On the principles and presuppositions of atheism and agnosticism in Kant, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche
This thesis will be asking questions about the underlying structure of Kant, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche's thoughts on atheism and agnosticism. It will begin with the work of the mature Kant, explaining how his epistemology, as articulated in the Critique of Pure Reason, treated the question of the sense experience of God and then how his theory of biblical hermeneutics treated the question of divine revelation through scripture, before examining Kant's moral proof of God, finding it not to be successful. I next move to a consideration of the atheistic philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer's chief argument against God will be seen to be an argument from exclusion, although significant difficulties will be seen to beset Schopenhauer's endeavour. He will also be seen to shape a moral philosophy which he then turns against God. This argument will be examined in some detail and it too, despite appearances, will be seen to be essentially metaphysical. Since Schopenhauer's moral philosophy is intrinsically metaphysical in this way, his moral objective to God has to be construed as relying upon the prior introduction of an element of his atheistic metaphysics and to that extent is to be considered an expression
Ray, Matthew Alun
BL Religion ; BD Speculative Philosophy
On the principles and presuppositions of atheism and agnosticism in Kant, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. This thesis will be asking questions about the underlying structure of Kant, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche's thoughts on atheism and agnosticism. It will begin with the work of the mature Kant, explaining how his epistemology, as articulated in the Critique of Pure Reason, treated the question of the sense experience of God and then how his theory of biblical hermeneutics treated the question of divine revelation through scripture, before examining Kant's moral proof of God, finding it not to be successful. I next move to a consideration of the atheistic philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer's chief argument against God will be seen to be an argument from exclusion, although significant difficulties will be seen to beset Schopenhauer's endeavour. He will also be seen to shape a moral philosophy which he then turns against God. This argument will be examined in some detail and it too, despite appearances, will be seen to be essentially metaphysical. Since Schopenhauer's moral philosophy is intrinsically metaphysical in this way, his moral objective to God has to be construed as relying upon the prior introduction of an element of his atheistic metaphysics and to that extent is to be considered an expression
principle presupposition atheism kant schopenhauer nietzsche ask_question underlying_structure kant schopenhauer nietzsche thought atheism begin work mature kant explain epistemology articulate critique_pure_reason treat question sense experience god theory biblical hermeneutics treat question divine revelation scripture examine_kant moral proof god find successful next move consideration philosophy schopenhauer schopenhauer chief argument god see argument exclusion although significant difficulty see beset schopenhauer endeavour also_see shape moral_philosophy turn god argument examine_detail despite appearance see essentially metaphysical since schopenhauer moral_philosophy intrinsically metaphysical way moral objective god construe rely_upon prior introduction element metaphysics extent consider expression