WITTGENSTEIN, FRAZER AND RELIGION
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Wittgenstein, Frazer and Religion Brian R. Clack Tutor in Philosophy St Clare's International College Oxford
First published in Great Britain 1999 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-349-40020-1 DOI 10.1057/9780230371682 First published in the United States of America 1999 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-21642-9 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Clack, Brian R. Wittgenstein, Frazer, and religion I Brian R. Clack. p. em. Some materials have been previously published in several journals. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-21642-9 (cloth) 1. Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 1889-1951-Religion. 2. Frazer, James George, Sir, 1854--1941. Golden bough. 3. Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 1889-1951. Bemerkungen tlberfrazers Golden bough. 4. Magic. 5. Religion. 6. Mythology. 7. Superstition. I. Title. B3376.W564C57 1998 200'.92-dc21 98-21471 CIP Brian R. Clack 1999 Softcover reprint oftbe hardcover 1st edition 1999 978-0-333-68240-1 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WlP 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 10987654321 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 ISBN 978-0-230-37168-2 (ebook)
For Celia
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Contents Preface Introduction ix 1 Wittgenstein, Frazer and Religion 3 1.1 Wittgenstein and Religion 3 1.2 The Golden Bough 6 1.3 Wittgenstein and The Golden Bough 12 Part I Expressivism 2 Wittgenstein' s 'Expressivism' 21 2.1 The Seeds of 'Wittgenstein's Expressivism' 22 2.2 The Blossoming of the Expressive Theory 28 2.3 Beattie's Form of Expressivism 34 3 The Possibility of Expressivism 37 3.1 The Dynamics of Expressivism 37 3.2 Wittgenstein's Philosophy and the Possibility of Expressivism 44 Part II Methodology: Description and Explanation 4 Perspicuous Representation 53 4.1 The Ideal of Perspicuity in Wittgenstein' s Later Philosophy 55 4.2 Perspicuous Representations and Magico-Religious Phenomena 64 4.3 Perspicuous Representation a 'Making Clear' 73
viii Contents 5 The Prohibition on Explanation 79 5.1 Religion 'Without Explanation' 79 5.2 The Primitive Reaction 81 5.3 Explaining the Ritual Impulse 86 6 The Frontiers of the Remarks 93 6.1 Discontinuity Theses 93 6.2 The Remarks on Frazer and the Study of Religion 99 Part III The Natural History of a Ceremonial Animal 7 'Metaphysics as a Kind of Magic' 107 7.1 The Poetic Conception: Wittgenstein, Chesterton, Ernst 107 7.2 Wittgenstein, Magic and Metaphysics 112 7.3 'Profound, Profound': The Philosophy in Rumpelstiltskin 125 7.4 Wittgenstein and Frazer: Beyond Expressivism and Instrumentalism 129 8 Frazerian Reflections: Wittgenstein on Beltane and Human Sacrifice 135 8.1 The Festival of Beltane 135 8.2 A Denial of Historical Understanding? 139 8.3 Something Deep and Sinister 144 8.4 A Savage and Ceremonial Animal 148 9 'The Collapse into the Inorganic' 155 9.1 'If fleas developed a rite it would be based on the dog' 156 9.2 Expression-Media 161 9.3 'A whole mythology is deposited in our language' 166 9.4 Conclusion: 'I am not a religious man...' 170 Notes 177 Bibliography 184 Index 197
Preface This book is born out of the conviction both that Wittgenstein's writing on magic has been sadly neglected by philosophers of religion, and that, even where it is discussed, the conclusions drawn about his views are not faithful to what he has written. Wittgenstein, Frazer and Religion is my attempt to correct this neglect and these misunderstandings. Some of the material included in this book has previously appeared in article form. A version of Chapter 3 was first published as 'Wittgenstein and Expressive Theories of Religion' in International Journal for Philosophy of Religion (vol. 40 no.1, pp. 47-61), and this is reproduced with kind permission from Kluwer Academic Publishers. Again, elements of Chapter 7 first appeared as 'D. Z. Phillips, Wittgenstein and Religion' in Religious Studies (vol. 31 no. 1, pp. 111-20), and I am grateful to the editors and to Cambridge University Press for granting me permission to reproduce that material here. I have quoted from three published versions of Wittgenstein' s Remarks on Frazer's Golden Bough: the original German text (published in Synthese in 1967); the A. C. Miles translation (published originally in The Human World in 1971, and subsequently by the Brynmill Press in 1979); and John Beversluis' translation (published in Wittgenstein: Sources and Perspectives (Harvester Press, 1979)). References to these, as to all other works, are within the text, citing author's name and date of edition used. This information is amplified in the bibliography. Notes can be found at the end of the book. At numerous places in this book, reference is made to Paul Ernst's 'Nachwort' to his 1910 edition of Grimm's Kinder-und Hausniirchen. Ernst's essay influenced Wittgenstein greatly, yet it is notoriously inaccessible. (Hence Rush Rhees' remark in the introduction to the first English translation of the Remarks on Frazer: 'I have not found a copy of that preface or that edition of the ix
X Contents Miirchen'.) Forunately, I managed to track down a copy of Ernst's essay, the significance of which is attested to in the pages of this book. All quotations from this essay are from the translation which was expertly prepared for me by Dr Vanessa Davies of King's College, London. Page references refer to the original German edition. I would like to acknowledge my great debt to Vanessa for her patient work in preparing the translation and for her many interesting reflections on Ernst's argument. In this connection I would also like to thank Dr Peter Hacker, Mr Igor Kuusik and Mr Brian McGuinness for their helpful contributions. Of those who read or commented on various parts of this book, I would like to thank Dr Beverley Clack, Dr Grace Jantzen, Dr Felicity McCutcheon and Professor Drago Ocvirk, while Professor Paul Helm and Fergus Kerr OP made invaluable comments during their examination of the PhD thesis on which this book is based. Special thanks go to Professor Frank Cioffi for his countless enlightening remarks and encouragement, and, particularly, to Mr Peter Byrne, who supervised the research which ultimately became this book. I owe Peter an enormous debt for his patience, his characteristically astute criticisms, and his friendship. My interest in the subject was sustained by teaching courses on Wittgenstein at Heythrop College London, Westminster College Oxford, and St Clare's Oxford. Thanks go to the following students both for their willingness to discuss at length Wittgenstein's thoughts on magic, and for the subsequent much-cherished gift of their friendship: Jonathan Herapath, Patrycja Kaszynska, Carol Lewis, Sam Norton, Helen O'Sullivan and Ciran Stapleton. For their precious moral support I would like to thank my parents, Alan and Ann Clack, my grandfather Ron Denman, my great-aunt Win Moxham, and many friends, in particular, Phil Baston, Felix and Emma Clayton, Leonardo Dasso, Steve Eyre, Claire Fitzpatrick, Helen Gresty, Robert Lindsey, Michael Mosley, David Parry, Bryan and Margaret Stringer, Pete Thompson, Ed White and Rainy Whiting. Highest thanks to Adam Clayton for being a port in a heavy storm. Finally, for her support, advice, criticisms and much else, more than gratitude is due to Celia, to whom this book is dedicated. B.R.C. Oxford