Pantheism
Pantheism is the view that God and nature are identical. On this view everything that exists is a mode or attribute of a single reality, and that reality is God.[1]
Spinoza
The best-known pantheist text is often said to be the Ethics of the philosopher Spinoza, which is frequently read as pantheistic.[1]
Related ideas
Pantheism has several close neighbours, and they are easy to confuse:[1]
- Panentheism holds that the world is included in God, but that God is more than the world. It is sometimes described as combining pantheism with deism.[2]
- Panpsychism, as treated in the same reference work, sees God as a mind or soul present within everything.[3]
- Merotheism, a term used by Paul Draper, holds that God is a proper part of nature rather than the whole of it. Draper contrasts this with pantheism's identity of God and nature, and combines it with the idea that there is only one mind to produce what he calls "panpsychotheism".[4]
Pantheism and theism
Pantheism differs from classical theism, which treats God as a creator distinct from the world who acts in it and reveals himself to it.[5] It also differs from deism, which places a transcendent creator outside the universe it made.[6]
Draper presents his own God-within-nature view only as one that is "not obviously false", a modest claim that reflects how open these questions remain among philosophers.[4]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Pantheism". Philosophy of Religion A-Z. Palgrave Macmillan. 2016. pp. 155–156.
- ↑ "Panentheism". Philosophy of Religion A-Z. Palgrave Macmillan. 2016.
- ↑ "Panpsychism". Philosophy of Religion A-Z. Palgrave Macmillan. 2016.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Draper, Paul, ed. (2019). "Panpsychotheism (Paul Draper)". Current Controversies in Philosophy of Religion. Routledge.
- ↑ Pritchard, Duncan; Harris, Mark (2017). "Are theism and atheism totally opposed? (J. Adam Carter)". Philosophy, Science and Religion for Everyone. Routledge.
- ↑ "Deism". Philosophy of Religion A-Z. Palgrave Macmillan. 2016. p. 61.