Rabindranath Tagore and Ludwig Wittgenstein
Two Sentinels on the Borderlands of Modernity
Keywords:
Language, Mystical Theology, Religion, Seeing, Tagore, Tractatus, WittgensteinAbstract
This paper shall explore how two great masters of twentieth century thought engaged with the mid-twentieth century secular agenda and how one influenced the other. One hundred years ago Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889 – 1951), the Austrian philosopher, fought for the Austro-Hungarian army during the First World War and subsequently experienced a personal, professional and philosophical crisis. In the aftermath of the war, as he sought to rebuild his life, he came across the writings of his contemporary Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), the Bengali poet and social reformer. This paper will explore the impact of Tagore’s work on Wittgenstein and how it opens up new perspectives for theologians today.
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