Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 50
EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY. M. ARX (1818-1883), among the atheist philosophers of the ninteenth century, should be treated separately in his own right. To him the denial of God is not merely incidental, it is an integral component of his philosophy, with which religion is absolutely incompatible. With him,. MARX. Abbasi humans are like elements interacting with each other under the socio-economic laws which govern them. They must be set free from the religious interference which distracts their natural course. To Marx, revelation and inspiration lie beyond the vocabulary of philosophical thought. . Next to him is Nietzsche, with his own special domineering personality. His sabre-like pen impales God as his prime victim, until he pronounces Him dead; or, so he thought. In fact he knew no God, other than the God of the. Christian dogma and it was Him that his sword of reason had murdered. Thus, Kierkegaard is proved so right in his warning to the priests to maintain a sullen silence about the divine mystery of Trinity; rather than invite trouble by venturing to defend it with instruments of reason. . Most of the atheist European philosophers of that age were, in fact, driven to the denial of God largely by the. Christian Church, which had mystified God's image to the extent of absurdity. Among other atheist philosophers,. Sartre (1905-1980) is perhaps the most interesting and playful. He knows how to coin simple phrases with profound ideas. At the helplessness of man in his freedom to shift for himself in a Godless universe, he exclaims: 6 man is condemned to be free. ". By this he means that the responsibility to make choices for himself, which lies on every human shoulder, is 50