Climacus and the Arguments for God’s Existence
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Valentin Teodorescu
Abstract
This article offers an evaluation of Climacus’ objections to the arguments for the existence of God. With one exception (the critique of the ontological argument, which seems to anticipate the contemporary logico-empiricist position), these objections are found wanting. In the first general objection, Climacus seems to jump illegitimately from the objective reality of God’s existence (or non-existence) to the subjective conviction about God’s existence (or nonexistence). In the second, one might find exceptions to Climacus’ assertion that one can never deduce the existence of persons from the facts of the palpable world. Next, the objection against the teleological argument is inconclusive, since, in my opinion, Climacus does not offer a clear structure to-or critique of-this argument. Lastly, the ethico-religious objection fails because God’s existence- even if one would accept the reality of a sensus divinitatis-is not yet transparently evident to us. Nonetheless, in Climacus’ treatment of all these objections we observe similarities with certain ideas of contemporary reformed epistemology: a skepticism with regard to natural theology, a belief in a sensus divinitatis, and a positive assessment of the role of faith as an epistemological presupposition.
© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelei
- Preface
- Table of Contents
- Section 1: Kierkegaard as a Philosopher
- “The Philosophical Thesis of the Identity of Thinking and Being is Just the Opposite of What it seems to be.” Kierkegaard on the Relations between Being and Thought
- The Posited Self: The Non-Theistic Foundation in Kierkegaard’s Writings
- Climacus and the Arguments for God’s Existence
- The Middle Term: Kierkegaard and the Contemporary Debate about Explanatory Theism
- O2 can do? Kierkegaard and the Debate on Divine Omnipotence
- Section 2: Interpreting Kierkegaard: Some Problems and Contemporary Perspectives
- Much Ado About (Almost) Nothing: In Defense of “Magister Kierkegaard”
- Is Either/Or a Religious Work or Not?
- Kierkegaard and the Self-Conscious Literary Tradition: An Interpretation of the Ludic Aspects of Kierkegaard’s Pseudonymous Authorship from a Literary-Historical Perspective
- “Marvel at Nothing”: Reconsidering Kierkegaard’s Category of Recollection through Social Networking Services
- Section 3: Kierkegaard Reception: Responses and Reflections in the 20th Century
- The Truth Behind the Text: Rachel Bespaloff as a Reader of Kierkegaard from “the Most Torn-Apart Backdrop of History”
- “A Great Awakener”: The Relevance of Søren Kierkegaard in Karl Jaspers’ Aneignung und Polemik
- Der Schatten der Kierkegaard-Renaissance. Eine rezeptionsgeschichtliche Studie über die dezisionistisch-irrationalistischen Kierkegaard-Interpretationen zwischen den Weltkriegen in Deutschland
- Kierkegaard Reception in Modern Theology: A Review and Assessment
- A Matter of Mimesis: Kierkegaard and Ricoeur on Narrative Identity
- Section 4: Editing Kierkegaard
- An Overview of Kierkegaard’s Nachlass. Part One: the Materials
- An Overview of Kierkegaard’s Nachlass. Part Two: the Editions
- Section 5: Appendix
- Index to Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook 1996–2014
- Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelei
- Preface
- Table of Contents
- Section 1: Kierkegaard as a Philosopher
- “The Philosophical Thesis of the Identity of Thinking and Being is Just the Opposite of What it seems to be.” Kierkegaard on the Relations between Being and Thought
- The Posited Self: The Non-Theistic Foundation in Kierkegaard’s Writings
- Climacus and the Arguments for God’s Existence
- The Middle Term: Kierkegaard and the Contemporary Debate about Explanatory Theism
- O2 can do? Kierkegaard and the Debate on Divine Omnipotence
- Section 2: Interpreting Kierkegaard: Some Problems and Contemporary Perspectives
- Much Ado About (Almost) Nothing: In Defense of “Magister Kierkegaard”
- Is Either/Or a Religious Work or Not?
- Kierkegaard and the Self-Conscious Literary Tradition: An Interpretation of the Ludic Aspects of Kierkegaard’s Pseudonymous Authorship from a Literary-Historical Perspective
- “Marvel at Nothing”: Reconsidering Kierkegaard’s Category of Recollection through Social Networking Services
- Section 3: Kierkegaard Reception: Responses and Reflections in the 20th Century
- The Truth Behind the Text: Rachel Bespaloff as a Reader of Kierkegaard from “the Most Torn-Apart Backdrop of History”
- “A Great Awakener”: The Relevance of Søren Kierkegaard in Karl Jaspers’ Aneignung und Polemik
- Der Schatten der Kierkegaard-Renaissance. Eine rezeptionsgeschichtliche Studie über die dezisionistisch-irrationalistischen Kierkegaard-Interpretationen zwischen den Weltkriegen in Deutschland
- Kierkegaard Reception in Modern Theology: A Review and Assessment
- A Matter of Mimesis: Kierkegaard and Ricoeur on Narrative Identity
- Section 4: Editing Kierkegaard
- An Overview of Kierkegaard’s Nachlass. Part One: the Materials
- An Overview of Kierkegaard’s Nachlass. Part Two: the Editions
- Section 5: Appendix
- Index to Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook 1996–2014
- Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
