Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T02:16:56.048Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Religious beliefs and aspect seeing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2000

N. K. VERBIN
Affiliation:
Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 9AL

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the centrality of aspect seeing in Wittgenstein's philosophy, with some analogies between religious beliefs and aspect seeing, and with the implications of these analogies for the question of the justification of religious beliefs. If belief in God is neither a hypothesis nor a regular perceptual belief but rather a type of aspect seeing, then the kinds of proofs and justifications that are applicable to it would have to engage the non-believer in a manner that would help her experience the dawning of a new aspect. This is why the standard philosophical proofs for theism, even when accepted as valid, are likely to be unsuccessful in bringing about faith.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)