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Existence of God (The Concept Of Existence In The Middle Ages)
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장부영
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2008-03-31 22:11:24, 조회 : 2,911 |
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Existence of God (The Concept Of Existence In The Middle Ages)
Paul Jang
The Concept Of Existence In The Middle Ages
In the middle ages, the Biblical doctrine (Christian doctrine) and Aristotelian doctrine were going to be united by the influence of Scholastic philosophy under the Hellenic philosophy.
Descartes had, ina sense, tried to unite the Platonic traditional concept of "Good" and the biblical concept of "God" who is the Mighty as well as the Creator of all things. (Wahl, 1948, 31)
Kant insisted that the concept of an existence did not accept the concept of other existence through the critique of ontological argument for God. He had proven the moral existence through his Critique of Practical Reason (Wahl, 1948, 32). In the Critique of Practical Reason, he insisted the immorality of the soul as a postulate of pure reason. He stated as follows:
the summum bonum, then, practically is only possible on the supposition of the immorality of the soul; consequently this immorality, being inseparably connected with the moral law, is postulate of pure practical reason (by which I mean a theoretical proposition, not demonstrable as such, but which is an inseparable result of an unconditional a priori practical law. (Kant in The Great Books, 1971, 344)
He also insisted the existence of God as a postulate of pure practical reason. He, at first, saw the moral law led to a practical problem. He stated as follows:
the moral law led to a practical problem which is prescribed by pure reason alone, without the aid of any sensible motives, namely, that of the necessary completeness of the first and principle element of the summum bonum, viz., morality; and, as this can be perfectly solved only in eternity, to the postulate of immorality. (Kant, in the Great Books, 1971, 344)
And then, he defined that the morality must postulate the existence of God. He stated as follows:
that is, it must lead to the supposition of the existence of a cause adequate to this effect; in other words, it must postulate the existence of God, as the necessary condition of the possibility of the summum bonum (an object of the will which is necessarily connected with the moral legislation of pure reason. (Kant, in the Great Books, 1971, 345)
Hegel suggested "an existence" in the conservative attitude, and "other existence" in the radical attitude. (Wahl, 32) He stated the concept of God as an objective and a subjective side. He said, "however spiritual may be the conception of God as objective, the subjective side, the honor rendered to him, is still very limited and unspiritual in character". (Hegel in the Great Books, 1971, 247) In short, according to him, God is the Absolute Idea encompassing the whole of reality on which His ideas are written (Carter, 1983, 21).
Bacon insisted that no light of nature extended to declare the will and true worship of God, and therefore the works of God do not show the image of God but only the omnipotence and wisdom of the maker. Therefore he insisted that there was never miracle wrought by God to convert an atheist. He stated as follows:
therefore there was never miracle wrought by God to convert an atheist, because the light of nature might have led him to confess a God: but miracles have been wrought to convert idolaters and the superstitious, because no light of nature extended to declare the will and true worship of God. For as all works do show forth the power and skill of the workman, and not his image, so it is of the works of God, which do show the omnipotence and wisdom of the maker, but not image (Bacon, in the Great books, 1971, 41).
He continues to explain that no one knows the existence of God, the image of God through the revelation of nature, especially the special revelation, namely the Bible. He continued to write as follows:
they(the heathens) supposed the world to be the image of God, and man to be an extract or compendious image of the world; but the Scriptures never vouchsafe to attribute to the world that honor, as to be the image of God, but only "the work of this hands"; neither do they speak of any other image of God, but man (Bacon of the Great Books, 1971, 41).
Pascal explained the existence of God with the concepts of appearance and concealment. In other words, he said, all appearance indicates neither a total exclusion nor a manifest presence of divinity, but the presence of a God who hides Himself. He added to explain as follows:
it is not true that all reveals God, and it is not true that all conceals God. But it is at the same time true that He hides Himself from those who tempt Him, and that He reveals Himself to those who seek Him, because men are both unworthy and capable of God; unworthy by their corruption, capable by their original nature... If He appeared once, He exists always; and thus we cannot but conclude both that there is a God and that men are unworthy of Him (Pascal, in the Great Books, 1971, 272).
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