Atheism
Atheism is the view that God, or a particular divinity, does not exist, together with the denial that supernatural forces intervene in the world.[1] It is the denial of theism.[2]
Strong and weak atheism
J. Adam Carter points out that denying theism can mean two different things. Strong atheism rejects God's existence outright. Weak atheism simply does not believe in God, without claiming that God does not exist.[2]
Routes to atheism
One route to atheism runs through evidentialism, the view that beliefs should be backed by evidence. On this route, the publicly available evidence does not support belief in God, so the rational response is not to believe.[2] (For evidentialism more broadly, see Epistemic responsibility.)
Interestingly, a fideist, someone who thinks belief in God is a matter of faith rather than evidence, may agree with the atheist that the evidence cannot establish God. The two disagree about what follows. The atheist concludes belief is irrational; a fideist such as Søren Kierkegaard sees faith as standing outside the rules of evidence altogether.[2]
Other arguments against belief include the problem of evil and the argument from divine hiddenness.[3]
Jean-Paul Sartre gave an argument from human freedom. If God existed, Sartre reasoned, our essence, what we are for, would already be fixed, and we would not be free. Since we are free, God does not exist.[4]
Atheist thinkers
Thinkers associated with atheism include Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, A. J. Ayer, Bertrand Russell and Richard Dawkins.[1] Russell is often labelled an agnostic, but his views have been described as in effect atheistic.[5]
Attitudes towards religion
Atheists differ widely in how they regard religion. Marx, Sartre and Dawkins have been hostile to it, while other atheists have been more tolerant. Russell criticised religious dogmatism but still saw social value in religious morality.[1]
One strand of atheism urges people to face a world without God rather than believing out of emotional or cultural need. It often presents itself as a mature outlook on a world that religion once explained through superstition.[1] That is, of course, a claim that religious believers dispute. The editors of one comparative-religion volume mention "Enlightenment atheism" only in passing.[6]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Atheism". Philosophy of Religion A-Z. Palgrave Macmillan. 2016. p. 24.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Pritchard, Duncan; Harris, Mark (2017). "Are theism and atheism totally opposed? (J. Adam Carter)". Philosophy, Science and Religion for Everyone. Routledge.
- ↑ Pritchard, Duncan; Harris, Mark (2017). "Chapter 6 (Ian M. Church)". Philosophy, Science and Religion for Everyone. Routledge.
- ↑ "Sartre". Philosophy of Religion A-Z. Palgrave Macmillan. 2016. p. 192.
- ↑ "Russell, Bertrand". Philosophy of Religion A-Z. Palgrave Macmillan. 2016. pp. 188–190.
- ↑ Patton, Kimberley C.; Ray, Benjamin C., eds. (2000). "Introduction". A Magic Still Dwells: Comparative Religion in the Postmodern Age. University of California Press. p. 2.