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Wittgenstein on the language of rituals: the scapegoat remark reconsidered

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2011

CHRISTOPHER HOYT
CHRISTOPHER HOYT
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy and Religion, Western Carolina University, 226 Stillwell Hall, Cullowhee, NC 28723 e-mail: choyt@wcu.edu
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Abstract

Wittgenstein's remarks on religion suggest a provocative and nuanced account of what makes rituals meaningful – and why some living rituals might have little or no meaning despite their hold on congregants. Wittgenstein's view has been obscured, I argue, in part by the consistent misinterpretation of his controversial ‘scapegoat remark’, which has been taken to be a comment on the internal incoherence of the ancient Jewish scapegoat rite. In fact, Wittgenstein's point is that the scapegoat ritual is particularly easy to misinterpret, and so reflection on it helps illustrate the sort of confusion that plagues much thinking about religion and ritual.

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Religious Studies , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , June 2012 , pp. 165 - 182
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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