MarkT

Definitive Proof Of God's Non-Existence

{ 1:20 PM, 15/11/2008 } { 0 comments } { Link }

PROOF OF GOD'S NON-EXISTENCE

1. SHORT VERSION

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SARTRE: I tried to show that God would have to be the "in-itself for
itself," that is, an infinite in-itself inhabitated by an infinite
for-itself, and that this notion of "in-itself for itself" was in itself
contradictory and could not constitute a proof of God's existence.

DE BEAVOIR: It was, on the contrary, a proof of God's nonexistence.

SARTRE: It did provide a proof of God's nonexistence.

from Simone de Beauvoir "Adieux: A Farewell to Sartre (Interviews with
Jean-Paul Sartre)" (Penguin: 1981) p. 437

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2. FULL VERSION

Jean-Paul Sartre's "Being And Nothingness: A phenomenological essay on
ontology" (Pocket Books: 1956). Understanding Sartre's terminolgy is
critical. Sartre wrote in French and it is the French meaning that is
important. These concepts are sometimes difficult to translate into
English. French word in (...) ....

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Sartre's Terminology

Being (etre). "Being is. Being is in-itself. Being is what is is." Being
includes both Being-in-itself and Being-for-itself, but the latter is the
nihilation of the former. As contrasted with existence, Being is
all-embracing and objective rather than individual and subjective.

Being-for-itself (etre-pour-soi). The nihilation of Being-in-itself;
consciousness conceived as a lack of Being, a desire for Being, a relation
to Being. By bringing Nothingness into the world the For-itself can stand
out from Being and judge other beings by knowing what it is not. Each
For-itself is the nhilation of a particular being.

Being-in-itself (etre-en-soi). Nonconscious Being. It is the Being of the
phenomenon and overflows the knowledge which we have of it. It is
plenitude, and strictly speaking we can say of it only that it is.

Existence. Concrete, individual being here and now. Sartre says tgat for
all existentialists existence precedes essence. Existence has for them also
always a subjecrtive quaklity when applied to human reality.

Human-reality. Sartre's term for the human being or For-itself. Used both
generally (like "mankind") and for the individual man.

Nihilate (neantir). A word coined by sartre. Consciousness exists as a
consciousness by making a nothingness arise between it and the object of
which it is consciousness. Thus nihilation is that by which consciousness
exists. To nihilate is to encase in a shell of non-being.

Nothingness (neant). Nothingness does not itself have Being, yet it is
supported by Being. It comes into the world by the For-itself and is the
recoil from fullness of self-contained Being which allows consciousness to
exist as such.

adapted from Jean-Paul Sartre's "Being And Nothingness" (Pocket Books: 1956)
pp. 799-807
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Definitive Proof Of God's Non-Existence

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