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| Ludwig Feuerbach |
The Essence Of Christianity is merely a footnote to Metaphysics. When Feuerbach states that he differs from those philosophers "who pluck out their eyes that they may see better; for my thought I require the senses, especially sight," he is echoing Aristotle: "All men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is in the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves; and above all others the sense of sight." To therefore claim with Feuerbach that theology is anthropology is simply another way of saying with Aristotle that the essence of a thing is found in the form of the thing (not merely in its matter): the form of the eye is seeing (as it were).
This is why the five ways of Aquinas all involve the cosmological argument from the existence of created things as known through our senses. This is why Heidegger states that you cannot ask the question of the meaning of Being without human beings. And this is why Rahner argues (in Thomistic fashion) that to carry out Feuerbach's program of reformulating dogmatic theology into theological anthropology does not necessarily mean that God gets reduced to man: "to turn toward man is to discover the place where mystery is inscribed in the world."
This instance of Ecce Homo gives us a glimpse into why Feuerbach’s Essence is the exceptional exception to the common claim that all philosophy is but footnotes to Plato.
This is why the five ways of Aquinas all involve the cosmological argument from the existence of created things as known through our senses. This is why Heidegger states that you cannot ask the question of the meaning of Being without human beings. And this is why Rahner argues (in Thomistic fashion) that to carry out Feuerbach's program of reformulating dogmatic theology into theological anthropology does not necessarily mean that God gets reduced to man: "to turn toward man is to discover the place where mystery is inscribed in the world."
This instance of Ecce Homo gives us a glimpse into why Feuerbach’s Essence is the exceptional exception to the common claim that all philosophy is but footnotes to Plato.
Sources
Aristotle. Metaphysics. Princeton University Press. 1991.
Karl Rahner. Foundations Of Christian Faith. Crossroad. 1982.
Ludwig Feuerbach. The Essence Of Christianity. Dover. 2008.
Martin Heidegger. Being And Time. Blackwell Publishers. 1962.
Thomas Aquinas. Nature And Grace. Aeterna Press. 2015.
Thomas Sheehan. The Dream Of Karl Rahner. The New York Review Of Books. February 4, 1982.
