Atheism and Possibility

December 20, 2011 By 25 Comments

This is a guest post by Eric Steinhart, Professor of Philosophy at William Paterson University. The concept of natural creative power (natura naturans) is found in both Wicca (where it is the ultimate deity) and in atheistic philosophers (who do not deify it).  Natural creative power is the ultimate immanent power of being; it is [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Cosmology, Featured, Metaphysics, Paganism, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Rationalism, Religion and Science, Wicca 25 Comments

Criticizing Wicca: Levels

December 17, 2011 By 13 Comments

This is a guest post by Eric Steinhart, Professor of Philosophy at William Paterson University. Some statements are based on evidence, while others are not.  And there is evidence for the existence of some entity if and only if the existence of that entity is asserted in a statement that is based on evidence.  To [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Evidence, Metaphysics, Naturalism, Paganism, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Rationalism, Religion and Science, Science, Wicca 13 Comments

Some Naturalistic Ontology

December 16, 2011 By 26 Comments

This is a guest post by Eric Steinhart, Professor of Philosophy at William Paterson University. Over the next few posts, I’m going to do some heavy metaphysics.  So a bit of background is necessary.  An ontology is a taxonomy of categories (usually at a very high level of generality).   To avoid misunderstanding, the ontology I’m [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Metaphysics, Naturalism, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Rationalism, Science 26 Comments

If You Don’t Believe In Objective Values, Then Don’t Talk To Me About Objective Scientific Truth Either

November 27, 2011 By 111 Comments

I recently argued that when any of us act, we must act for reasons. When acting for reasons we must decide that the end we pursue is the best, most worthwhile, goal to pursue and that the action we take in order to achieve that goal is the most suitable one. I should also add [...]

Filed Under: Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Authority, Authority, Epistemic Justification, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Ethical Pluralism, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Ethics, Evidence, Evidence, Hypocrisy, Hypocrisy, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Virtues, Intellectual Virtues, Metaethics, Morality, Morality, My Theory of Morality's Rational Foundations and Nature, Naturalistic Fallacy, Naturalistic Fallacy, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Science, Science, Science, Teleology, Teleology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 111 Comments

Defending Philosophy 1: A Reply To Dr. Coyne

October 29, 2011 By 94 Comments

A little Nietzsche to set the tone: Of the friend Our faith in others betrays wherein we would dearly like to have faith in ourselves. Our longing for a friend is our betrayer. And often with our love we only want to leap over envy. And often we attack and make an enemy in order [...]

Filed Under: Arguments Against The Existence of God, Arguments Against The Existence of God, Arguments for the Existence of God, Arguments for the Existence of God, Epistemic Justification, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Epistemology, Evidence, Evidence, Historical Philosophy, Historical Philosophy, Metaphysics, Metaphysics, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Science, Science, Science 94 Comments

Some Explanations for Our Universe

August 5, 2011 By 12 Comments

by Eric Steinhart The following is a quick-and-dirty survey of the current literature on explanations of our universe: It is widely thought that our universe is highly unusual. It has certain features that make it lovely. Note that the term “lovely” is merely a term of art. It has no connotations beyond designating that our [...]

Filed Under: Arguments Against The Existence of God, Atheism, Cosmology, Featured, Metaphysics, Naturalism, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Religion and Science, Science 12 Comments

An Example of Atheist Faith

August 2, 2011 By 9 Comments

by Eric Steinhart Here’s a nice statement of atheistic faith by Carl Sagan: “The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.” (1980: 1). Such a statement is as faith-based as any statement in the Bible or in Christian theology. After all, it’s just a mirror-image of the statement that God [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Featured, Metaphysics, Naturalism, Philosophy of Science, Pseudoscience, Rationalism, Science 9 Comments

Evolutionary Metaphysics is not Faith

August 1, 2011 By 2 Comments

by Eric Steinhart I’ve advanced this thesis in some previous posts: every question that used to be answered by appealing to God can be answered better by appealing to some form of evolution. It’s hard for me to understand why that slogan would be a matter of faith. The fact that some thesis is speculative [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Epistemology, Featured, Metaphysics, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Rationalism, Religion and Science, Uncategorized 2 Comments

Why Atheists are Obligated to Hold Positive Speculative Beliefs

July 26, 2011 By 7 Comments

by Eric Steinhart Many atheists come to atheism through skepticism. And sometimes that skepticism is radical. It’s hostile to anything that doesn’t meet the alleged standards of our best science. It’s hostile to any theory that is merely speculative. Of course, to be consistent, these radical skeptics ought to apply their skepticism to themselves. If [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Featured, Metaphysics, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Rationalism, Religion 7 Comments

The History of the Singularity

July 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

by Eric Steinhart Many philosophers portray the cosmic process as an ascending curve of positivity. As time goes forward, the quantities of intelligence, power, or value are always increasing. These progressive philosophies have sometimes been religious and sometimes secular. Secular versions of progress have sometimes been political and sometimes technological. Technological versions have sometimes invoked [...]

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