Abstract / DOI
Failure with Benefits: On the Magnitude and Limits of Proofs for the Existence of God. The validity and soundness of proofs for the existence of God are heavily disputed in philosophy of religion and theology. We argue that the main purpose of such proofs is to clarify the meaning of the concept ‘God’ and to reveal logical requirements and implications of theistic belief. With reference to Anselm of Canterbury, Alvin Plantinga and Charles Hartshorne, we present and discuss the Ontological Argument, concluding that it can still be rationally defended, but only with the presumption that God grounds ontological modality independent of human thought categories. This strong epistemological thesis is outlined in the Alethological Argument, which we discuss with reference to Augustine, Hans Jonas and Robert Spaemann. The argument postulates an isomorphic relation between thought/language and being, which not only implies moderate metaphysical realism, but also necessitates the existence of God to warrant this relationship.