Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Palgrave Macmillan

Wittgenstein, Frazer and Religion

  • Book
  • © 1999

Overview

Authors:
  1. Brian R. Clack

    1. St Clare’s International College, Oxford, UK

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Wittgenstein, Frazer and Religion

      • Brian R. Clack
      Pages 3-18

  3. Expressivism

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 19-19
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Wittgenstein’s ‘Expressivism’

      • Brian R. Clack
      Pages 21-36

    3. The Possibility of Expressivism

      • Brian R. Clack
      Pages 37-50

  4. Methodology: Description and Explanation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 51-51
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Perspicuous Representation

      • Brian R. Clack
      Pages 53-78

    3. The Prohibition on Explanation

      • Brian R. Clack
      Pages 79-92

    4. The Frontiers of the Remarks

      • Brian R. Clack
      Pages 93-103

  5. The Natural History of a Ceremonial Animal

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 105-105
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Metaphysics as a Kind of Magic

      • Brian R. Clack
      Pages 107-134

    3. Frazerian Reflections: Wittgenstein on Beltane and Human Sacrifice

      • Brian R. Clack
      Pages 135-154

    4. The Collapse into the Inorganic

      • Brian R. Clack
      Pages 155-176

  6. Back Matter

    Pages 177-200
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

Wittgenstein, Frazer and Religion expounds and analyses the argument of Wittgenstein's Remarks on Frazer's Golden Bough . It details the reasons for Wittgenstein's rejection of the intellectualist theory of religion, and suggests a new interpretation of his rival view of ritual. Denying that Wittgenstein's account is straightforwardly expressivist, the author builds his own interpretation on Wittgenstein's claim that magic is akin to metaphysics. In the course of the book, the author considers such matters as expressivism, 'perspicuous representation', the nature of human sacrifice, and Wittgenstein's cultural pessimism.

Reviews

Clack... succeeds both in capturing valuable strains of thought in Wittgenstein and in considering Wittgenstein's thought seriously and critically. Choice

Authors and Affiliations

  • St Clare’s International College, Oxford, UK

    Brian R. Clack

About the author

BRIAN R. CLACK is Tutor in Philosophy at St. Clare's International College, Oxford. He received his PhD from London University in 1994, and is, with Beverly Clack, the author of An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion (forthcoming).

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation