Apologetics to the Glory of God

Search results for: “"transcendental argument"”

  • Modest is Hottest: A Brief Response to Bálint Békefi’s “Van Til versus Stroud: Is the Transcendental Argument for Christian Theism Viable?”

    Stroud’s Objection Restated

    Bálint Békefi proposes the following transcendental argument (Békefi, B. Van Til versus Stroud: “Is the Transcendental Argument for Christian Theism Viable?” TheoLogica. Published Online First: September 26, 2017):

    (S1) If the negation of p is self-defeating, then p is true.
    (S2) The negation of p is self-defeating.
    (S3) Therefore, p is true.     (Békefi 9)…

  • The Modal Transcendental Argument for God’s Existence by David Reiter

    The Modal Transcendental Argument for God’s Existence

    By David Reiter

    Available (not free) here:

    The Confessional Presbyterian volume 7 (2011) – http://www.cpjournal.com/products-page/subscriptions/the-confessional-presbyterian-7-2011…

  • Is the Transcendental Argument a “Magic Bullet”?

    Sometimes the term “magic bullet” or “silver bullet” comes up in discussions of Van Tilian apologetic methodology. The term is typically if not always used in a negative sense in reference to transcendental argument. Its use is not limited to any particular attitude toward Van Tilian apologetics. The first time I saw the term used was in John Frame. Paul Manata has used it in critiquing “right wing” Van Tilianism. K. Scott Oliphint has used it to correct misunderstandings of Van Til’s thought. Sometimes atheists use it. Many others do as well. So the use of the phrase in question …

  • Formal Statement of the Transcendental Argument for God

    A common objection to TAG is that it has not ever been formally stated. Of course, an argument need not be formally stated to constitute an argument, but it would perhaps be helpful to have the argument so stated. It is worth pointing out that there is not only one way to state TAG, and there have been attempts to state it formally in various ways, whether or not opponents (or proponents) of TAG think that these statements are sufficient or not. All of this aside, one of our readers came across James Anderson’s article on TAG and was inspired …

  • New Article On Transcendental Arguments

    By Robert Stern

    Click here.

    Stern, Robert, “Transcendental Arguments”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), forthcoming URL = < http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2011/entries/transcendental-arguments/. …

  • An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 12 – Transcendental argumentation.

    By C.L. Bolt

    We have said that the apologetic encounter involves a clash of worldviews which are opposite one another and are held at the deepest level of thought determining how evidence, argumentation, and even fundamentals and concepts like possibility and logic etc. are thought of and interpreted. We have said also that the unbeliever suppresses the truth in unrighteousness and that objections to the Christian faith could not even be raised were it not for the unbeliever knowing God. We might plainly assert all of these things, but they do not thereby constitute an apologetic argument. How then might …

  • A Brief Word On The Transcendental Argument For The Existence Of God

    Immanuel Kant is known for having coined a term and utilized an argument which is now referred to as transcendental, though it may be traced back even further, having been used in some sense by Aristotle (as one example). Cornelius Van Til, writing from the Continental Tradition in Philosophy, wrote extensively concerning a transcendental argument which is utilized to prove Christianity. Greg L. Bahnsen, a student of Van Til, is best known for having brought the argument, or at least something very much like the argument, into the realm of public debate and for having attempted to clarify it …

  • Questions about the Form of TAG

    I saw the following questions left for me elsewhere on the Internet so I will take a moment to briefly respond.

    1. “Van Til and Bahnsen claim that TAG is neither inductive nor deductive. Do the other things they say about TAG also imply this, and if so, how?”

    To my knowledge, Van Til and Bahnsen never use the acronym ‘TAG,’ although Bahnsen repeats the phrase ‘Transcendental Argument for God.’ Searching this site reveals a fair amount of rather heated discussion and evidence regarding Van Til and Bahnsen’s claims to the effect that transcendental argument is neither inductive nor deductive.…

  • Other Arguments

    Now the only argument for an absolute God that holds water is a transcendental argument. A deductive argument as such leads only from one spot in the universe to another spot in the universe. So also an inductive argument as such can never lead beyond the universe. In either case there is no more than an infinite regression. In both cases it is possible for the smart little girl to ask, “If God made the universe, who made God?” and no answer is forthcoming. This answer is, for instance, a favorite reply of the atheist debater, Clarence Darrow. But if

    …

  • When Possibility is Impossible: Answering a Rawlsian Ruse with Radical Retortion

    In 1971 John Rawls wrote his famous A Theory of Justice in which he presented what is known as ‘The Original Position.’ The OP is a hypothetical state of affairs in which an individual operates from behind a ‘Veil of Ignorance’ in order to establish principles of justice for society apart from considerations of ethnicity, class, gender, and the like. This thought experiment stems from the radical autonomy present in Immanuel Kant’s work.

    Enough about Rawls. Cornelius Van Til was a Christian apologist who likewise drew from Kant’s work, taking the transcendental method developed by Kant (and many others before …