Table Of ContentArguing for Atheism
‘Le Poidevin’s Arguing for Atheism is the best recent introduction to
the philosophy of religion. Le Poidevin writes in a clear and engaging
manner, without sacrifice of conceptual precision or argumentative
depth. One way his book is distinguished from standard introductions
to the philosophy of religion is the inclusion of some recent
developments…. Le Poidevin gives a fair evaluation of both atheism
and theism and his book is eminently suitable for courses on
philosophy of religion…He does not merely recapitulate familiar ideas
but introduces original and plausible arguments of his own. I would
highly recommend this book to students and professors alike.’
Quentin Smith, Western Michigan University
In Arguing for Atheism, Robin Le Poidevin addressses the question of
whether theism—the view that there is a personal, transcendent creator
of the universe—solves the deepest mysteries of existence. Philosophical
defences of theism have often been based on the the idea that it explains
things which atheistic approaches cannot: for example, why the universe
exists, and how there can be objective moral values.
The main contention of Arguing for Atheism is that the reverse is
true: that in fact theism fails to explain many things it claims to, while
atheism can explain some of the things it supposedly leaves mysterious.
It is also argued that religion need not depend on belief in God.
Designed as a text for university courses in the philosophy of religion
and metaphysics, this book’s accessible style and numerous explanations
of important philosophical concepts and positions will also make it
attractive to the general reader.
Robin Le Poidevin is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of
Leeds. He is the author of Change, Cause and Contradiction: A Defence
of the Tenseless Theory of Time (1991) and co-editor, with Murray
MacBeath, of The Philosophy of Time (1993).
Arguing for Atheism
An introduction to the philosophy of
religion
Robin Le Poidevin
London and New York
First published 1996
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.
© 1996 Robin Le Poidevin
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Le Poidevin, Robin, 1962–
Arguing for atheism: an introduction to the philosophy of
religion/Robin Le Poidevin.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Religion—Philosophy. 2. Atheism. I. Title.
BL51.L355 1996
211'.8–dc20 96–3431
CIP
ISBN 0-203-42206-6 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-73030-5 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-09337-6 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-09338-4 (pbk)
For my parents, Roy and Barbara
and my children, Tom and Sam
Contents
List of illustrations x
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction xvii
Part I The limits of theistic explanation
1 Must the universe have a cause? 3
The mysteries of existence 3
A first cause? 4
The temporal and modal cosmological arguments 5
Problems with the first premise 9
Summary 14
Further reading 15
2 Is God necessary? 17
Possible worlds 17
The ontological argument 19
The modal ontological argument 24
God and modal realism 27
Summary 31
Further reading 32
3 Could the universe have an explanation? 33
A trivial explanation 33
Causes and causal explanations 35
Personal explanation 38
A necessary cause? 40
Summary 41
Further reading 42
viii Contents
4 Are we the outcome of chance or design? 44
Analogy and the teleological argument 44
Probability and the teleological argument 46
The concept of chance 49
The weak anthropic principle 54
Summary 57
Further reading 57
5 Does the universe have a purpose? 59
The strong anthropic principle 59
Teleology and causal reductionism: the selfish gene hypothesis 61
Teleology without causal reductionism 66
Summary 68
Further reading 69
Part II Moral arguments for atheism
6 Are God and ethics inseparable or incompatible? 73
Plato’s dilemma 73
Descriptive versus prescriptive morality 76
Moral realism and moral subjectivism 79
Pluralism and autonomy 82
Summar 85
Further reading 86
7 Is there a problem of evil? 88
Disaster, depravity, deity and design 88
Determinism and human natur 91
Human freedom from the divine perspective 95
Can the theist refuse to answer the problem of evil? 99
Summary 103
Further reading 104
Part III Religion without God
8 Is God a fiction? 107
Realism, positivism and instrumentalism 107
Radical theology 111
Fiction and the emotions 114
A theism and religious practice 118
Summary 122
Further reading 123
Contents ix
9 Is ‘Does God exist?’ a real question? 124
The deflationist argument 124
The argument applied to theism 128
Deflationism deflated? 130
Summary 133
Further reading 134
10 Should the atheist fear death? 135
Riddles of mortality 135
The river of time and the sea of ice 136
Death in the mirror 140
Immortality: real and vicarious 143
Summary 145
Further reading 146
Glossary 147
Bibliography 152
Index 155
