ABSTRACT
D.Z. (Dewi Zephaniah) Phillips (1934-2006) was profoundly influenced by the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951). Phillips’ interests included ethics, philosophical methodology, and literature, but he is best known for his Wittgensteinian approach in the philosophy of religion. At the time of his death Phillips held the Danforth Chair in Philosophy of Religion at Claremont Graduate University, California and was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Swansea University. Phillips was also director of both the Rush Rhees (1905-89) and Peter Winch (1926-97) Archives, based at Swansea. (Rhees and Winch were both Wittgenstein-inspired philosophers in their own right, and Phillips’ teachers.) In this article we will take a brief look at Phillips’ philosophical project, before charting the influence of Kierkegaard within his work. Finally, we shall consider Phillips’ use of Kierkegaard. In this I want to suggest that although Phillips’ appropriation of Kierkegaard is a relatively sensitive one, in comparison to the treatment he has received at the hands of other Wittgenstein scholars, his interpretation of Kierkegaard is ultimately untenable.
