Wittgenstein sobre método teológico e predestinação

Abstract

The article presents some contributions of Wittgensteinian philosophy to philosophical theology. For this, it is divided into two moments. The objective of the first moment is the clarification of the semantics of theological discourse. We will see that, according to Wittgenstein, the significance of this discourse depends, necessarily, on the connection of doctrines with performances; in other words, theological sentences are only meaningful when they are linked to the lives of language users from a practical and evaluative point of view and not merely theoretical. By not fulfilling this criterion, the doctrine would need to be rejected or rephrased (clarifying the concept of rephrasing is also the objective of the first moment). We will see that this, shall we say, theological method, can be found, mutatis mutandis, in both the first and second philosophy of Wittgenstein. The objective of the second moment is the discussion of a case study on the doctrine of predestination. This discussion will show us how Wittgenstein himself applies his theological method, clarified by us in the first moment of the article.