How to Think About God: A Guide for the 20th-Century Pagan PDF
Preview How to Think About God: A Guide for the 20th-Century Pagan
€ "A remarkable treatise...deceptively simple and wonderfully lucid."—BOOKLIST HOWTO TH IN K A B O U T GOD A Guide for the 20th-Century Pagan How to Think About God A LSO BY M O RTIM ER J. A D LER Dialectic What Man Has Made of Man How to Read a Book How to Think About War and Peace The Capitalist Manifesto (with Louis O. Kelso) The Idea of Freedom The Conditions of Philosophy The Difference of Man and the Difference It Makes The Time of Our Lives The Common Sense of Politics The American Testament (with William Gorman) Some Questions About Language Philosopher at Large Great Treasury of Western Thought (with Charles Van Doren) Aristotle for Everybody Six Great Ideas The Angels and Us The Paideia Proposal How to Speak!How to Listen Paideia Problems and Possibilities A Vision of the Future The Paideia Program Ten Philosophical Mistakes A Guidebook to Learning We Hold These Truths R forming Education (ed. by Geraldine Van Doren) Intellect: Mind Over Matter Truth in Religion Haves Without Have-Nots MORTIMER J. ADLER HOW TO THINK ABOUT GOD A Guide for the 20th-Century Pagan* ju One who does not worship the God of Christians, ** Jews, or Muslims; irreligious persons COLLIER BOOKS MACMILLAN PUBLISHING COMPANY New York MAXWELL MACMILLAN CANADA Toronto MAXWELL MACMILLAN INTERNATIONAL New York Oxford Singapore Sydney Copyright © 1980 by Mortimer J. Adler All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechan ical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher. Collier Books Macmillan Publishing Company 866 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022 Maxwell Macmillan Canada, Inc. 1200 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 200 Don Mills, Ontario M3C 3N1 Macmillan Publishing Company is part of the Maxwell Communication Group of Companies. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Adler, Mortimer Jerome,-------- How to think about God : a guide for the 20th-century pagan / Mortimer J. Adler.—1st Collier Books ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-02-016022-4 1. God. 2. God—Proof. I. Title. [BT102.A33 1991] 211—dc20 91-9579 CIP Macmillan books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use. For details, contact: Special Sales Director Macmillan Publishing Company 866 Third Avenue New York, NY 10022 First Collier Books Edition 1991 10 9 8 7 6 5 Printed in the United States of America To the memory of ETIENNE GILSON preceptor and friend Contents Part One—Prologue: About This Book and Its Author 1 For Whom This Book Is Intended 3 2 What Readers Can Expect from This Book 8 3 What Readers Should Know About the Author 18 Part Two—Errors to Be Avoided 4 World Without Beginning or End 31 5 No First Cause 40 Part Three—Setting the Stage 6 The Uniqueness of the Word “God” 49 7 Why We Must Substitute a Definite Description for “God” 60 X Contents 8 How to Formulate a Definite Description of God: First Step 69 9 How to Formulate a Definite Description of God: Second Step 78 10 On Inferring Existence 94 11 On Inferring God’s Existence 101 Part Four—Why the Best Traditional Argument Fails 12 The Best Traditional Argument 111 13 The Faulty Premise 121 Part Five—From the Cosmos to God 14 A Truly Cosmological Argument 131 15 One Remaining Question 139 16 How Credible Is the Conclusion We Have Reached? 148 Part Six—Epilogue: The Chasm and the Bridge 17 To the Chasm’s Edge 153 18 Bridging the Chasm 159 19 What Lies Ahead for the Reader 169
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