The Presumption of Atheism

Abstract

At the beginning of Book X of his last work The Laws Plato turns his attention from violent and outrageous actions in general to the particular case of undisciplined and presumptuous behaviour in matters of religion: “We have already stated summarily what the punishment should be for temple-robbing, whether by open force or secretly. But the punishments for the various sorts of insolence in speech or action with regard to the gods, which a man can show in word or deed, have to be proclaimed after we have provided an exordium. Let this be it: ‘No one believing, as the laws prescribe, in the existence of the gods has ever yet performed an impious action willingly, or uttered a lawless word. Anyone acting in such a way is in one of three conditions: either, first, he does not believe the proposition aforesaid; or, second, he believes that though the gods exist they have no concern about men; or, third, he believes that they can easily be won over by the bribery of prayer and sacrifice” (§ 885B).

Aquinas' Quinque Viae: Fools, Evil, and the Hiddenness of God

“…He argues that ‘the Five Ways are … specifically in response to the challenge presented in the second objection,’ namely, that the world is such that God is explanatorily redundant . This is also the view of Anthony Flew, who regards Aquinas' five ways as directed against a ‘presumption of atheism’ . Both of these thinkers reject, however, that any relevance that might be found in Aquinas' first objection to the existence of God.…”

“…18 This is also the view of Anthony Flew, who regards Aquinas' five ways as directed against a 'presumption of atheism'. 19 Both of these thinkers reject, however, that any relevance that might be found in Aquinas' first objection to the existence of God. Flew describes the form of Aquinas' first objection as 'slightly awkward' for his argument, 20 while Fogelin similarly notes that his argument 'gains little support from this first objection', before proceeding to dismiss any relevance it might have to interpreting the five ways.…”

Agnosticism II: Actions and attitudes

“…Unlike positive atheism—believing that God does not exist—negative atheism is compatible with agnosticism; a negative atheist is either a positive atheist or an agnostic (see Martin, 1990, p. 467). Those who assert that the proposition ‘God exists’ does not make sense or that its meaning is unknown have also at times been seen as either (negative) atheists (see Flew, 1972, pp. 30–32) or agnostics (see Nielsen, 2005, pp.…”

The Explanatory Challenge: Moral Realism Is No Better Than Theism

“…However, there is a family of arguments that seem like attempts to capture a similar idea. Prominent examples are Clifford (); Flew (); Mackie (); Russell (); and Scriven (: 94–107). Gellman () attributes to Dawkins () a version of this argument and helpfully lists a number of possible responses.…”