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A Companion to Atheism and Philosophy
Graham Oppy (Edited by), G Oppy (Author)
9781119119111, Wiley
Hardback, published 19 April 2019
600 pages
24.6 x 17 x 4.1 cm, 1.202 kg
“The volume is noteworthy for its clarity and breadth and its fair and objective examination of debates surrounding atheism…Highly recommended.” – A. Jaeger, Benedictine College for CHOICE Connect, December 2019 Vol. 57 No. 4
PROSE 2020 Single Volume Reference Finalist! The Companion begins by addressing the foundational questions and lingering controversies which underpin philosophical thought about atheism, exploring the implications of major developments in the history of philosophy for the modern atheistic worldview. Divided into eight distinct sections, essays consider a range of thinkers who were widely believed to have been atheists—including David Hume, Mary Wollstonecraft, Karl Marx, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton—and survey different kinds of objections to theism and atheism, including logical, evidential, normative, and prudential. Later chapters trace the relationship between atheism and metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and political philosophy oriented around topics such as pragmatism, postmodernism, freedom, education, violence, and happiness. Deftly curated and thoughtfully composed, A Companion to Atheism and Philosophy is the most ambitious and authoritative account of philosophical thinking on atheism available, and is a first-rate resource for academics, professionals, and students of philosophy, religious studies, and theology.
Philosophers throughout history have debated the existence of gods, but it is only in recent years that the absence of such a belief has become a significant topic of philosophical analysis, in particular for philosophers of religion. Although it is difficult to trace the historical contours of atheism as the lack of belief in a higher power, the reasoned, reflective, and thoughtful rejection of theism has become commonplace in many modern intellectual circles, including academic philosophy where disciplinary data indicates that a large majority of philosophers self-identify as atheists. As the first book of its kind to bring together a collection of writing on the philosophical aspects of atheism both historical and contemporary, the Companion to Atheism and Philosophy stages an explicit, constructive, and comprehensive conversation between philosophy and atheism to examine the ways in which atheist thought intersects with ideas and positions from a variety of philosophical and theological sub-disciplines.
Notes on Contributors viii Acknowledgments xii Introduction 1 Part I Individual Thinkers 13 1 Hume 15 2 Holbach 28 3 Marx 43 4 Wollstonecraft 58 5 Cady Stanton 71 6 Russell 83 Part II Philosophical Movements 97 7 Empiricism 99 8 Pragmatism 111 9 Existentialism 123 10 Postmodernism 138 11 Naturalism 152 Part III Critiques of Theism 167 12 Logical Objections to Theism 169 13 Evidential Objections to Theism 191 14 Normative Objections to Theism 204 15 Prudential Objections to Theism 216 Part IV Metaphysics 235 16 Freedom 237 17 Supernatural 250 18 Death 262 Part V Epistemology 275 19 Skepticism 277 20 Methods of Science 291 21 Evidence 303 22 Evolution 323 Part VI Ethics 341 23 Meta-Ethics 343 24 Meaning 355 25 Normative Skepticism 367 Part VII Politics 381 26 Education 383 27 Happiness 396 28 Violence 421 29 Church and State 436 Part VIII Critiques of Atheism 449 30 Logical Objections to Atheism 451 31 Evidential Objections to Atheism 476 32 Normative Objections to Atheism 491 33 Prudential Objections to Atheism 506 Bibliography 521 Index 565
Graham Oppy
Jennifer Smalligan Marušić
Michael LeBuffe and Emilie Gourdon
Vanessa Wills
Sandrine Bergès
Claudette Fillard
Carolyn Swanson
Gregory Dawes
Robert Almeder
Mariam Thalos
Christopher Watkin
Eric Steinhart
Stephen Law
Herman Philipse
Stephen Maitzen
Guy Kahane
Alfred Mele
Berit Brogaard
Beth Seacord
Duncan Pritchard
Elliott Sober
Michael Tooley
Michael Ruse
Elizabeth Tropman
Thaddeus Metz
Susana Nuccetelli
Jennifer Bleazby
Gregory S. Paul
Steve Clarke
Cristina Lafont
Christopher Gregory Weaver
Helen De Cruz
C. Stephen Evans
Amanda Askell
Subject Areas: Philosophy [HP]
