"I will teach differences": Tolstoy and Wittgenstein on philosophy and religion

This paper aims to compare Wittgenstein's and Tolstoi's points of view about philosophy and religion. The specialized bibliography has usually stressed, on the one hand, the coincidences between both of them and, on the other hand, the influence of the Russian writer on Wittgenstein's thought; however, we defend that their divergences are important and substantial. We focus on two central points: their different conception of philosophy itself and the contrast between Tosltoi's enlightened, evolutionist and rationalist conception of religion and culture, and Wittgenstein's ritualist and anti-progresist point of view.