A Confusion of the Spheres: Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein on Philosophy and Religion

Cursory allusions to the relation between Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein are common in the philosophical literature, but there has been little in the way of serious and comprehensive commentary on the relationship of their ideas. Genia Schonbaumsfeld closes this gap and offers new readings of
Kierkegaard's and Wittgenstein's conceptions of philosophy and religious belief.

Chapter one documents Kierkegaard's influence on Wittgenstein, while chapters two and three provide trenchant criticisms of two prominent attempts to compare the two thinkers, D. Z. Phillips and James Conant. In chapter four, Schonbaumsfeld develops Kierkegaard's and Wittgenstein's concerted
criticisms of the 'spaceship view' of religion and defends it against the common charges of 'fideism' and 'irrationalism'.

As well as contributing to contemporary debate about how to read Kierkegaard's and Wittgenstein's work, A Confusion of the Spheres addresses issues which not only concern scholars of Wittgenstein and Kierkegaard, but anyone interested in the philosophy of religion, or the ethical aspects of
philosophical practice as such.


Author: Genia Schonbaumsfeld
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 04/30/2010
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.40w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780199581962

About the Author

Genia Schonbaumsfeld is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Southampton.

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