Presuppositionalism
Presuppositionalism is a Christian apologetic method that argues the existence of the Christian God must be assumed at the outset, because without that assumption no reasoning — including the atheist's — can get off the ground.
Developed in the twentieth century by the Dutch-American theologian Cornelius Van Til, presuppositionalism rejects the traditional natural-theology project of arguing up to God from neutral starting points. Van Til held that there are no neutral starting points: every inquirer brings presuppositions, and only the Christian worldview can consistently ground the laws of logic, the uniformity of nature, and the reliability of reason.
The characteristic move is the transcendental argument: "How do you account for X, given your worldview?" where X is something the skeptic also relies on — induction, moral obligation, the existence of abstract objects, the reliability of cognition. The claim is that atheism cannot give a coherent account of X, but Christian theism can, and therefore Christian theism is true.
Popular practitioners include Greg Bahnsen, whose 1985 debate with the atheist Gordon Stein is still widely studied, and Sye Ten Bruggencate, whose YouTube exchanges with Matt Dillahunty popularized the approach for a new generation. Critics argue that presuppositionalism is circular by design (it assumes what it tries to prove) and that the transcendental challenge can be met by non-theistic worldviews — Platonism, naturalism with primitive laws, and evolutionary epistemology all offer accounts of induction and logic without invoking a deity.
Presuppositionalism is a minority position within Christian philosophy but has outsized internet presence because the "you have no grounding for logic" move is rhetorically striking. A secular reader who encounters the argument benefits from knowing the name — the literature has excellent rebuttals and the move has been refined and refuted for decades.
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Related terms
- FideismFideism is the view that religious belief does not need — and sometimes cannot receive — rational justification, because faith is either prior to reason or operates on a different plane from it.
- Natural theologyNatural theology is the project of using reason and observation — without appealing to revelation or scripture — to establish conclusions about the existence and nature of God.