purpose of philosophy to clarify language wittgenstein

She occasionally reaches too far when she suggests that Wittgenstein's uses of the terms 'paradox' and 'absurd' are Kierkegaardian and are evidence for direct influence even when those uses seem to differ from Kierkegaard's use of those terms (24, 33). Schönbaumsfeld surveys all of the relevant references. Wittgenstein's students testify to the fact that he held Kierkegaard in high esteem and he reflects on Kierkegaard and his works at a number of points throughout the journals and the notebooks. At his request, Wittgenstein's sister sent him several of Kierkegaard's volumes while he was at the front in 1917. Much of the evidence Schönbaumsfeld presents for Kierkegaard's influence on Wittgenstein is familiar, but she includes quotations from recently published diaries and other material that was not available to scholars who have previously addressed this issue. By examining their views Schönbaumsfeld hopes to contribute toward a conception of religion as something other than adherence to metaphysical beliefs or a non-cognitive attitude immune from rational criticism and support, but this alternative conception is not well developed in the book. She argues that for both authors spiritual cultivation is more important for religious understanding than intellectual analysis of a set of doctrines. Schönbaumsfeld reviews the evidence for Kierkegaard's influence on Wittgenstein, points to strong similarities between them on the aims of philosophy and on their conceptions of religious belief, and criticizes interpreters whom she takes to have distorted their views on these topics.

His writing on philosophy and religion has sometimes been compared with that of Kierkegaard, particularly in the pseudonymous works.

Wittgenstein told his friend Maurice Drury that Kierkegaard was the most profound author of the nineteenth century and a saint.

Purpose of philosophy to clarify language wittgenstein