Philosophy 1020 Lecture Notes - Abrahamic Religions, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Axial Age
13 Nov 2013
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Document Summary
The non-religious (15%) plus the atheists (5%) make up about 20%, which is to say that 80%of the world is religious. Many of the world"s major conflicts are defined by religious difference. How do you define it: the idea of definition. Traditionally we understand defining something as giving its necessary and sufficient conditions. Ex: the definition of bachelor is an un married male". That is: anything that is a bachelor is an unmarried male. Anything that is an unmarried male is a bachelor. Unmarried" and male" are, taken together, a sufficient condition of bachelor. Essential to life: answer to nihility(non-existence / nothingness) None of these features is present in every religion. If there are no necessary conditions there are no necessary and sufficient conditions. If there are no conditions there is no definition, no essence. Very often our words and concepts lack definition in the strict classical sense.
