“Grammar tells us what kind of object anything is. (Theology as grammar.) What is God? is a nonsensical question if not restrained to proper grammar. The same applies to the metaphysical question 'What is Being?'”
—
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Various notes and lectures; similar themes in Philosophical Investigations
Commentary
Wittgenstein suggests that metaphysical questions often err by applying wrong grammar. 'What is God?' and 'What is Being?' sound like empirical questions (like 'What is the cat?') but they are grammatically distinct. Theology and metaphysics are grammar—they clarify the grammar of our language, not empirical facts.
This was radically deflationary of metaphysics, yet also rehabilitating: theology is important, but not as propositional knowledge—as grammar, as clarification of how we use 'God' and 'Being.' This influenced later philosophy of religion and theological language.
Commentary
Wittgenstein suggests that metaphysical questions often err by applying wrong grammar. 'What is God?' and 'What is Being?' sound like empirical questions (like 'What is the cat?') but they are grammatically distinct. Theology and metaphysics are grammar—they clarify the grammar of our language, not empirical facts.
This was radically deflationary of metaphysics, yet also rehabilitating: theology is important, but not as propositional knowledge—as grammar, as clarification of how we use 'God' and 'Being.' This influenced later philosophy of religion and theological language.