چکیده:
Introduction"Divine Hiddenness Argument" is one of the arguments against the existence of God, which has attracted the attention of some religious philosophers in the contemporary era. The introducers of this argument, by referring to some important attributes of the God of monotheistic religions, and the requirements and consequences of accepting these attributes in human life, especially His complete and absolute love for His creatures, try to convince that the real world is devoid of the existence of God, or at least make the possibility of His non-existence appear weaker than the possibility of His existence.John L. Schellenberg, the Canadian philosopher, has tried to present this matter in the form of various logical arguments in his works, and in his opinion, has tried to make it appear as complete proof against the existence of God. On the other hand, a range of theistic thinkers and philosophers have tried to criticize this argument and show its inadequacy in proving the non-existence of God. This argument is based on the concept and assent principles, whose discussion and analysis will be helpful in the correct understanding of the argument, and the continuation of its criticism.Although in the works that criticized Schellenberg's “Divine Hiddenness Argument”, useful information about the principles and presuppositions of Schellenberg's argument has been stated, and we have also taken advantage of this information, none of them have discussed this argument from the perspective of assent principles and they have not examined and corrected. In this paper, we are going to investigate Schellenberg's “Divine Hiddenness Argument”.Principles are the contents and materials on which the problems of science are based, and they can be divided into two parts: concepts and assents. Assent principles refer to propositions that come as an introduction to the arguments and analogies used in a science, and to prove the problems and rules of that science. These propositions are also of two categories: some of them are self-evident, and therefore, do not need proof; while some others are theoretical and need proof, and of course this is done in another science other than assent principles.The type of assent principles are confirmation and they are propositional and indicate the assent of existence, the truth and reality of propositions, and the issues and subjects of science; in other words, assent principles are issues and reasons that lead to the acceptance of the existence predicables of science problems. In this research, by examining Schellenberg's works, we have tried to extract the assent principles of his interpretations of the “Divine Hiddenness Argument”. Literature ReviewAccording to the search of valid and indexed scientific documents in scientific sites, so far eight scientific-research articles and two books have been written about the “Divine Hiddenness Argument”. In all of them, the authors have either taken steps in the direction of presenting the “Divine Hiddenness Argument”, or they have mentioned the presuppositions of Schellenberg's argument, but as we will indicate in our research, the assent principles of this argument have not been mentioned by those authors; it is why referring to these principles is considered as the originality of this research, although some researchers have indirectly referred to these principles in their works. MethodologyThis paper using a descriptive-analytical method, refers to the assent principles of Schellenberg's argument and analyzes them. In the analysis, data is collected from Western and Islamic sources, and rational and descriptive-analytical analysis is used (If necessary). ResultsBy examining Schellenberg's works, one can find four assent principles for his argument: 1. the involuntary nature of the belief formation process in humans; 2. God's finality, His incomparability, unsurpassable, and inaccessibility; 3. Ultimism theory; 4. Human free will. The explanation of these matters, along with considerations based on them, will be presented in this research.
خلاصه ماشینی:
Based on the findings of the research, the involuntary nature of the belief formation process in humans, considering God as inaccessible as an ultimate end, teleology, and human free will are considered the four assertional principles of Schellenberg's argument from divine hiddenness.
com Evaluating the Assertional Principles of the Argument from Divine Hiddenness in Schellenberg's Thought; Hashemi and Rajabi | 247 Problem Statement In the past, humans assumed that human understanding of the perception of God's presence and the experience of it is limited, and that deficiency in this regard stems from themselves; however, based on the anthropocentric approach, which is a product of the modern era, in the contemporary world, God must be held responsible!
Evaluating the assertional principles of the argument from divine hiddenness in Schellenberg's thought; Hashemi and Rajabi | 255 encompassing is; following the assumption of this attribute, other attributes of God can be considered, including: being personal,1 omnipotent,2 omniscient,3 purely good, and especially absolute love and affection (Ibid).
Some thinkers who are categorized among theists, in response to the discussion of divine hiddenness raised by the proponent of this argument, see the manifestness of God as being in conflict with human free will; however, Schellenberg believes that while taking human free will into account, one can from God 260 | Scientific Quarterly of Wisdom and Philosophy | Year 19 | Number 76 | Winter 2024 expect that He will manifest Himself to us in a clearer way; whereas, with the occurrence of reasonable non-belief and also considering that absolute divine love should entail a personal relationship with humans, yet we do not observe such a thing as it deserves, therefore it must be said that while presupposing human free will, one can also strongly raise the issue of divine hiddenness.
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