The Moral Argument for the Existence of God and Immortality

Kierkegaard and Kant

Bibliographic Data

ID14760719
AuthorsRoe Fremstedal (corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume41
Issue1
Pages50-78
Publication date2013-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Religious Ethics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0384-9694 • E-ISSN: 1467-9795
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jore.12004
OpenAlexW1744341559
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited25

This essay tries to show that there exist several passages where K ierkegaard (and his pseudonyms) sketches an argument for the existence of God and immortality that is remarkably similar to K ant's so‐called moral argument for the existence of God and immortality. In particular, K ierkegaard appears to follow K ant's moral argument both when it comes to the form and content of the argument as well as some of its terminology. The essay concludes that several passages in K ierkegaard overlap significantly with K ant's moral argument, although K ierkegaard ultimately favors revealed faith over natural theology in general and K ant's moral faith in particular. Whereas K ant uses the moral argument to postulate the existence of God and immortality, K ierkegaard mainly uses it as a reductio ad absurdum of non‐religious thinking

Argument (complex analysis · Epistemology · Existence of God · Faith · Immortality · Metaphysics · Reductio ad absurdum · Theism · Theology · Free Will and Agency · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Theology and Philosophy of Evil

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