Transcendental argument for the existence of God

The Transcendental Argument for the Existence of God (TAG) is the argument that attempts to prove God's existence by arguing that logic, morals, and science ultimately presuppose a supreme being, and that God must be the source of logic and morals.^[1] A version was formulated by Immanuel Kant in his 1763 work The Only Possible Argument in Support of a Demonstration of the Existence of God and most contemporary formulations of the transcendental argument have been developed within the framework of Christian presuppositional apologetics.^[2]

Transcendental reasoning[edit]

Transcendental arguments should not be confused with transcendent arguments, or arguments for the existence of something transcendent. In other words, they are distinct from both arguments that appeal to a transcendent intuition or sense as evidence, and arguments that move from direct evidence to the existence of a transcendent thing (Classical Apologetics).

They are also distinct from standard deductive and inductive forms of reasoning. Where a standard deductive argument looks for what we can deduce from the fact of X, and a standard inductive argument looks for what we can infer from experience of X, a transcendental argument looks for the necessary prior conditions to both the fact and experience of X. Thus, "I entitle transcendental all knowledge which is occupied not so much with objects as with the mode of our knowledge of objects insofar as this mode of knowledge is to be possible a priori." (Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Introduction, VII).^{[citation needed]}

The argument[edit]

The TAG is a transcendental argument that attempts to prove that God is the precondition for logic, reason, or morality. The argument proceeds as follows:^[3]

1. God (most often God is defined as the supreme entity found in Christianity), is a necessary precondition for logic and morality.
2. People know things (have logical, and moral intuitions).
3. Therefore, God exists.

Cornelius Van Til likewise wrote:

We must point out ... that univocal reasoning itself leads to self-contradiction, not only from a theistic point of view, but from a non-theistic point of view as well... It is this that we ought to mean when we say that we reason from the impossibility of the contrary. The contrary is impossible only if it is self-contradictory when operating on the basis of its own assumptions.

— (A Survey of Christian Epistemology [Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1969], p. 204).

Therefore, the TAG differs from thomistic and evidentialist arguments, which posit the existence of God in order to avoid an infinite regress of causes or motions.

Responses[edit]

Atheists have contended that due to the vagueness of "God", this could be used for any religion's deity (even Polytheism). Also there are several Concepts of God, thus making the proof in itself impossible to justify a specific theistic belief without Special pleading.

Euthyphro dilemma has also been used against the Transcendental argument. Stating that if God commands something because it is good, then morality would transcend God himself. But if it is good because God commands it, then it becomes arbitrary. While some Apologist state that it's God's nature to be good, Atheist responses have questioned whether God gave himself his own nature (still making it arbitrary), or whether it was given to him (thus making morality still more important).

See also[edit]

• Christian apologetics
• Argument from morality (some forms of which are TAGs)

References[edit]

Notes

External links[edit]

Articles[edit]

• Responses to Atheist Philosopher, Michael Martin
• Derrida, Van Til and the Metaphysics of Postmodernism An appraisal of Postmodernism, specifically Deconstruction, in light of Van Til by Jacob Gabriel Hale.
• The Transcendental Argument for God's Existence by Michael Butler.
• The Transcendental Argument for the Existence of God by Matt Slick.

Debates[edit]

• "The Great Debate: Does God Exist?" Audio (listen/download format) of a formal debate between Christian Greg Bahnsen and skeptic Gordon Stein from the University of California, Irvine.
• The Martin-Frame Debate A written debate between skeptic Michael Martin and Christian John Frame about the transcendental argument for the existence of God.
• The Drange-Wilson Debate A written debate between skeptic Theodore Drange and Christian Douglas Wilson.
• "Is Non-Christian Thought Futile?" A written debate between Christian Doug Jones and skeptics Keith Parsons and Michael Martin in Antithesis magazine (vol. 2, no. 4).