INSTRUCTIONS:
Please choose one of the following questions and post an answer/response. Also please make sure to respond to at least two posts of your classmates and/or the instructor . To earn full credit for this discussion assignment you need to make three substantive posts (see Discussion Guidelines under Course Home). Make sure to include references to the course materials in your responses.
(1) When a claim is “objectively” true this means that the truth of the claim is not a matter of personal experience or subjective perception. For instance, your math professor tells you that “1+1=2.” This statement would be an example of an objective truth. The truth of “1+1=2” does not depend on your own personal knowledge or subjective experience. Even if you were to disagree with your math professor, all that would mean is that you were wrong. The statement “1+1=2” remains true regardless of what you think about it. On the other hand, some things in life are subjectively true. For instance, your math professor says, “Chocolate ice cream tastes great!” That would be a subjective truth. It might be true that chocolate ice cream tastes great to your math professor; however, you might not like the taste of chocolate ice cream at all, so that claim would not be true for you. Now consider the following claim: “God exists.” If God’s existence is objectively true (like 1+1=2), then why does Kierkegaard argue that Truth is “subjectivity”? For Kierkegaard, is saying “I believe God exists” similar to saying “I believe chocolate that ice cream tastes great”? Why or why not? What is the important point that Kierkegaard is trying to make by arguing that Truth is “subjectivity”? Make sure to support your answer with references to the assigned readings.
(2) Even if you never met your biological mother and father (e.g., both of your parents died before you were old enough to know them or you were adopted as an infant), you objectively know that you must have a biological mother and father. You objectively believe that you have a mother and father because you realize that if you did not have a biological mother and father, then you would not be here today. However, knowing that you have a biological mother and father is not the same as having a relationship with them and/or knowing them in a personal manner. Is the same thing true for God? Is it enough to believe that God exists (in an objective sense) or is it also important to have a personal experience of God (in a subjective sense)? When answering this question make sure to include references to the assigned readings.
