Rush Rhees on Religion and Philosophy

Description

Rush Rhees (1905–1989) was a philosopher, and a pupil and close friend of Ludwig Wittgenstein. While some of Rhees's own published papers became classics, most of his work remained unpublished during his lifetime. After his death, his papers were found to comprise sixteen thousand pages of manuscript on every aspect of philosophy, from philosophical logic to Simone Weil. This collection of unpublished papers, edited by D. Z. Phillips, includes Rhees's outstanding work on philosophy and religion. Written over an academic lifetime, some of the papers are sympathetic to religion while others are not. It is Rhees's ability to interweave the personal and philosophical, and his integrity and intellectual honesty, which make this one of the most impressive books in twentieth-century philosophy of religion. Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Part I. Religion and Reality: 1. Religion and philosophy 2. Where does the world come from? 3. The ontological argument and proof 4. Remarks on reality and religion 5. Natural theology 6. Religion and language 7. Belief in God 8. Wittgenstein on language and ritual 9. Religious practices 10. Notes on religion and reductionism 11. 'The divide' between religion and 'scientific method' 12. Difficulties in belief Part II. Religion, Life, and Meaning: 13. Gratitude and ingratitude for existence 14. Religion, life and meaning: A and B 15. Death and immortality 16. Election and judgment 17. That man is made for heaven Part III. Religion and Morality: 18. Living with oneself 19. The sinner and sin 20. The Church and the moral law 21. Suffering 22. Picking and choosing Part IV. Reflection on Christianity: 23. Miracles 24. Mescaline, mysticism, and religious experience 25. Difficulties with Christianity 26. Christianity and growth of understanding