Philosophy of Transcendence: Selected Problems
Summary
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the Author
- About the Book
- This eBook can be cited
- Contents
- Introduction
- 1. God in Philosophical Thinking
- 2. Philosophical Proofs of the Existence of God
- 2.1 A Priori Proofs
- 2.2 A Posteriori Proofs
- 3. The Problem of Evil and Theodicy
- 3.1 God and Evil
- 3.2 Suffering, Freedom, and Love
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
Does God exist? Is the common experience through our senses the only and most exhaustive way of knowing? Is it meaningful to speak of a final reality, Infinity, or the Absolute? What is to be understood by concepts such as the soul, spirit, or love? Are religious truths philosophically relevant and moreover tenable? Does the existence of the world and humankind have a deeper purpose? Furthermore is it meaningful to speak of purpose? Questions concerning the divine mystery, or the source of being, concerning the origin and purpose of humankind are inseparable from human existence. Human beings have asked themselves these questions since time immemorial and have answered them in various ways. Myths and religious beliefs were here before philosophical reflections. Religion and myth represent a primary means of man relating to his or her experience and a funda ← 7 | 8 → mental way of asking questions concerning transcendence. “Religion is more original than philosophy since it conveys a spontaneous relationship of man to God or to divine forces before it is reflected in thinking” (Coreth, 2008, p. 17). The rational and critical argumentation of philosophy raises very similar questions, however, it is more important for philosophy to problematize what seems to be obvious rather than provide definitive answers or doctrines; after all, these are not possible in the openness and creativity of philosophical thinking as long as the discipline wishes to remain faithful to itself and to the searching of truth; philosophy disturbs and questions conventional schemes of thinking, it teaches us “to see through” (Jaspers, 2003, p. 81).
The problematic area that we have just touched upon is primarily the domain of the philosophy of religion. P. Cole has characterized this philosophical discipline as follows: the “philosophy of religion specifically solves the general philosophical themes concerned with religion and God. It analyses the concepts such as God and eternal life, tries to define the meaning of religious statements, examines the existence and nature of God or gods, and the way God relates to the world” (Cole, 2003, p. 11). God is introduced as a philosophical problem which is approached by means of philosophical argumentation and rational discussion. In the following pages, we will look into selected discussions of the philosophy of religion and will review some of its classic arguments. ← 8 | 9 →
Details
- Pages
- 100
- Year
- 2016
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9783653066470
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9783653958645
- ISBN (MOBI)
- 9783653958638
- ISBN (Softcover)
- 9783631674611
- DOI
- 10.3726/978-3-653-06647-0
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2016 (April)
- Keywords
- transcendence theodicy evil philosophical proofs
- Published
- Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien, 2016. 100 pp.
