1st ERB Project Workshop, 28-29 June 2019

Wittgenstein and the Epistemology of Religious Belief

Nova Institute of Philosophy (IFILNOVA)

Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities – Nova University of Lisbon (NOVA FCSH)

This workshop aims to bring together philosophers from all over the world in an attempt to achieve greater clarity about Wittgenstein’s religious epistemology. Wittgenstein’s work can help us to understand the practices that billions of people engage in and the conflicts between them, which often have a religious element. Wittgenstein’s work will be illuminated through comparisons with other philosophers and speakers at the workshop will endeavour to answer questions about how best to interpret Wittgenstein. Is Wittgenstein best described as a fideist? Was Wittgenstein a quietist? How does On Certainty help us to understand religious belief, faith, and disagreement? What is the role of epistemology in understanding questions about religious freedom?

Program

28 June, ID Building, Room MU2

09:45 – 10:00   Opening

10:00 – 10:30   Nuno Venturinha (Nova University of Lisbon)

Introduction: The Epistemology of Religious Belief Project

10:30 – 11:45   Guy Axtell (Radford University)

Wittgenstein and the ABC’s of Religious Epistemics

11:45 – 13:00   Hanne Appelqvist (University of Helsinki)

Wittgenstein and Kant on Religious Faith and Beauty

13:00 – 14:00   Lunch Break

14:00 – 15:15   Duncan Pritchard (University of California, Irvine / University of Edinburgh)

Quasi-Fideism and Wittgensteinian Quietism

15:15 – 16:30   Edward Guetti (University of Leipzig)

Logic, Exemplarity, and Religious Belief

16:30 – 17:00   Coffee Break

17:00 – 18:15   Thomas D. Carroll (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen)

The Concept of Belief in Comparative Religious Perspective

20:00               Conference Dinner

29 June, Tower B, Aud. 1

10:00 – 11:15   Gorazd Andrejč (University of Maribor / University of Cambridge)

Wittgenstein and the Epistemology of Freedom of Religion or Belief

11:15 – 12:30   Paul Horwich (New York University)

Wittgenstein on the Nature of Religious Belief

12:30 – 14:30   Lunch Break

14:30 – 15:45   Modesto Gómez Alonso (University of La Laguna)

The Ethical and the Metaphysical Will in Wittgenstein's Notebooks 1914-16 (and beyond)

15:45 – 17:00   Michael Williams (The Johns Hopkins University)

How Not to Read On Certainty

17:00 – 17:30   Sofia Miguens (University of Porto)

Conclusions and Future Prospects

This workshop is organized within the framework of the FCT-funded project “Epistemology of Religious Belief: Wittgenstein, Grammar and the Contemporary World” (PTDC/FER-FIL/32203/2017, PI: Nuno Venturinha), hosted by the Reasoning and Argumentation Laboratory (ArgLab) of IFILNOVA.

Attendance is free of charge but space is limited and registration is required. To register, please send an email to Dr Robert Vinten at: robertvinten@gmail.com

For more information about the project, please visit: https://www.arglab.ifilnova.pt/en/projects/erb