“Die Künstlerische Betrachtungsweise…”: Wittgenstein on miracles

Abstract

Miracles are certainly a matter for the philosophy of religion. A defence is here raised, however, of the idea that Wittgenstein’s conception of miracles is closely connected with the artistic way of seeing in general, and with the consideration of literary fiction in particular. The connection can be established through a family of closely related concepts: “seeing as”, “the dawning of an aspect”, “image” and “perspective”. They are all involved in Wittgenstein’s aesthetic conceptions, in his analyses of art and also in his conception of miracles.