Abstract
This paper examines an apparent contradiction in F.H. Bradley’s thinking about religion. Bradley claims that “the intellectual effort to understand the universe is a principled way of thus experiencing the Deity.” Paraphrase this as (1) A metaphysical consciousness can experience God. Elsewhere Bradley writes, “God for me has no meaning outside of the religious consciousness, and that essentially is practical.” Paraphrase this as (2) God has meaning only for a practical consciousness. Bradley also claims that metaphysics is a theoretical, not a practical, activity. Paraphrase this as (3) A metaphysical consciousness is not a practical consciousness. (2) and (3) entail (4) God has no meaning for a metaphysical consciousness. But (4) is the negation of (1), and thus Bradley seems caught in a contradiction.
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Allard, J.W. (2016). Metaphysics, Religion, and Self-Realization in F.H. Bradley. In: Mander, W., Panagakou, S. (eds) British Idealism and the Concept of the Self. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46671-6_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46671-6_3
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