@Victor Eremita,
Victor Eremita;155983 wrote:In terms of philosophy, Kierkegaard was an agnostic in the sense that God cannot be proved externally as the Pythagorian Theorem could be. But as I said, Kierkegaard was an "agnostic Christian", in the sense that a person's "knowledge" of God comes from the inwardness of the self, and not from any objective proof. As SK writes:
"Anselm prays to God in all sincerity that he may succeed in proving God's existence. He thinks that he has succeeded and throws himself down to thank God; curious, he does not notice that this prayer and thanksgiving are infinitely more proof of God's existence than-the proof." (This says more about SK than Anselm btw)
For SK, Anselm's external "proof" is inconsequential in the face of Anselm's faith.
I once brought this up to Anthony Rudd and he agreed that Kierkegaard was philosophically agnostic, but then the question remains: what do you do about it? SK's answer is to believe.
I am still put off by the term "agnostic," for, by "agnostic," it generates the thought that he possessed no knowledge of this particular belief, when it is actually quite the opposite. "External proof," which I am taking as verifiable truth to others, is not the sole foundation of knowledge and, in the Christian faith, is fairly irrelevant, for it is Christ who calls out and is revealed to us, upon which we either believe or become offended in Him (taken from
Practice/Training in Christianity).
His upbringing shows us that he would have been quite knowledgeable of the Scripture and, arguably, would have recalled Hebrews 11:1-3, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." This is the context of large portions of the incredible writing I mentioned before. Kierkegaard lashed out against the apologists who would compose volumes of "proofs" of the divinity of Jesus and God's existence because it is solely faith, which Christ Jesus demands from man; this was his assurance, knowledge, and hope (the concept of hope was written quite a bit in
The Sickness Unto Death). Even if his knowledge was
not founded on reasonable answers on the basis of human rationality, he possessed knowledge of God's existence and the necessity of Jesus to the fallen heart of man through faith in said revelation. Again, though, on this, I argue the term being used, for he was certainly not agnostic of God's existence, even in the least.
---------- Post added 04-24-2010 at 09:31 PM ----------
Krumple;156016 wrote:I really don't see Kierkegaard adding anything that is useful. It just seems to bury the argument further into a vague notion.
If the purpose of life is to just find god and once the discovery is made then life is over. It means that the whole point of life was a waste of time. People say that finding god gives purpose but from Kiekegaard's perspective it says that life has no purpose other than to find god. That is not a purpose at all.
It's like the only reason you wake up in the morning is so that you can get ready for bed.
Kierkegaard wrote of the issue of the self and the problem of one's identity without the self's relation to its Creator, for this, in great part, leads man to despair or, that is, the sickness unto death. The "purpose" in life is the companion to having a sound and secure identity, which will not pass or fade away; this is not to say, however, that the purpose is lesser than identity in any way for the purpose and the identity follow hand-in-hand. One's purpose in life is most often dictated by their particular identity, for the way in which one identifies themselves consciously or subconsciously is similarly the way said individual will act out their life.
The particular conclusion in this case is that one's identity, being found in God, directs man's purpose (to do God's will).