The pursuit of a good life

 How would you give an account of Wittgenstein’s religion?

You’d begin by giving an account of the way he used the word. Wittgenstein wanted to live a good life, an ethical life. When he used the word “religion,” that’s what he was talking about. A person’s religion was the pursuit of a good life, the best life that person could lead.

In Wittgenstein’s use, religion was a private quest, not something done in community. Wittgenstein thought that the idea of God as a being outside ourselves but infinitely more powerful was incoherent. When Wittgenstein talked about religion, he was talking about something that most religious people wouldn’t recognize.

Neverthelss, Wittgenstein talked about religion with Maurice O’Connor Drury, a student who became a friend and who kept notes on their conversations. Drury went to Cambridge planning to be a clergyman. After studying with Wittgenstein, he trained as a physician. Drury recorded this remark:

 

I believe it is right to try experiments in religion. To find out, by trying, what helps one and what doesn’t. … It seems to me that your religion will always take the form of desiring something you haven’t yet found.

 

Wittgenstein’s life wasn’t religious in the conventional sense. He was intensely interested in living a good life.

• Source and notes: M. O’C. Drury’s two memoirs, “Some Notes on Conversations with Wittgenstein” and “Conversations with Wittgenstein” are in Recollections of Wittgenstein, edited by Rush Rhees; Oxford University Press, 1984, pp. 76-96 and pp. 97-171. The quotation is from the second memoir, pp. 164-5.

For an early note on these conversations, see “Dr. Drury’s talks with Wittgenstein,” June 13, 2025.