In European philosophy of evidencethe existence of God is necessary for understanding the connection of being and thinking. This topic has worried the minds of prominent thinkers for thousands of years. This path has not passed the great German thinker Emanuel Kant - the founder of German classical philosophy. There are classic proofs of the existence of God. Kant subjected them to scrutiny and harsh criticism, while desiring true Christianity, not devoid of reason.
Background Criticism
It should be noted that between the time of Kant and ThomasAquinas, whose evidence is recognized by the church as classical, passed five hundred years, during which significant changes in life occurred. The society and the man himself transformed, new laws were discovered in the natural areas of knowledge, which many natural and physical phenomena could explain. Step forward and philosophical science. Naturally, the five proofs of the existence of God, Kant, born five hundred years later, logically correctly built by Thomas Aquinas, could not be satisfied. In fact, the evidence is much more.
В своих работах Кант приходит к удивительным conclusions concerning the inner world of man. If, when studying the external world, a person understands that there are certain laws in the Universe that are capable of explaining the nature of many phenomena, when studying moral laws, he is confronted with the fact that he knows nothing about spiritual nature and only makes assumptions.
Examining from a philosophical standpoint evidenceabout the existence of God, Kant doubts their validity in terms of their time. But he does not deny the very existence of God, he most likely is critical of the methods of proof. He claims that the spiritual nature was and remains unexplored, unrecognized. The boundary of knowledge is, according to Kant, the main problem of philosophy.
Even if we take our time, whenSince natural sciences have made an unprecedented leap: discoveries in physics, chemistry, biology, and other sciences, then spiritually everything remains at the level of assumptions, as in Kant's time.
Five evidence
Thomas Aquinas has chosen the right ones.logical evidence of the existence of God. Kant, they were reduced to three: cosmological, ontological, theological. Investigating them, he criticizes the existing, and introduces a new evidence - the moral law. This caused a controversial reaction of thinkers. Let's call these five proofs.
The first
Everything in nature is moving.But any movement cannot start on its own. An initial stimulator (source) is needed, which itself remains at rest. This is the highest power - God. In other words, if there is a movement in the Universe, it means that someone had to start it.
The second
Cosmological evidence. Any cause produces a consequence. It makes no sense to look for the previous one, since the unreasonable cause or the root cause is God.
Third
Any object in the universe entersinterconnection and interrelation with other objects, bodies. It is impossible to find all previous relationships and relationships. There must be an independent and self-sufficient source — that is God. Kant presented this evidence as a continuation of the cosmological.
Fourth
Онтологическое доказательство.Absolute perfection is that which is in representation and reality. His principle to the complex from the simple is an eternal movement to absolute perfection. That is God. Kant declared that it is impossible to represent God as all-perfect only in our consciousness. He rejects this evidence.
Fifth
Theological proof.Everything in the world exists in a certain order and harmony, the emergence of which is impossible in itself. This suggests that there is some kind of organizing principle. This is God. Plato and Socrates saw the highest intelligence in the world. This evidence is usually called biblical.
Kant's Proof
Moral (spiritual).After a critical analysis and proving the fallacy of classical evidence, the philosopher discovers a completely new, which gives, to the surprise of Kant himself, six proofs of the existence of God. No one before our time can neither confirm nor deny it. A brief summary of it is as follows. The conscience of a person who lives within him contains a moral law, which a person cannot create by himself; he also does not arise from an agreement between people. Our spirit is closely connected with God. He is independent of our desire. The creator of this law is the supreme legislator, regardless of how we call it.
For his observance a person cannot wishrewards, but it is implied. In our spirit, the supreme legislator laid down that virtue receives the highest reward (happiness), vice - punishment. The combination of morality with happiness, given to a person as a reward, is the highest good that every person aspires to. Man does not depend on the connection of happiness with morality.
Religion as confirmation of God
All earthly peoples have a religion, they believe in God.This is what Aristotle and Cicero spoke about. Along with this, there are seven proofs of the existence of God. Kant denies this assertion, stating that we do not know all peoples. The universality of the concept cannot serve as evidence. But at the same time, he says that this confirms the existence of a moral law, that every soul lives in faith in God, regardless of the race, climate in which people live
Kant and faith
From the biography of Kant it is clear that he belonged toreligions with absolute indifference. Since childhood, he was brought up on the understanding of faith (Lutheranism) in the spirit of pietism - a popular movement at the time, which emerged in Germany at the end of the 17th century as a protest against the reborn Lutheranism. Was against church rites. Pietism was based on the belief in the subject of faith, knowledge of Scripture, moral behavior. Subsequently, pietism degenerates into fanaticism.
Children's Pietistic worldview he subsequentlysubject to philosophical analysis and harsh criticism. First of all went to the Bible, which Kant considered no more than ancient text. Further criticized is such a thing as “salvation”. Lutheranism, as a current of Christianity, makes it dependent on faith. Kant perceives this as insufficiently respectful attitude to the human mind, limiting his self-improvement.
I would like to immediately note that philosophicalEvidence of the existence of God, including Kant, which is open, is the subject of European philosophy and papal Christianity. In Orthodoxy no attempt was made to prove the existence of God. Since faith in God is the subject of a person’s personal beliefs, therefore no evidence was required.
Kant's subcritical period
In the first half of life or as they call ittime biographers, in the subcritical period, Emmanuel Kant did not think about any evidence of the existence of God. He was completely absorbed by natural science topics in which he makes an attempt to interpret the structure of the Universe, the origin of the universe from the point of view of Newtonian principles. In his main work, “Universal Natural History and Theory of the Sky,” he examines the emergence of the Universe from the chaos of matter, on which two forces act: repulsion and attraction. Its origin with the planets, with its own laws of development.
Исходя из слов самого Канта, он старался не to conflict with the requirements of religion. But his main idea: “Give me matter, and I will build a world out of it ...” is the audacity to put myself equal, from the point of view of religion, to God. There was no examination of the evidence of the existence of God and their refutation by Kant during this period of life, this came later.
It was at this time that Kant was fascinated by the philosophicalmethodology, he was looking for a way to turn metaphysics into an exact science. Among the philosophers of the time there was an opinion that metaphysics is becoming akin to mathematics. It was precisely with this that Kant disagreed, defining metaphysics as an analysis, on the basis of which elementary concepts of human thinking are determined, and mathematics must be constructive.
Critical period
During the critical period, his mostthe main works are Criticism of Pure Reason, Criticism of Practical Reason, Criticism of Judgment Ability, where Immanuel Kant demonstrates the proof of the existence of God. As a philosopher, he was interested, above all, questions of understanding being and the very subject of God's existence, advanced in philosophical theology by prominent thinkers of the past, such as Aristotle, Descartes, Leibniz, scholastic theologians, namely Thomas Aquinas, Anselm of Canterbury, Malbranchem. There were quite a lot of them, so it is customary to consider the five basic proofs presented by Thomas Aquinas classic.
Another proof formulated by Kantthe existence of God can be briefly called the law within us. This is a moral (spiritual law). Kant was shocked by this discovery and began to look for the beginning of this mighty power, which causes a person to undergo the most terrible mental anguish and forget about the instinct of self-preservation, gives a person incredible strength and energy.
Kant came to the conclusion that neither in feelings nor inthere is no God in the natural and social environments, just as there is no mechanism for generating morality in them. But he is in us. For non-observance of his laws, a person must be punished.
