstein's view that the n-availability of scientific explanation in the case of 'soul stone' restores a realm inexpressibility which is present in all walks of life. On the other hand, Nielsen ds that the normativity involved needs no further explanation on the basis of premise that there is nothing to be understood. It just has happened in that and that is the end of the matter as there is no mystical element involved in it.