God beyond metaphysics? Reconsidering Heideggers and Carnap’s critiques of metaphysics

Abstract:

For two of the main contemporary philosophical traditions – the phenomenological and the analytical – the second half of the previous century saw a rebirth of the philosophical discourse about God, established, however, beyond the boundaries of traditional metaphysics. Heideggers and Carnaps critiques of metaphysics do not seem to have ceased to exert their influence. In this article, I reconsider the legitimacy of those criticisms by asking: is it truly necessary that contemporary thought proposes a philosophical discourse about God outside of the realm of traditional metaphysics? In virtue of the same fundamental fault that, paradoxically, is hidden as much within the criticism of Heidegger as within that of Carnap, I respond negatively to this question.

Key words:

Overcoming metaphysics, ontotheology, logical analysis of language, philosophical discourse about God.