The Transcendental Argument for the existence of God (TAG) is an argument for the existence of God which attempts to show that logic, science, ethics (and generally every fact of human experience and knowledge) are not meaningful apart from a preconditioning belief in the existence of the Christian God. A version was formulated by Immanuel Kant in his 1763 work The Only Possible Argument in Support of a Demonstration of the Existence of God. A version is also commonly used by presuppositional apologists and is considered by some of them (especially those of the Van Tillian variety) to be the only valid method of apologetical argumentation. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Existence of God. ... Logic, from Classical Greek λόγος (logos), originally meaning the word, or what is spoken, (but coming to mean thought or reason) is most often said to be the study of criteria for the evaluation of arguments, although the exact definition of logic is a matter of controversy among philosophers. ... Science in the broadest sense refers to any knowledge or system of knowledge, attained by verifiable means. ... Ethics (from Greek ἦθος meaning custom) is the branch of axiology, one of the four major branches of philosophy, which attempts to understand the nature of morality; to distinguish that which is right from that which is wrong. ... Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on Jesus of Nazareth, and on his life and teachings as presented in the New Testament. ... Immanuel Kant (22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804), was a German philosopher from Königsberg in East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). ... 1763 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... The Only Possible Argument in Support of a Demonstration of the Existence of God is a book by Immanuel Kant, published in 1763. ... Presuppositional apologetics is a school of Christian apologetics, a field of Christian theology that attempts to (1) present a rational basis for the Christian faith, (2) defend the faith against objections, and (3) attack the alleged flaws of other worldviews. ... Cornelius Van Til Cornelius Van Til (May 4, 1895 - April 17, 1987), born in Grootegast, the Netherlands, was a Christian philosopher, Reformed theologian, and presuppositional apologist. ... Apologetics is the field of study concerned with the systematic defense of a position. ...

Transcendental reasoning

Transcendental arguments should not be confused with transcendent arguments, or arguments for the existence of something transcendent. In other words, they are distinct from both, arguments that appeal to a transcendent intuition or sense as evidence (Fideism), and arguments which move from direct evidence to the existence of a transcendent thing (Classical Apologetics). In philosophy, transcendental/transcendence, has three different but related primary meanings, all of them derived from the words literal meaning (from Latin), of climbing or going beyond: one that originated in Ancient philosophy, one in Medieval philosophy and one in modern philosophy. ... In Christian theology, fideism is any of several belief systems which hold, on various grounds, that reason is irrelevant to religious faith. ... Christian Apologetics is the field of study concerned with the systematic defense of Christianity. ...

They are also distinct from standard deductive and inductive forms of reasoning. Where a standard deductive argument looks for what we can deduce from the fact of X, and a standard inductive argument looks for what we can infer from experience of X, a transcendental argument looks for the necessary prior conditions to both the fact and experience of X. Thus, "I entitle transcendental all knowledge which is occupied not so much with objects as with the mode of our knowledge of objects in so far as this mode of knowledge is to be possible a priori." (Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Introduction, VII). There are several meanings for the word deduction: Natural deduction Deductive reasoning Deductions in terms of taxation, such as Itemized deductions Standard deduction See also: Logic Venn diagram Inductive reasoning Both statistics and the scientific method rely on both induction and deduction. ... // Induction or inductive reasoning, sometimes called inductive logic, is the process of reasoning in which the premises of an argument support the conclusion but do not ensure it. ... Immanuel Kant (22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804), was a German philosopher from Königsberg in East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). ... This article or section is incomplete and may require cleanup and/or expansion. ...

The argument

The TAG is a transcendental argument which attempts to prove that the Christian God is the precondition of all human knowledge and experience, by demonstrating the impossibility of the contrary. R. L. Dabney shed some light on what is meant by "impossibility of the contrary" when he wrote: R. L. Dabney Robert Lewis Dabney (March 5, 1820 — January 3, 1898) was an American theologian, a Southern Presbyterian, and chaplain, chief of staff, and biographer to Stonewall Jackson. ...

A truth is not necessary, because we negatively are not able to conceive the actual existence of the opposite thereof; but a truth is necessary when we positively are able to apprehend that the negation thereof includes an inevitable contradiction. It is not that we cannot see how the opposite comes to be true, but it is that we are able to see that that the opposite cannot possibly be true. (Systematic Theology, sect. 1, chap. 6, lect. 8[1]).

Cornelius Van Til likewise wrote: Cornelius Van Til Cornelius Van Til (May 4, 1895 - April 17, 1987), born in Grootegast, the Netherlands, was a Christian philosopher, Reformed theologian, and presuppositional apologist. ...

We must point out to [our opponents] that [non-theistic] reasoning itself leads to self-contradiction, not only from a theistic point of view, but from a non-theistic point of view as well. . . . It is this that we ought to mean when we say that we reason from the impossibility of the contrary. The contrary is impossible only if it is self-contradictory when operating on the basis of its own assumptions. (A Survey of Christian Epistemology [Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1969], p. 204).

Therefore, the TAG differs from Thomistic and Evidentialist arguments, which posit the probable existence of a God in order to avoid an infinite regress of causes or motions, to explain life on Earth, and so on. The TAG posits the necessary existence of a particular God in order for human knowledge and experience to be possible at all. The TAG argues that, because the triune God of the Bible, being completely logical, uniform, and good, exhibits his character in the created order and the creatures themselves (especially in humans), human knowledge and experience are possible. This reasoning implies that all other worldviews (Atheism, Buddhism, Islam, etc), if carried out to their logical conclusions, must be reduced to either absurdity, arbitrariness or inconsistency. Thomism is the philosophical school that followed in the legacy of Thomas Aquinas. ... Evidentialism is a theory of justification according to which believing proposition p is justified for some agent S at time t iff S s total evidence at t supports p; that, in short, the justified attitude toward a proposition, be it belief, disbelief, or suspension of judgment, is the one... For other uses, see Trinity (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Bible (disambiguation). ... Creation is a doctrinal position in many religions which maintains that one or a group of gods or deities is responsible for creating the universe. ... Look up Mankind in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Mankind may refer to: Human beings and their society The morality play Mankind An alias of professional wrestler Mick Foley An MMORTS (massively multiplayer online real-time strategy); see Mankind (MMORTS) A French Demoscene group : m4nkind (web) Spelt thus: ManKind, it can... Atheism, in its broadest sense, is the absence of theism (the belief in the existence of deities). ... Buddhism (also known as Buddha Dharma, the teachings of the awakened one) is a religion, a practical philosophy, and arguably a psychology, focusing on the teachings of Gautama Buddha (Pali: Gotama Buddha), who lived on the Indian subcontinent most likely from the mid-6th to the early 5th century BCE... For other uses, including people named Islam, see Islam (disambiguation). ...

An example of the TAG can be formulated with regard to moral absolutes. The TAG asserts an omnibenevolent God whose own character is the basis for the predication of right and wrong to any thought or action. In creation he has equipped man to be a moral being, and in his self-revelation he reveals how man should act, and commands him to do so. Thus, man has an absolute standard of morality by which to condemn evil thoughts and actions (or commend good ones).

It is argued that the moral relativist, by contrast, cannot condemn theft, rape or genocide (nor commend generosity, marriage, or the preservation of life) without exposing his reliance on the very assumption of absolute morality which he claims to reject. But the relativist does make such value judgments, often about the very teachings contained in the Bible. No moral condemnations (or exhortations), it is argued, can be accounted for from the relativist's own worldview — instead they are derived from unconsciously "borrowed capital" from Christianity, which allegedly proves the truth of the Christian worldview. This article attempts to confine itself to discussion of relativism in morality and ethics. ...

Criticisms of the TAG

Several criticisms of the TAG have emerged. One says that TAG is not a distinctive form of argument. That is, this objection claims that the form of the TAG (indirect, transcendental), is really just a reworking of the standard deductive and inductive forms of reasoning; that there is really not much difference between Thomas Aquinas and Cornelius Van Til. Notably, John Frame, a student of Van Til, has endorsed this objection. Saint Thomas Aquinas [Thomas of Aquin, or Aquino] (c. ... Cornelius Van Til Cornelius Van Til (May 4, 1895 - April 17, 1987), born in Grootegast, the Netherlands, was a Christian philosopher, Reformed theologian, and presuppositional apologist. ... John Frame Dr. John M. Frame (born 1939) is an American philosopher and a Calvinist theologian especially noted for his work in epistemology and presuppositional apologetics, systematic theology, and ethics. ...

Another objection is that the TAG does not provide a uniqueness proof. That is, this objection claims that even if the TAG can prove a God -- it doesn't prove the Christian God -- any sufficiently similar God would do (e.g., Allah). John Warwick Montgomery presented this objection in the article titled Once Upon an A Priori..., presented in Van Til's festschrift, Jerusalem and Athens. John Warwick Montgomery was born October 18, 1931 in Warsaw, New York. ... In academia, a Festschrift is a book honouring a respected academic. ...

Another criticism comes in the form of claiming that the TAG, while proving the Christian God, still doesn't necessarily prove it. Christianity may be sufficient as a precondition of human experience and knowledge, but it is not necessary. This objection is essentially the same as the prior one, just stated in different language.

Another objection claims that the TAG moves from conceptual necessity to necessary existence. This criticism argues that proving the conceptual necessity of a worldview, doesn't establish its ontological reality. In other words, one may need to think about the world a certain way to make sense of their experience and knowledge, but that doesn't prove that the world actually is that way. David P. Hoover has raised this objection in his article titled For the Sake of Argument.

Another objection claims that the TAG utilizes circular reasoning to make its case. That is, the TAG is assuming from the beginning what it intends to establish by its conclusion (namely, the existence of God). This has been a common popular objection.

Defenses of the TAG

Van Til himself didn't directly attempt to answer any of the criticisms of the TAG noted above. Bahnsen has offered a defense against all of them in various places in his literature and media, however he never attempted to answer all of them in one place. Michael Butler has recently published a 59-page article dedicated to examining the TAG, along with transcendental arguments in the contemporary philosophical literature, and defending them against objections, in which he attempts to deal with the objections noted above, among others. The article is aptly titled The Transcendental Argument for God's Existence, and was published in Bahnsen's festschrift, The Standard Bearer. Micheal Butler is a musician and podcaster from San Fransisco, California. ... In academia, a Festschrift is a book honouring a respected academic. ...

As the most common popular objection is the claim that the TAG involves circularity, the defense will be briefly outlined. Proponents of the argument claim that worldview level considerations are supposed to be circular as a sign of internal cohesion. In dealing with the inevitable circularity of worldviews, proponents of the argument maintain that two criteria must be met to prove a given worldview true, which they claim only Christianity can be shown to satisfy:

1. Internal consistency -- The statements made by the worldview do not contradict one another or otherwise lead to internal contradictions. Logical Positivism fails this test by its claim that “A statement is literally meaningful if and only if it is either analytic or empirically verifiable,” a statement which is not itself verifiable analytically or empirically. Another example is the claim by moral relativists that absolutes do not exist, which is itself an absolute claim. Logical positivism (later referred to as logical empiricism, rational empiricism, or neo-positivism) is a philosophy that combines positivism—which states that the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge—with a version of apriorism—the notion that some propositional knowledge can be had without, or prior to, experience. ...

2. External conformity -- The statements must not lead to contradictions in our experience or observations with the world around us. Hinduism fails this test with its claim of reincarnation, which contradicts the collective human experience of only first coming into existence with the present life. Hinduism (Sanskrit: , IAST: ), also known as , (IAST: ) and , (IAST: ) is a set of religious traditions that originated mainly in the Indian subcontinent. ...

More information

A number of Apologists have used the TAG, including Cornelius Van Til, Greg Bahnsen, John Frame, and Michael Butler. Also see Michael Martin's Transcendental Argument for the Non-existence of God (TANG). Atheists maintain that Dr. Michael Martin has adequately responded to the TAG with this argument but Reformed theologians insists that an adequate rebuttal has not been achieved. [2]. A detailed set of objections and replies are provided on this article's talk page. Cornelius Van Til Cornelius Van Til (May 4, 1895 - April 17, 1987), born in Grootegast, the Netherlands, was a Christian philosopher, Reformed theologian, and presuppositional apologist. ... Greg Bahnsen Greg Bahnsen (September 17, 1948-December 11, 1995) was an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and a full time Scholar in Residence for the Southern California Center for Christian Studies. ... John Frame Dr. John M. Frame (born 1939) is an American philosopher and a Calvinist theologian especially noted for his work in epistemology and presuppositional apologetics, systematic theology, and ethics. ... Micheal Butler is a musician and podcaster from San Fransisco, California. ... Michael Martin is a philosopher at Boston University as professor emeritus. ... The Transcendental Argument for the Non-existence of God (also called TANG) was first explicitly formulated by Michael Martin in a 1996 article in New Zealand Rationalist & Humanist [1]. It was first intended as a reply to the Transcendental argument for the existence of God, which argues that logic, science...

See also

• Christian apologetics
• Argument from morality (Some forms of which are TAGs)

Christian Apologetics is the field of study concerned with the systematic defense of Christianity. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

References

• E. R. Geehan, ed., Jerusalem and Athens: Critical Discussions on the Philosophy and Apologetics of Cornelius Van Til (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1980).
• Greg L. Bahnsen, Van Til's Apologetic: Readings and Analysis (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1998).
• John M. Frame, Cornelius Van Til: An Analysis of His Thought (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1995).
• Steven M. Schlissel, ed., The Standard Bearer: A Festschrift for Greg L. Bahnsen (Nacogdoches: Covenant Media Press, 2002).
• Greg L. Bahnsen, Always Ready: Directions for Defending the Faith". Robert R. Booth, ed. (Nacogdoches: Covenant Media Press, 1996).
• John M. Frame, Apologetics to the Glory of God: An Introduction (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1994).
• John M. Frame, The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1987).

External links

Articles

• Naturalism Defeated A recent transcendental argument by Alvin Plantinga.
• Derrida, Van Til and the Metaphysics of Postmodernism An appraisal of Postmodernism, specifically Deconstruction, in light of Van Til by Jacob Gabriel Hale.

Alvin Cornelius Plantinga (born 15 November 1932 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, of Frisian ancestry) is a contemporary American philosopher known for his work in epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of religion. ...

Debates

• "The Great Debate: Does God Exist?" Audio (in RealAudio format) of a formal debate between Christian Greg Bahnsen and skeptic Gordon Stein from the University of California, Irvine.
• The Martin-Frame Debate A written debate between skeptic Michael Martin and Christian John Frame about the transcendental argument for the existence of God.
• The Drange-Wilson Debate A written debate between skeptic Theodore Drange and Christian Douglas Wilson.
• "Is Non-Christian Thought Futile?" A written debate between Christian Doug Jones and skeptics Keith Parsons and Michael Martin in Antithesis magazine (vol. 2, no. 4).