Atheism

In this book Michael Martin provides logical reasons for being an atheist. Carefully examining the current debate in Anglo-American analytic philosophy regarding God's existence, Martin presents a comprehensive critique of the arguments for the existence of God and a defense of arguments against the existence of God, showing in detail their relevance to atheism. Claiming that atheism is a rational position while theistic beliefs are not, he relies both on logic and evidence and confines his efforts to showing the irrationality of belief in a personal supreme being who is omniscient, omnipotent, perfect, and the creator of heaven and earth.The author's approach is two-fold. By presenting and criticizing arguments that have been advanced in favor of belief, he makes a case for 'negative atheism'. By offering arguments against atheism and defending it from these attacks, he presents a case for 'positive atheism'. Along the way, he confronts the views of numerous philosophers among them Anselm, Aquinas, Plantinga, Hick, and Swinburne and refutes both classical and contemporary arguments that have been advanced through the history of this debate.In his conclusion, Martin considers what would and would not follow if his main arguments were widely accepted, and he defines and distinguishes atheism from other 'isms' and movements. Building on the work of religious skeptics and atheists of the past and present, he justifies his reconstruction of this philosophical dispute by citing some of the most interesting and important arguments for atheism and criticisms of arguments for the existence of God that have appeared in recent journal articles and have yet to be systematically addressed. Author note: Michael Martin is Professor of Philosophy at Boston University and author of several books, including "The Legal Philosophy of H.L.A. Hart: A Critical Appraisal" and "The Case Against Christianity" (both from Temple).

ISBN 0877229430   Pages 254 ISBN13 9780877229438 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Temple University Press,U.S.   Weight (grammes) 739 Imprint Temple University Press,U.S.   Published in Philadelphia PA Format Paperback   Previous ISBN 9780877226420 Publication date 01 Jan 1992   Height (mm) 233 Library of Congress 89033121   Width (mm) 150 DEWEY 211.8   Spine width (mm) 28 DEWEY edition DC21   Academic level Professional / Scholarly

Preface Introduction The Scope of Nonbelief A Brief Defense of Atheism Against Some Common Criticisms Purpose Part I: Negative Atheism 1. The Justification of Negative Atheism: Some Preliminaries A Presumption of Atheism The Ethics of Belief The Evil Demon and Objectivist Epistemology Conclusion 2. The Meaningfulness of Religious Language Overview of the Problem Incoherence and Meaninglessness Nielsen's Critique of God Talk Swinburne's Defense The Choice of an Observational Language Attempts to Show the Confirmability of Theological Statements Conclusion 3. The Ontological Argument Anselm's Ontological Argument Malcolm's Ontological Argument Hartshorne's Ontological Argument Kordig's Ontological Argument Plantinga's Ontological Argument Conclusion 4. The Cosmological Argument Traditional Deductive Cosmological Arguments Three Contemporary Defenses of the Cosmological Argument General Conclusion 5. The Teleological Argument Background lo the Teleological Argument Tennant 's Cosmic Teleology Schlesinger's Teleological Argument Swinburne's Teleological Argument Taylor's Teleological Argument General Conclusion 6. The Argument from Religious Experience Religious Experience Defined Types of Religious Experience Mystical Experience Swinburne's Principle of Credulity and Religious Experience Conclusion 7. The Argument from Miracles The Argument in General The Concept of Miracles The Probability That God Exists, Given the Existence of Miracles Naturalism versus Supernaturalism and the Existence of Miracles The Difficulty of Showing the Existence of Miracles Evidence of Miracles in One Religion as Evidence Against Contrary Religions Miracles at Lourdes Indirect Miracles Conclusion 8. Some Minor Evidential Arguments for God The Argument from Common Consent The Moral Argument The Argument from Reward The Argument from Justice Arguments from Scripture The Argument from Consciousness The Argument from Providence The Argument from Cumulative Evidence 9. Beneficial Arguments for God Pascal's Argument William James and the Will to Believe Conclusion 10. Faith and Foundationalism A Traditional Concept of Religious Faith Existential Faith Wittgensteinian Fideism Are Avowals of Religious Faith True or False? Could an Atheist Have Faith in God? Religious Beliefs and Basic Beliefs Conclusion Part II: Positive Atheism 11. The Justification of Positive Atheism: Some Preliminaries The Justification of Negative Atheism as a Justification for Positive Atheism The Strength of the Case Needed for A Posteriori Arguments The A Priori Arguments and the Possibility of Rebuttal 12. Divine Attributes and Incoherence Omniscience Divine Freedom Omnipotence Conclusion 13. Atheistic Teleological Arguments Salmon 's Argument Expansion of the Argument The Universe as a Created Object Conclusion 14. The Argument from Evil A Direct Inductive Argument from Evil An Indirect Inductive Argument from Evil Criticisms of a Probabilistic Argument from Evil Conclusion 15. The Free Will Defense Background The Justification in General The Assumption of the Importance of Freedom Free Will und Contracausal Freedom Contracausal Freedom and Statistical Laws Compatibilism and World Preference Free Will and Evil Possible Worlds and God's Ignorance The Responsibility of God Is the Free Will Defense Relevant to the Problem of Moral Evil? Conclusion 16. Natural Evil Three Contemporary Attempts to Solve the Problem of Natural Evil Conclusion 17. Soul Making Theodicy Some General Problems with the Soul Making Defense Hick's Soul Making Theodicy Explained Hick's Soul Making Theodicy Evaluated 18. Some Minor Theodicies The Finite God Theodicy The Best of All Possible Worlds Theodicy The Original Sin Theodicy The Ultimate Harmony Theodicy The Degree of Desirability of a Conscious State Theodicy The Reincarnation Theodicy The Contrast Theodicy The Warning Theodicy Conclusion Conclusion Appendi

"Thousands of philosophers--from the ancient Greeks to modern thinkers--have defended atheism, but none more comprehensively than Martin. His lengthy arguments, detailed and incisive, are sharpened by modern developments in logic and inductive reasoning and by special attention to contemporary thinkers whose subtle writings are unknown to the general public... Atheists should read it to bolster their creed, and theists should read it to test their faith against the deadly force of Martin's attack." --Martin Gardner, The Humanist "A tour-de-force for the mind... This is a book to be read several times and savored while being slowly digested... If one follows Martin's reasoning throughout this book, one will have gone through the most thorough and vigorous examination of the logical arguments surrounding atheism and theism that has ever been offered." --Gordon Stein, American Rationalist "[This book] has the impact of a runaway train. It is certainly the best philosophical justification of atheism that I have ever read... Even readers with little philosophical background will find themselves richly repaid." --Free Inquiry "This is a bold work which presents its case with clarity, rigour, and a thorough knowledge of the most recent articles and monographs in the field of philosophy of religion... The details of Martin's arguments deserve the close attention of all philosophers of religion." --Michael Banner, Journal of Theological Studies "The arguments in this clearly written work are sound and conclusive. There is scarcely a questionable sentence in the entire enormous work. A comprehensive work of solid scholarship, Atheism: A Philosophical Analysis is an important contribution to the philosophy of religion." --Wallace Matson, University of California, Berkeley "Martin's net is much more broadly cast than [Bertrand] Russell's to provide a comprehensive defense of atheism that pulls together criticisms scattered throughout atheistic literature. Clearly and systematically, Martin defends negative atheism the absence of belief in god or gods, by attacking the major classical and contemporary arguments for God's existence." --Choice

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