From Aristotle through Buddhism to Nietzsche

January 4, 2012 By 2 Comments

Among all the classical theories of life after death, the one that seems to be most consistent with naturalism is the ancient Buddhist concept of rebirth.  This concept is developed in Theraveda Buddhism.  Theravedic Buddhism is an atheistic (or non-theistic) religion.  Rebirth is linked to the Theravedic doctrines of impermanence and no-self.  These doctrines imply [...]

Filed Under: Featured, Metaphysics, Naturalism, Nietzsche, Paganism, Philosophy, Rationalism, Religion and Science Tagged With: , , , , , , , 2 Comments

The Ontological Argument Against God

January 2, 2012 By 41 Comments

Many atheists seem to hate all metaphysics; perhaps the hatred is motivated by the notion that all metaphysics eventually leads to God.  Of course, that is entirely false – there is a long tradition of purely atheistic metaphysics, which is as deep and abstract as theistic metaphysics.  Any atheism that embraces rigorous metaphysical thinking is [...]

Filed Under: Arguments Against The Existence of God, Arguments for the Existence of God, Atheism, Featured, Metaphysics, Philosophy 41 Comments

Two Arguments for Evolution by Rational Selection

January 1, 2012 By 22 Comments

Although there is some empirical justification for the Principles of Sufficient Reason and Plenitude, much of the discussion of the logic of creation and evolution by rational selection has been highly abstract.  It has been a priori; a matter of pure reason.  But it is reasonable to demand empirical justification for those metaphysical theories.  To [...]

Filed Under: Arguments Against The Existence of God, Atheism, Cosmology, Featured, Metaphysics, Naturalism, Philosophy, Physics, Rationalism, Religion and Science 22 Comments

On Evolution by Rational Selection

January 1, 2012 By 3 Comments

Almost all atheists are surely aware of Darwinian evolution, which is evolution by natural selection, and which explains the history of life on earth.  Universal Darwinism is the thesis that evolutionary principles operate beyond earthly biology.  Of course, not all things have genes or compete for survival in ecosystems.  More general evolutionary theories need not [...]

Filed Under: Arguments Against The Existence of God, Atheism, Cosmology, Featured, Metaphysics, Naturalism, Philosophy, Physics, Rationalism, Religion and Science 3 Comments

Creation Stories

December 31, 2011 By 1 Comment

Many religions have creation stories.  The Judeo-Christian creation stories are found in the first chapters of Genesis, which is the first book of the Bible.  There is no need to repeat the Genesis stories here.  It can be agreed that there are some metaphorical or analogical correspondences between the Genesis stories and our best science.  [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Cosmology, Creationism, Evolution, Featured, Intelligent Design, Metaphysics, Naturalism, Paganism, Philosophy, Rationalism, Religion and Science, Wicca 1 Comment

Criticizing Wicca: God and Goddess

December 29, 2011 By 4 Comments

This is a guest post by Eric Steinhart, Professor of Philosophy at William Paterson University. According to several Wiccan texts, the Wiccan ultimate deity manifests itself in two forms, the male god and the female goddess. The first way to think about the god and goddess is realistic.  This is theological realism: the god and [...]

Filed Under: Arguments Against The Existence of God, Atheism, Featured, Metaphysics, Naturalism, Paganism, Philosophy, Rationalism, Wicca 4 Comments

On Participation in Being-Itself

December 29, 2011 By 9 Comments

This is a guest post by Eric Steinhart, Professor of Philosophy at William Paterson University. On Tillich’s view, since the divine is being-itself, all humans participate in the divine simply by existing.  But that participation is not experiential.  Any experiential participation in the divine can only be through the distinctive ways in which humans exist.  [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Featured, Metaphysics, Paganism, Philosophy, Rationalism, Wicca 9 Comments

The Wiccan God and Goddess: Reality and Mythology

December 28, 2011 By 7 Comments

This is a guest post by Eric Steinhart, Professor of Philosophy at William Paterson University. The Farrars have an intriguing discussion of the ontological commitments of Wiccans to their god and goddess.  Their discussion has three parts: (1) the realist thesis; (2) the anti-realist antithesis; and (3) the pragmatic resolution. The more detailed version of [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Featured, Metaphysics, Naturalism, Paganism, Philosophy, Rationalism, Wicca 7 Comments

Wicca and the Problem of Evil

December 28, 2011 By 17 Comments

This is a guest post by Eric Steinhart, Professor of Philosophy at William Paterson University. Many Wiccan writers criticize Christians for dividing the ultimate deity into a purely good God and a purely evil Devil.  They deny this division.  Buckland writes: “the idea of dividing the Supreme Power into two – good and evil – [...]

Filed Under: Arguments Against The Existence of God, Atheism, Featured, Paganism, Philosophy, Rationalism, Wicca 17 Comments

The God and the Goddess

December 27, 2011 By 5 Comments

This is a guest post by Eric Steinhart, Professor of Philosophy at William Paterson University. On the basis of their own texts, presented in an earlier post, it seems like Wicca affirms the existence of an ultimate deity.  On my analysis, the Wiccan ultimate deity is the ultimate immanent creative power of being.  It is [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Featured, Metaphysics, Naturalism, Paganism, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Religion, Wicca 5 Comments