Table Of Content

A Companion to Atheism and Philosophy Blackwell Companions to Philosophy This outstanding student reference series offers a comprehensive and authoritative survey of philosophy as a whole. Written by today’s leading philosophers, each volume provides lucid and engaging coverage of the key figures, terms, topics, and problems of the field. Taken together, the volumes provide the ideal basis for course use, representing an unparalleled work of reference for students and specialists alike. Already published in the series: 1. The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy, Second Edition 37. A Companion to Plato Edited by Nicholas Bunnin and Eric Tsui‐James Edited by Hugh H. Benson 2. A Companion to Ethics 38. A Companion to Descartes Edited by Peter Singer Edited by Janet Broughton and John Carriero 3. A Companion to Aesthetics, Second Edition 39. A Companion to the Philosophy of Biology Edited by Stephen Davies, Kathleen Marie Higgins, Edited by Sahotra Sarkar and Anya Plutynski Robert Hopkins, Robert Stecker, and David E. Cooper 40. A Companion to Hume 4. A Companion to Epistemology, Second Edition Edited by Elizabeth S. Radcliffe Edited by Jonathan Dancy, Ernest Sosa and Matthias Steup 41. A Companion to the Philosophy of History and 5. A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy Historiography (two‐volume set), Second Edition Edited by Aviezer Tucker Edited by Robert E. Goodin and Philip Pettit 42. A Companion to Aristotle 6. A Companion to Philosophy of Mind Edited by Georgios Anagnostopoulos Edited by Samuel Guttenplan 43. A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology 7. A Companion to Metaphysics, Second Edition Edited by Jan‐Kyrre Berg Olsen, Stig Andur Pedersen, and Edited by Jaegwon Kim, Ernest Sosa and Gary S. Rosenkrantz Vincent F. Hendricks 8. A Companion to Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory, 44. A Companion to Latin American Philosophy Second Edition Edited by Susana Nuccetelli, Ofelia Schutte, and Otávio Bueno Edited by Dennis Patterson 45. A Companion to the Philosophy of Literature 9. A Companion to Philosophy of Religion, Second Edition Edited by Garry L. Hagberg and Walter Jost Edited by Charles Taliaferro, Paul Draper, and Philip L. Quinn 46. A Companion to the Philosophy of Action 10. A Companion to the Philosophy of Language, Edited by Timothy O’Connor and Constantine Sandis Second Edition (two-volume set) 47. A Companion to Relativism Edited by Bob Hale, Crispin Wright, and Alex Miller Edited by Steven D. Hales 11. A Companion to World Philosophies 48. A Companion to Hegel Edited by Eliot Deutsch and Ron Bontekoe Edited by Stephen Houlgate and Michael Baur 12. A Companion to Continental Philosophy 49. A Companion to Schopenhauer Edited by Simon Critchley and William Schroeder Edited by Bart Vandenabeele 13. A Companion to Feminist Philosophy 50. A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy Edited by Alison M. Jaggar and Iris Marion Young Edited by Steven M. Emmanuel 14. A Companion to Cognitive Science 51. A Companion to Foucault Edited by William Bechtel and George Graham Edited by Christopher Falzon, Timothy O’Leary, and 15. A Companion to Bioethics, Second Edition Jana Sawicki Edited by Helga Kuhse and Peter Singer 52. A Companion to the Philosophy of Time 16. A Companion to the Philosophers Edited by Heather Dyke and Adrian Bardon Edited by Robert L. Arrington 53. A Companion to Donald Davidson 17. A Companion to Business Ethics Edited by Ernest Lepore and Kirk Ludwig Edited by Robert E. Frederick 54. A Companion to Rawls 18. A Companion to the Philosophy of Science Edited by Jon Mandle and David Reidy Edited by W. H. Newton‐Smith 55. A Companion to W.V.O Quine 19. A Companion to Environmental Philosophy Edited by Gilbert Harman and Ernest Lepore Edited by Dale Jamieson 56. A Companion to Derrida 20. A Companion to Analytic Philosophy Edited by Zeynep Direk and Leonard Lawlor Edited by A. P. Martinich and David Sosa 57. A Companion to David Lewis 21. A Companion to Genethics Edited by Barry Loewer and Jonathan Schaffer Edited by Justine Burley and John Harris 58. A Companion to Kierkegaard 22. A Companion to Philosophical Logic Edited by Jon Stewart Edited by Dale Jacquette 59. A Companion to Locke 23. A Companion to Early Modern Philosophy Edited by Matthew Stuart Edited by Steven Nadler 60. The Blackwell Companion to Hermeneutics 24. A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages Edited by Niall Keane and Chris Lawn Edited by Jorge J. E. Gracia and Timothy B. Noone 61. A Companion to Ayn Rand 25. A Companion to African‐American Philosophy Edited by Allan Gotthelf and Gregory Salmieri Edited by Tommy L. Lott and John P. Pittman 62. The Blackwell Companion to Naturalism 26. A Companion to Applied Ethics Edited by Kelly James Clark Edited by R. G. Frey and Christopher Heath Wellman 63. A Companion to Mill 27. A Companion to the Philosophy of Education Edited by Christopher Macleod and Dale E. Miller Edited by Randall Curren 64. A Companion to Experimental Philosophy 28. A Companion to African Philosophy Edited by Justin Sytsma and Wesley Buckwalter Edited by Kwasi Wiredu 65. A Companion to Applied Philosophy 29. A Companion to Heidegger Edited by Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Edited by Hubert L. Dreyfus and Mark A. Wrathall Kimberley Brownlee, and David Coady 30. A Companion to Rationalism 66. A Companion to Wittgenstein Edited by Alan Nelson Edited by Hans-Johann Glock and John Hyman 31. A Companion to Pragmatism 67. A Companion to Simone de Beauvoir Edited by John R. Shook and Joseph Margolis Edited by Laura Hengehold and Nancy Bauer 32. A Companion to Ancient Philosophy 68. A Concise Companion to Confucius Edited by Mary Louise Gill and Pierre Pellegrin Edited by Paul R. Goldin 33. A Companion to Nietzsche 69. The Blackwell Companion to Substance Dualism Edited by Keith Ansell Pearson Edited by Jonathan J. Loose, Angus J. L. Menuge, and 34. A Companion to Socrates J. P. Moreland (Editor) Edited by Sara Ahbel‐Rappe and Rachana Kamtekar 70. A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Philosophy 35. A Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism Edited by John Shand Edited by Hubert L. Dreyfus and Mark A. Wrathall 71. A Companion to Atheism and Philosophy 36. A Companion to Kant Edited by Graham Oppy Edited by Graham Bird A Companion to Atheism and Philosophy Edited by Graham Oppy This edition first published 2019 © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by law. Advice on how to obtain permission to reuse material from this title is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. The right of Graham Oppy to be identified as the editor of the editorial material in this work has been asserted in accordance with law. Registered Offices John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK Editorial Office 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK For details of our global editorial offices, customer services, and more information about Wiley products visit us at www.wiley.com. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats and by print‐on‐demand. Some content that appears in standard print versions of this book may not be available in other formats. 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Description: First Edition. | Hoboken : Wiley, 2019. | Series: Blackwell companions to philosophy ; 66 | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2019006681 (print) | LCCN 2019008444 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119119180 (Adobe PDF) | ISBN 9781119119227 (ePub) | ISBN 9781119119111 (hardcover) Subjects: LCSH: Atheism. | Philosophy. | Philosophy and religion. Classification: LCC BL2747.3 (ebook) | LCC BL2747.3 .C6175 2019 (print) | DDC 211/.8–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019006681 Cover Design: Wiley Cover Image: © Ramón Espelt Photography/Getty Images Set in 10/12.5pt Photina by SPi Global, Pondicherry, India Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Notes on Contributors viii Acknowledgments xii Introduction 1 Graham Oppy Part I Individual Thinkers 13 1 Hume 15 Jennifer Smalligan Marušić 2 Holbach 28 Michael LeBuffe and Emilie Gourdon 3 Marx 43 Vanessa Wills 4 Wollstonecraft 58 Sandrine Bergès 5 Cady Stanton 71 Claudette Fillard 6 Russell 83 Carolyn Swanson Part II Philosophical Movements 97 7 Empiricism 99 Gregory Dawes 8 Pragmatism 111 Robert Almeder v Contents 9 Existentialism 123 Mariam Thalos 10 Postmodernism 138 Christopher Watkin 11 Naturalism 152 Eric Steinhart Part III Critiques of Theism 167 12 Logical Objections to Theism 169 Stephen Law 13 Evidential Objections to Theism 191 Herman Philipse 14 Normative Objections to Theism 204 Stephen Maitzen 15 Prudential Objections to Theism 216 Guy Kahane Part IV Metaphysics 235 16 Freedom 237 Alfred Mele 17 Supernatural 250 Berit Brogaard 18 Death 262 Beth Seacord Part V Epistemology 275 19 Skepticism 277 Duncan Pritchard 20 Methods of Science 291 Elliott Sober 21 Evidence 303 Michael Tooley 22 Evolution 323 Michael Ruse vi CONTENTS Part VI Ethics 341 23 Meta-Ethics 343 Elizabeth Tropman 24 Meaning 355 Thaddeus Metz 25 Normative Skepticism 367 Susana Nuccetelli Part VII Politics 381 26 Education 383 Jennifer Bleazby 27 Happiness 396 Gregory S. Paul 28 Violence 421 Steve Clarke 29 Church and State 436 Cristina Lafont Part VIII Critiques of Atheism 449 30 Logical Objections to Atheism 451 Christopher Gregory Weaver 31 Evidential Objections to Atheism 476 Helen De Cruz 32 Normative Objections to Atheism 491 C. Stephen Evans 33 Prudential Objections to Atheism 506 Amanda Askell Bibliography 521 Index 565 vii Notes on Contributors Robert Almeder is Distinguished Emeritus Philosopher from Georgia State University. He has published over one hundred peer‐reviewed essays and 26 books focusing mostly on American philosophy, epistemology, philosophy of science and mind-body problem. He is a former editor of The American Philosophical Quarterly, and chaired for three years the Fulbright Foundation Committee on the Discipline of Philosophy. Recent books include Truth and Skepticism (2011), Harmless Naturalism (1999), ‘Materialism, Reincarnation, and Cartesian Dualism’ (under review). Amanda Askell received her PhD in philosophy from New York University for a thesis on infinite ethics. Prior to this, she completed a BPhil in philosophy at the University of Oxford. Her research interests include ethics, formal epistemology, and decision theory. Sandrine Bergès is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey. She is the author of the Guidebook to Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (2013). co‐editor with Alan Coffee of The Social and Political Philosophy of Mary Wollstonecraft (2016) and with Alan Coffee and Eileen Hunt Botting of Wollstonecraftian Mind (2016). Jennifer Bleazby is a philosopher of education in the Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia. She is the author of Social Reconstruction Learning: Dualism, Dewey and Philosophy in Schools (2013) and an editor of the forthcoming collection, Theory and Philosophy in Educational Research: Methodological Dialogues (2017). Berit Brogaard is professor of philosophy at University of Miami and the Director of the Brogaard Lab for Multisensory Research. Her areas of research include philosophy of perception, philosophy of emotion, philosophy of language and cognitive science. She is the author of the books Transient Truths (2012), On Romantic Love (2015), The Superhuman Mind (2015), and Seeing & Saying (2018). Steve Clarke is an associate professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Charles Sturt University and a Senior Research Associate of the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Charles Sturt University and a Senior Research Fellow in the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, University of Oxford. viii