In European philosophy, proof of the existence of God is necessary for understanding the connection between being and thinking. This topic excites the minds of prominent thinkers for millennia. This path did not pass the great German thinker Emanuel Kant - the founder of German classical philosophy. There is classic evidence of the existence of God. Kant subjected them to research and severe criticism, while wanting true Christianity, not devoid of reason.
Background of criticism
I want to note that between the time of Kant and Thomas Aquinas, whose evidence is recognized by the church as classical, five hundred years have passed, during which significant changes in life came. Society and man himself were transformed, new laws were discovered in the natural fields of knowledge, which could explain many natural and physical phenomena. Step forward and philosophical science. Naturally, the five proofs of the existence of God, Kant, born five hundred years later, could not satisfy logically correctly constructed by Thomas Aquinas . In fact, there is much more evidence.
In his work, Kant comes to surprising conclusions regarding the inner world of man. While studying the external world, a person understands that certain laws operate in the Universe that can explain the nature of many phenomena, while studying moral laws, he is faced with the fact that he does not know anything about spiritual nature and only makes assumptions.
Considering from a philosophical perspective the evidence of the existence of God, Kant doubts their validity from the point of view of his time. But he does not deny the very existence of God; he is most likely critical of the methods of proof. He claims that spiritual nature was and remains unexplored, unknown. The boundary of knowledge is, according to Kant, the main problem of philosophy.
Even if we take our time when the natural sciences made an unprecedented leap: discoveries in physics, chemistry, biology and other sciences, then in the spiritual plane everything remains at the level of assumptions, as in the time of Kant.
Five evidence
Thomas Aquinas chose the correctly constructed logical evidence of the existence of God. Kant they were reduced to three: cosmological, ontological, theological. Examining them, he criticizes the existing ones, and introduces a new proof - moral law. This caused a controversial reaction of thinkers. We will name these five proofs.
First
Everything in nature moves. But any movement cannot begin on its own. An initial stimulator (source) is needed, which itself remains at rest. This is the highest power - God. In other words, if there is movement in the Universe, then someone had to start it.
Second
Cosmological evidence. Any cause gives rise to a consequence. It makes no sense to look for the previous one, since the causeless cause or the root cause is God.
Third
Any object in the universe enters into a relationship and relationship with other objects, bodies. It is not possible to find all previous relationships and relationships. There must be an independent and self-sufficient source - this is God. Kant presented this proof as a continuation of the cosmological.
Fourth
Ontological evidence. Absolute perfection is that which is in representation and reality. Its principle to the complex from the simple is the eternal movement towards absolute perfection. That is God. Kant declared that it is impossible to imagine God as all-perfect only in our consciousness. He rejects this evidence.
Fifth
Theological evidence. Everything in the world exists in a certain order and harmony, the occurrence of which is impossible in itself. This suggests that there is some kind of organizing principle. This is God. Plato and Socrates saw in the structure of the world a higher mind. This evidence is called biblical.
Kant's proof
Moral (spiritual). After conducting critical analysis and proving the fallacy of classical evidence, the philosopher discovers a completely new, which, to Kant's surprise, gives six proofs of the existence of God. No one to this day can neither confirm nor deny it. A brief summary of it is as follows. The conscience of a person living inside him contains a moral law that a person cannot create on his own; he also does not arise from an agreement between people. Our spirit is closely connected with God. He is independent of our desire. The creator of this law is the highest legislator, no matter what we call it.
For its observance, a person cannot desire a reward, but it is implied. In our spirit, the highest legislator has laid down that virtue receives the highest reward (happiness), vice is punishment. The combination of morality with the happiness that is given to a person as a reward is the highest good that everyone strives for. The combination of happiness with morality does not depend on a person.
Religion as a confirmation of God
All earthly nations have a religion, believe in God. This was discussed by Aristotle and Cicero. Along with this, there is seven evidence of the existence of God. Kant refutes this statement, stating that we do not know all peoples. The universality of the concept cannot serve as evidence. But at the same time, he says that this confirms the existence of a moral law, that faith in God lives in every soul, regardless of race, climate, in which a person lives
Kant and faith
From the biography of Kant, it is clear that he belonged to religion with absolute indifference. From childhood, he was brought up on an understanding of faith (Lutheranism) in the spirit of pietism - a widespread movement at that time that arose in Germany at the end of the 17th century as a protest against the degeneration of Lutheranism. He was against church rites. Pietism was based on belief in the subject of faith, knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and moral behavior. Subsequently, pietism degenerates into fanaticism.
He subsequently subjected the childish pietistic attitude to philosophical analysis and harsh criticism. First of all, I got the Bible, which Kant considered nothing more than an ancient text. Further criticized is the concept of "salvation." Lutheranism, as the course of Christianity, makes it dependent on faith. Kant perceives this as an insufficiently respectful attitude to the human mind, the restriction of his self-improvement.
I would like to immediately note that the philosophical evidence of the existence of God, Kant discovered including, is the subject of European philosophy and papal Christianity. In Orthodoxy, no attempt has been made to prove the existence of God. Since faith in God is a matter of personal beliefs of a person, therefore, no evidence was required.
The subcritical period of Kant
In the first half of life, or, as biographers call this time, in the subcritical period, Emmanuel Kant did not think of any evidence of the existence of God. He was completely absorbed in natural science topics in which he makes an attempt to interpret the structure of the Universe, the origin of the universe from the point of view of Newtonian principles. In his main work, "Universal Natural History and Theory of Heaven," he considers the emergence of the Universe from the chaos of matter, which is affected by two forces: repulsion and attraction. Its origin with planets, with its own laws of development.
Based on the words of Kant himself, he tried not to conflict with the requirements of religion. But his main idea: “Give me matter, and I will build the world out of it ...” is the daring to make myself equal, from the point of view of religion, to God. There was no consideration of evidence of the existence of God and their refutation by Kant during this period of his life; this came later.
It was at this time that Kant was fascinated by philosophical methodology, he was looking for a way to turn metaphysics into an exact science. Among the philosophers of that time, there was an opinion that metaphysics became akin to mathematics. It was with this that Kant did not agree, defining metaphysics as an analysis, on the basis of which elementary concepts of human thinking are determined, and mathematics should be constructive.
Critical period
During the critical period, his most important works, Critique of Pure Reason, Critique of Practical Reason, Critique of the Power of Judgment, were created, where Immanuel Kant analyzes the existence of God. As a philosopher, he was primarily interested in the issues of understanding the being and the very object of the existence of God, put forward in philosophical theology by prominent thinkers of the past, such as Aristotle, Descartes, Leibniz, scholastic theologians, namely Thomas Aquinas, Anselm of Canterbury, Mulbransh. There were a lot of them, so the five main evidence set forth by Thomas Aquinas are considered classical.
Another Kant's proof of the existence of God can be briefly called the law within us. This is moral (spiritual law). Kant was shocked by this discovery and began to look for the beginning of this powerful force, which makes a person undergo the most terrible mental torment and forget about the instinct of self-preservation, gives a person incredible strength and energy.
Kant came to the conclusion that neither in feelings, nor in reason, nor in the natural and social environments of God there is, just as there is no mechanism in them of the generation of morality. But he is in us. For non-observance of his laws, a person will definitely be punished.