Beyond realism and non-realism : religious language-games and reality

This article attempts to take up Wittgenstein’s challenge “Not empiricism and yet realism” (1991:vi 23). Language deals with reality. But we are also aware of the importance of the context with its own rules for the use of language. In trying to do justice to both sides, theology and philosophy of religion have been going back and forth between realism and non-realism. Two recent appraisals of the Wittgensteinian approach in philosophy of religion by Labron and Burley suggest that there is a way to avoid this dynamic. After analysing Labron and Burley’s suggestions and their own failures to live up to the task they set themselves, this article presents an interpretation of D.Z. Phillips’s concept of ‘ordinary realism’ to help us to stay clear from the deadlock between realism and non-realism. Our different perspectives should be regarded as viewpoints within the same reality. Taken up in our many different and diverse language-games are our primitive dealings with reality.