Philosophy

Philosophy Study Guide

the betterment of all fellow humans. Feuerbach describes the process in which we create God we identify the most revered values and emotions that humans are capable of, imagine these values in perfect form and then invest these values and emotions with a personal identity. God is a process known as anthropomorphism. Anthropomorphism is the assigning of human characteristics to nonhuman entities. From this concept of perfection into which we have breathed supernatural life (the subject), we then proceed to elaborate our creation in more textured and personalized ways (the divine predicates). As part of this elaboration, we increasingly project ourselves as sinful and imperfect, needing blessings, mercy, and salvation from our divine creation to elevated ourselves and save us. Because we yearn to be free fromourselves from the limits and defects of our individual actual selves, it is through our imaginative creation of God that we transcend ourselves and soar to the realm of ultimate goodness and perfection. Feuerbach contended that the entire notion of God is a human construction, a projection of the idealized perfection we wish but cannot achieve for ourselves. This view reflected a patriarchy philosophy which means a form of social organization structured around the father. Many feminists and Mary argued that not only did humans created God, but they also created the idea of God in Christianity, which reflects notions of a male-dominated society. 3.4 Nishitani: Religion is a Vital Quest Keiji Nishitani was a Japanese philosopher who was strongly influenced by Buddhism but hoped to synthesize the philosophical and religious insights of both Western and Eastern traditions. For Nishitani, religion is a vital personal question that everyone must face when he or she encounters nihility, that which renders meaningless the meaning of life. From this standpoint, each person is necessarily involved in the religious questions search for true reality in a real way. For Nishitani, religion is a dimension of human experience with which we are all necessarily involved in because it has to do with the most fundamental questions we encounter: Why do I exist? Does my life have meaning? The religion Nishitani has in mind is not traditional, organized religion but rather the religious quest that is both intensely personal and ultimately profound. Nishitani believed that when we come to doubt the meaning of our existence in this way, when we become a question to ourselves, the religious quest awakens within us. Nishitani wrote Religion and Nothingness , in which he states that the challenge for each of us is to knowingly embrace this religious quest, seeking to disclose the meaning of our lives by halting the onward unreflective rush of life, and instead stepping back to come to the self. This personal exploration is not only cognitive in nature but involves the whole self, mind, and body. Nishitani considered religion to be a vital personal question that everyone must face when we confront the potential meaninglessness of our existence.

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