A Confusion of the Spheres: Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein on Philosophy and Religion (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780199581962)

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
ISBN-10: 0199581967
ISBN-13: 9780199581962
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 04/30/2010
Pages: 222
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.40w x 0.60d