Wozu Philosophie und Kunst in Zeiten der Unkultur?

Abstract Why Art and Philosophy in Times of Cultural Decadence (“Unkultur”)? Starting from Wittgenstein’s critical remarks on modern civilization in the preface of the Philosophical Investigations , I will discuss the reasons which might have led to his critical, even pessimistic view of his time. These reasons are to be found in an ever-increasing and unscrupulous striving for progress and profit while lacking any ethical consciousness, let alone any religious awareness. In order to present my assumptions, I will discuss the example of a letter-fragment presumably written by Wittgenstein in 1925. In this text his very personal and pessimistic attitude towards both culture and science of modern civilization is more than obvious. At the same time Wittgenstein emphasizes the significance of real “Geistigkeit” which he associates with white and pure light, thus with “transparency”. In this sense he distinguishes between those people who engage in art or science in a superficial way, unaware of an ethical and religious consciousness, and those who create their works in view of something higher viz the so-called “pure” light – in other words “sub specie aeternitatis”. In view of the decline of culture and thus lack of truthfulness and authenticity, the question arises as to whether art and philosophy can contribute to a change of mankind by realizing the significance of ethics in their way of life.