                           20020120.01

I insert the numerals in the text because I think
a review of the translation might help.

Kierkegaard wrote:

1 Saa lader os da kalde dette Ubekjendte Guden.
2 Det er blot et Navn vi give det.
3 At ville bevise, at dette Ubekjendte (Guden) er til,
4 falder vel neppe Forstanden ind.
5 Dersom nemlig Guden ikke er til,
6 saa er det jo en Umulighed at bevise det,
7 men er han til,
8 saa er det jo en Daarskab at ville bevise det;
da jeg, netop i det /Oieblik som Beviset begynder,
har forudsat det ikke som tvivlsomt,
hvilket jo en Forudsaetning ikke kan vaere,
da den er en Forudsaetning, men som afgjort,
da jeg ellers ikke vilde begynde, let forstaaende,
at det Hele vilde blive en Umulighed,
hvis han ikke var til.

     Note that in line 4 of the translation (corresponding to
line 3 of the original, since the translators have reversed the
clauses), reference is made to the possibility of demonstrating
that this unknown (the god) exists.  What Kierkegaard wrote was:
3) ... at dette Ubekjendte (Guden) er til, "er til" is translated
as "exists".  I think Kierkegaard's meaning becomes clearer if
one translates "er til" to mean "is there", (in German: "ist
da").  "er til" might also be translated as "is present",
although to my (non-Danish) ears even "is present" lacks the
intuitive immediacy which I think I hear in "er til".  The
question: "Are you there?" is not equivalent to the question: "Do
you exist?"  Admittedly everything that "is there", exists, but
surely not everything that "exists" "is there".  The point that I
understand Kierkegaard to make is that the unknown is there, is
immediate in inwardness to a degree which precludes proof.
Suppose, for argument's sake, that the unknown is not there, then
proof will not conjure it up, but if the unknown _is_ there then
its intuitive immediacy is such that proof is redundant, is
Daarskab, foolishness.

     I see no contradiction between Kierkegaard's account of the
unknown and the surmise that "the notion of God is invented."
What is invented is the name of God, the linguistic, pictorial
and historical caricature that was spurned by the voice in the
burning bush which declared: I am that I am.

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