„James’s book The Varieties of Religious Experience does me a lot of good.“
Wittgenstein-Studien January 1, 2017 Ludwig Nagl 4 citations
Wittgenstein cites few authors in his writings, but he quotes the American pragmatist William James with striking frequency, even in his late work. This is primarily due to the role James's explorations of religion play in Wittgenstein's thinking on the subject. The intricate Wittgenstein-James connection is examined through seven reflections: crisis of life practice as seen in James, Tolstoy, and Wittgenstein; the existential paradox and Wittgenstein's silence in the Tractatus; whether reflection can be halted and therapy as the end of philosophy; critical containment of scientism and objections to the survival theory of religion; James's attempt to thematize the mystical; James and Wittgenstein on institutionalized religion and subjective religiosity versus corporate religion; and the inner ambivalence of religious motivation in Sami Pihlström's post-Wittgensteinian reflections.