[Download] "Ontological Proof and the Critique of Religious Experience (Critical Essay)" by Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Ontological Proof and the Critique of Religious Experience (Critical Essay)
- Author : Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies
- Release Date : January 22, 2010
- Genre: Religion & Spirituality,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 228 KB
Description
Anselm: an Analyst of Religious Experience In his unpublished "Lectures on the Ontological Proof of the Existence of God" (hereafter LOP) written in 1919, the original Idealist English philosopher Robin George Collingwood (1889-1943) displays the extent to which the problem of belief represented a deep and serious concern for him. Already in this early text, he writes that philosophy must renounce the judging of truth-claims regarding the general nature of reality, and aim to uncover the actual beliefs about reality held by men. He remains faithful to this idea throughout his creative life; for example, in his late An Essay on Metaphysics which deals, among other subjects, with the relevance of the ontological proof for metaphysics, he stresses that the proof does not have any ontological implications: "[W]hat [Anselm] proves is not that because our idea of God is an idea of id quo maius cogitari nequit, therefore God exists, but that because our idea of God is an idea of id quo maius cogitari nequit, we stand committed to belief in God's existence." (1) Thus, in Collingwood's opinion, Anselm did not necessarily mean that God exists independently of the believer's mind, but rather that for the Christian orthodox believer, God is conceived as existing not only as an idea pertaining to his mind, but also independently of it. According to Collingwood, the examination of the ontological proof must help us to clarify the nature of the most fundamental religious beliefs held by men. And that is why, he wrote,