Hitchens includes chapters entitled “The Metaphysical Claims of Religion are False” and “Arguments from Design,” but his more journalistic treatment of the cases for and against God’s existence amounts primarily to the claim that the God hypothesis is unnecessary, since science can now explain what theism was formerly thought to be required to explain, including phenomena such as the appearance of design in the universe. The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason (New York: Norton, 2004). He developed ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) in graduate school in Cambridge and has survived with the condition longer than was thought possible. A revised edition of his 2006 response to Christian reactions to his 2004 book. 31-32). While he once said that “God used beautiful mathematics in creating the world,” his personal views on religion were far less expansive. Currently he is a Senior Research Associate in Physics at Caltech, writes scientific books and textbooks in his areas of expertise, contributes to the blog Cosmic Variance, writes articles for science magazines such as Nature, Seedm and and is a popular presenter and lecturer at scientific symposia. 1932] is an American philosopher whose contributions to the philosophy of mind, philosophy of language and social philosophy made him an influential member and spokesperson for the Free Speech Movement in Berkeley during the late 1960s and early ’70s. Berlinski, David. An explanation and defense of biological evolution by natural selection that focuses on the gene. He was most noted for his focus on psychology, religion, the English language and any other subject that might shock and delight his audiences. You might also try The Moral Landscape by Harris, very popular, pretty controversial. Dawkins labels his argument for God’s non-existence “the Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit,” because he thinks that God’s existence is at least as improbable as the chance that a hurricane, sweeping through a scrap yard, would have the luck to assemble a Boeing 747 (an image that he borrows from Fred Hoyle, who used it for a different purpose). On his 60th birthday he released his third solo album, On An Island, which debuted #1 on the UK charts. On his views of religion, Chomsky said in a Common Sense interview in 2002, “…if you ask me whether or not I’m an atheist, I wouldn’t even answer. The first and most ancient of recognized atheists must include a 5th century b.c.e. The New Atheists also affirm evidentialism, the claim that a belief can be epistemically justified only if it is based on adequate evidence. Russell was not fond of organized religion, but expressed some difficulty in defining himself as an agnostic or an atheist. A response to the New Atheists by a secular Jew that defends traditional religious thought. As a matter of fact, he says, “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all of fiction” (Dawkins 2006, p. 31). The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason (Amherst: Prometheus Books, 2009). Here’s a look at 50 of the most prominent atheists of all time who also happen to be recognized as some of the most brilliant members of our species. etc. Christian Humanism is thus a product of Renaissance Humanism and is an expression of the religious rather than the secular aspects of that European movement. It is difficult to identify anything philosophically unprecedented in their positions and arguments, but the New Atheists have provoked considerable controversy with their body of work. Watson was politically active in opposition to the war in Vietnam and nuclear proliferation, active in environmentalism. 1966] Is an Australian philosopher, director of the Center for Consciousness and past director of the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona in the U.S. His 1996 book The Conscious Mind is considered a seminal work on consciousness and its relation to issues in the philosophy of mind, even by its physicalist detractors. Some even accuse philosophy of religion to become dominated by "fundamentalists like Richard Swinburne and Alvin Plantinga." As might be expected, attention has been focused on their epistemological views, their metaphysical assumptions, and their axiological positions. 1948] is an English musician, composer, record producer, music theorist and singer best known as the father of ambient music. The prosecution side was argued by William Jennings Bryan, the the trial served as the story for the play and later film, Inherit the Wind. Modern day atheism is built on God of the Gaps logic. Monod wrote the book Chance and Necessity in 1970, which became a popular primer on the relationship between the roles of random chance and adaptation in biological evolution and provided much ammunition to the atheist community by proposing that the natural sciences revealed an entirely purposeless world that undermines the traditional claims of the world’s religions. David Takayoshi Suzuki [b. They believe empirical science is the only (or at least the best) basis for genuine knowledge of the world, and they insist that a belief can be epistemically justified only if it is based on adequate evidence. He limited himself to an income of $50,000 per year, everything else went into good works. Philosopher Michael Ruse states that “if you want a concession, I’ve always said that naturalism is an act of faith…” (2). This view drew much criticism from behaviorists, particularly his hypothesis that humans share an innate linguistic capability. A veteran of many different day jobs, Adams once worked as a bodyguard for a Qatar oil family and told hilarious stories about his misadventures. David Sloan Wilson [b. But there are atheists in all walks of life and throughout history as well. Ruse, Michael. His On An Island has been called “the most spiritual album ever made by an avowed atheist.”. The “New Atheist” label for these critics of religion and religious belief emerged out of journalistic commentary on the contents and impacts of their books. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov [1849-1936] was a Russian physiologist, psychologist and physician. Among his colleagues he was perhaps better known as a beatnik and clown, always thinking up clever pranks or juggling or sitting in with any impromptu band playing bongos. Born in 341 b.c.e. It isoften defined as “the belief that God exists”, but here“belief” means “something believed”. God: The Failed Hypothesis. He has been vice president of the American Society of Naturalists and serves on the editorial board of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society. At the foundation of Dennett’s “proto-theory” about the origin of religion and religious belief is his appeal to the evolution in humans (and other animals) of a “hyperactive agent detection device” (HADD), which is the disposition to attribute agency—beliefs and desires and other mental states—to anything complicated that moves. Stenger, Victor. A typical case for this claim appeals to the atrocities perpetrated by people like Hitler and Stalin. After considering the standard arguments for God’s existence and rehearsing standard objections to them, Dennett argues that the concept of God is insufficiently determinate for it to be possible to know what proposition is at issue in the debate over God’s existence. November 16, 2013 in Meaning, Memes, Philosophy, Religion. He follows up in The God Delusion with the claim that faith is an evil because it does not require justification and does not tolerate argument. Harris calls the source of this basic moral knowledge “moral intuition.” Since the other New Atheists don’t argue for the moral principles to which they appeal, it seems reasonable to conclude that they would agree with Harris. During the Nazi period he was appointed president of the German State Music Bureau and composed the theme song for the infamous 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Some may date this as early as the 1500s or later (1700s). He displayed distinct signs of genius early in his life, solving advanced problems without having studied elementary calculus. Absolutely not… The biggest advantage to believing in God is you don’t have to understand anything, no physics, no biology. And I think that’s why he looked so unbelievable.” Lee had majored in philosophy at the University of Washington and kept an extensive library of philosophy. Despite some controversy over the platform and a lawsuit over the ConnectU application which was later dismissed, Zuckerman sold a 1.6% stake in Facebook to Microsoft, which had a $15 billion market value at the time according to Forbes. An engaging and energetic speaker, Dawkins promotes atheism as senior editor and columnist for the Council for Secular Humanism’s Free Inquiry magazine, and as a member of the editorial board of Skeptic magazine since it was founded. In his off time he took to being a pick-up singer in London’s club scene, developing a small fan following even though he had no formal musical training. Democritus was an ancient Greek philosopher, the most prolific and influential of the pre-Socratics and whose atomic theory is regarded as the intellectual culmination of early Greek thought. The Dawkins Delusion? Reviewers have noted that these authors tend to be motivated by a sense of moral concern and even outrage about the effects of religious beliefs on the global scene. He describes himself as religiously agnostic. It was picked up by Seed Magazine that year and anchors their large stable of popular, multidisciplinary science blogs. For this atomic theory, which echoes eerily the theoretical formulations of modern physicists, he is sometimes called the “father of modern science.” He was well known to Aristotle, and a thorn in the side to Plato – who advised that all of Democritus’ works be burned. Theodorus taught that the aim of human life was to obtain joy and avoid grief, and that joy comes through prudence while grief arises from folly. Dennett goes on to engage in a relatively extensive speculation about how religion and religious belief evolved from these purely natural beginnings. Critics allege that Dawkins’ assumption that God would need an external cause flies in the face of the longstanding theological assumption that God is a perfect and so necessary being who is consequently self-existent and ontologically independent. Starting with the art rock band Roxy Music in 1971, he became bored with the rock and roll lifestyle quickly. James E. Taylor Their presuppositions should also prompt more discussion in the fields of philosophical theology, philosophy of science, philosophical hermeneutics, the relation between science and religion, and historiography. 1963] is a Welsh writer and producer of the modern version of the popular science fiction television series Doctor Who. Share Tweet Email. His work in television began in 1970 with the weekly children’s series, Suzuki on Science, going on to host CBC’s The Nature of Things and the acclaimed PBS series A Planet for the Taking. In Roger Lowenstein’s 1995 biography Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist, he is described and non-religious. Atheist philosophers of religion (during their main careers) would include people like J.L. Her first play, Night of January 16th, was produced in Hollywood and then on Broadway. Active 2 months ago. In his Evolutionary Studies program at Binghamton students study not only the sciences related to evolution, but also religion and the psychology of religion in terms of evolution. Not bad for a fabulously wealthy, world famous economics school dropout. In 1999 the American Film Institute ranked Hepburn as cinema history’s greatest female star. His first book expressed a well-developed philosophical outlook and was entitled Chinese Gung-Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self Defense. And now more than ever, atheists have been able to network together and join forces because of the Internet. A few decades after the death of Hadrian, a philosopher named Sextus listed the most prominent atheists in history, but the only one whose influence was destined to endure into the Enlightenment was Epicurus. As a note of clarification: we’ve ordered this list chronologically and we use the term “brilliant” to mean “brilliant at their craft” – not just pure brainiacs;-). If there are no divine revelations, then every sacred book is a merely human book. Leonard Susskind [b. 1943] was expected by his family to become a teacher, like his father and grandfather, but what he really loved to do was sing. First, what is the content of morality? Daniel Clement Dennett [b. Dawkins also says that the hypothesis that an intelligent designer created the universe is self-defeating. Atheism is generating quite a lot of attention these days. Hitchens hints at his own source of secular satisfaction by claiming that the natural is wondrous enough for anyone. The New Atheists make substantial use of the natural sciences in both their criticisms of theistic belief and in their proposed explanations of its origin and evolution. 1944] was born in Nairobi, Kenya, one of three sons of noted archaeologists Louis and Mary Leakey. D’Souza, Dinesh. U. S. A. A journalistic case against religion and religious belief. Ayn Rand [1905-1982] was a Russian-born writer who emigrated to the U.S. in 1925. Theodorus the Atheist from Cyrene lived around 300 b.c.e. This is why it makes sense to saythat theism is true or false and to argue for or against theism. He had been raised Lutheran and later joined the Unitarian Universalist Church, but publicly declared his personal atheism two years before his death of prostate cancer at the age of 93. Her autobiographical and anti-Soviet novel We the Living, was published in 1936. Harris, Sam. An intellectual and moral critique of faith-based religions that recommends their replacement by science-based spirituality. His philosophical writings established his strong advocacy for an atheistic world view, and he was eulogized as “the atheist’s touchstone” for the 20th century. 1954] is an experimental psychologist and cognitive scientist best known for his advocacy of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind. 48 Dan Barker (b. “I mean, he probably had one of the lowest body fat counts of any athlete. The New Atheists counter the claim that religion makes people good by listing numerous examples of the preceding sort in which religion allegedly makes people bad. 1966] is a theoretical cosmologist specializing in general relativity and dark energy. With respect to epistemology, critics point out that the New Atheist assumption that religious faith is irrational is at odds with a long philosophical history in the West that often characterizes faith as rational. A notorious womanizer, Jagger has seven children by 4 women (two of whom he married), and four grandchildren. For political reasons, Socrates in Athens (399 BCE) was accused of being atheos ("refusing to acknowledge the gods recognized by the state"). https://thebestschools.org/features/most-influential-living- Which is why, Carroll wrote in 2003, (Almost All) Cosmologists are Atheists. Again, Harris’s view that our ethical intuitions have their roots in biology is representative. According to this view there can be no theistic belief that is also reasonable or rational. A defense of religion against the New Atheists’ arguments by a philosopher-theologian. A defense of the God and ethics of the Old Testament against the New Atheists’ criticisms of them. By 1962 he’d earned a private pilot’s license and began offering aerial tours of Olduvai. 1957], better known as “PZ,” is an evolutionary developmental biologist and professor of biology at the University of Minnesota, Morris. He has been called “Darwin’s Rottweiler” in the press for his strong support of evolution by natural selection. In doing so, he employs the concept of a “culturally based replicator,” which Dawkins had previously labeled a “meme” (on analogy with “gene,” which refers to biologically based replicators). He insisted that there were no gods to reward or punish humans after death, that the universe is infinite and eternal, and that all things are ultimately material in nature. Linus Carl Pauling [1901-1994] was one of the most influential chemists in history as well as one of the most important scientists of the 20th century – or, according to Gautam Desiraju who wrote the Millennium Essay in the journal Nature, one of the greatest thinkers and visionaries of the last thousand years. “There is nothing behind the curtains of religions, people put there whatever their imaginations can … Dawkins argues that the “God Hypothesis,” the claim that there exists a superhuman, supernatural intelligence who deliberately designed and created the universe, is “founded on local traditions of private revelation rather than evidence” (2006, pp. Ward, Keith. Atheism & Religion Infographics (1) Atheist Comics Strips - Atheist Image Collection (44) Atheist Philosophers (24) Atheist Scientists (47) Blasphemous Art (2) Celebrity Atheists (50) Children (10) Church and State (11) Famous Atheists (136) Famous Quotes (18) When not being a prolific and brilliant artist, Eno is politically active, a humanist with strong anti-war and futurist views. In 2005, Davies was tapped to write and produce a more adult spinoff called Torchwood, which featured darker science fiction drama and more sex and which Davies described as “The X-Files meets This Life.” Davies was named the most influential gay person in Britain in 2006, spent several years on the top 100 list of influential media figures, and was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2008. Hitchens says that religious faith is ultimately grounded in wishful thinking. A collection of essays by philosophers and theologians defending the rationality of theistic belief from the attacks of the New Atheists and others. Compare that to what taxpayers are now paying the CEOs of failed Wall Street investment firms! Another example of an ‘unorthodox’ philosopher, Chalmers too belongs to the New York University crew of star philosophers, but also teaches at the Australian National University. He says that any subsequent more moderate Christian migration away from these biblical legal requirements is a result of taking scripture less and less seriously. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure – that is all that agnosticism means.” Yet he wrote essays with titles like “Absurdities of the Bible” and “The Myth of the Soul,” suggesting that his agnosticism was strong enough to be considered atheism. Shannon and his wife Betty put their collective mathematical and analytical abilities together in a game theory for many successful visits to the gaming tables in Las Vegas and made a fortune. He was the first and longest serving Prime Minister of an Independent India from 1947 to 1964. The examples they provide of such objectionable behaviors range from the uncontroversial (suicide bombings, the Inquisition, “religious” wars, witch hunts, homophobia, etc.) He also introduced in an HBO special the “Two Commandments,” a condensed version of the ten ending with one additional commandment, “Thou Shalt keep thy religiion to thyself.”. At the age of 14 she starred in the movie Taxi Driver, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. “Is Yahweh a Moral Monster? His contributions to theoretical physics are voluminous, including the independent discovery of string theory, the theory of quark confinement, the development of Hamiltonian lattice gauge theory, the holography principle, the string theory of black hole entropy and the principle of “black hole complementarity.” Susskind is also a popular speaker for both science and against religious creationism. He describes the human mind as a sort of Swiss Army knife that comes with specialized tools designed to deal with problems our Pleistocene ancestors encountered. He also wrote three episodes of the BBC series Doctor Who for his friend Russell T Davies and served as script editor during the seventh season. A number of essays and books have been written in response to the New Atheists (see the “Works about the New Atheism” sub-section of the “References and Further Reading” section below for some titles). Paul Zachary Myers [b. These authors include Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens. 1936] is a Canadian zoologist, geneticist, science broadcaster and environmental activist. But the New Atheists either explicitly reject ethical relativism, or affirm the existence of the “transcendent value” of justice, or assert that there is a consensus about what we consider right and wrong, or simply engage in a moral critique of religion that implicitly presupposes a universal moral standard. Answer from Skeptics: Atheists and other skeptics demand no more nor less evidence for the existence of the Christian god, Yahweh/the resurrected Jesus Christ, than we do for the existence of the Loch Ness Monster, the Abominable Snow Man, and Bigfoot. Many atheists tend toward secular philosophies such as Humanism and Naturalism.. Political philosopher and social psychologist, John Locke was an outspoken supporter of equal rights within a governed society. 1933] is an American physicist best known for his work on unification of electromagnetism and the weak force, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 1979. Is this purely becasue of modern natural science and empirical inquiry into areas such as metaphysics, phil of mind, ethics etc. In Western classical Antiquity, theism was the fundamental belief that supported the legitimacy of the state (the polis, later the Roman Empire). “He adopted his father’s ethical underpinnings, but not his belief in an unseen divinity.”. 1940] is an American physicist specializing in string theory and quantum field theory. The two became friends while working on a mainframe during the summer of 1970. The atheist will often attempt to affirm the position that God is dependent on the mind rather than an objective reality. Similarly, Harris follows Dawkins’ in arguing that the notion of a creator God leads to an infinite regress because such a being would have to have been created. Dennett hints at a different objection to the Bible by remarking that anybody can quote the Bible to prove anything. Harris and Dawkins are quite explicit about this. His 2008 book Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale is a collection of autobiographical emails between Davies and journalist Benjamin Cook that has been described as “…a funny, revealing insight into the workings of the genius” behind the beloved Doctor Who. He wrote many books on the subjects of wealth and its responsibilities, on social issues and on political philosophy. And critics contend that the New Atheists’ answer to the question, “Why be moral?” could only show that belief in God is not needed to motivate people to be moral; it doesn’t explain what does (or should) motivate atheists to be moral. He argues that scientific thinking must lead to a materialistic world view and a rejection of all notions of deity or spiritual nature. Dawkins speculates that this cognitive disposition, which tends to help inexperienced children to avoid harm, also tends to make them susceptible to acquiring their elders’ irrational and harmful religious beliefs. He thinks that scientific exploration into the nature of human consciousness will provide a progressively more adequate natural and rational basis for such a practice. For Epicurus the purpose of philosophy was to attain peace of mind and a happy life, freedom from fear and absence of pain. He has also written several books about science and environmentalism, is an outspoken critic of global climate change corporate deniers and established the David Suzuki Foundation to promote sustainability. The two sold some possessions to raise $1,300, assembled the first prototypes in Job’s garage. I’m almost as bad as Richard Dawkins on this issue.”, David Jon Gilmour [b. Though a critic of the deterministic view of human behavior and society, he contributed much to expanding upon the mechanisms of natural evolution. The romantics, attracted by his identification of God with Nature, rescued him from oblivion. Pinker argues that many other human mental faculties are adaptive in an evolutionary sense and can be understood best from that angle. Dawkins insists that the presence or absence of a creative super-intelligence is a scientific question. The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions (New York: Crown Forum, 2008). Craig, William Lane, ed. The philosophers of the enlightenment ridiculed his methods - not without some grounds. The New Atheists reply that Hitler was not necessarily an atheist because he claimed to be a Christian and that these regimes were evil because they were influenced by religion or were like a religion and that, even if their leaders were atheists (as in the case of Stalin), their crimes against humanity were not caused by their atheism because they were not carried out in the name of atheism. A review of and expansion upon the principles of the New Atheism with responses to many of its critics. Jacques Lucien Monod [1910-1976] was a French biologist who contributed greatly to the understanding of the Lac operon as a regulator of gene transcription in cells, suggested the existence of mRNA molecules in the process of protein synthesis, and further contributed to the field of enzymology. Harris quotes passages from the part of the Old Testament traditionally labeled the “Law” that he considers barbaric (such as the command in Deuteronomy 13 to stone family members or close friends to death if they “secretly entice you” to “go worship other gods”) and then asserts (on the basis of his view that Jesus can be read to endorse the entirety of Old Testament law) that the New Testament does not improve on these injunctions. Gilmour has a penchant for philanthropy, support which includes housing funds for the homeless, Oxfam, Greenpeace, Amnesty International, the Lung Foundation and others. The scientific investigation of religion of the sort Dennett recommends has prompted a larger interdisciplinary conversation that includes both theists and non-theists with academic specialties in science, philosophy, and theology (see Schloss and Murray 2009 for an important example of this sort of collaboration). But in his autobiography he stated, “At the age of eighteen, …I read Mill’s Autobiography, where I found a sentence to the effect that his father taught him the question “Who made me?” cannot be answered, since it immediately suggests the further question “Who made God?” This led me to abandon the “First Cause” argument, and to become an atheist.”. Ask Question Asked 1 year, 5 months ago. Not content to simply speak against the popular pantheon of Greek gods, he also criticized the Eleusinian Mysteries. And though Dennett’s focus is on the evolution of religion, he is likely to have a similar story about the evolution of morality. A naturalized American citizen born in Lahore, India, Chandra’s family long displayed signs of brilliance, even genius. An even bigger fortune was made later by Shannon and colleague Ed Thorp when they applied the same theory (later known as the Kelly criterion) to the stock market. God is Great, God is Good: Why Believing in God is Reasonable and Responsible (Grand Rapids: InterVarsity Press, 2009). 1949) Barker, a former Protestant minister, is a jazz pianist, composer, author, … Though Hitchens mentions Dennett’s naturalistic approach to religion in his chapter on “religion’s corrupt beginnings,” he focuses primarily on the interplay between a pervasive gullibility he takes to be characteristic of human beings and the exploitation of this credulity that he attributes to the founders of religions and religious movements. It was from this association with the leaders of the “Phage Group” of molecular biologists that he became involved in the search for the nature of genes. It’s always now Sam Harris notes on his blog, that he’s observed a number of instances, on You Tube, where folks have set the audio portions, from some of his appearances, to slide-show, animation, or video creations of their own. He first coined the term “central dogma” to describe the flow of genetic information in cells as a oneway street – DNA to RNA to protein. He became an atheist with a firm conviction that all phenomena must be materialistic in nature. Objectivism is particularly prized by dedicated capitalists and economists and underpins much of the wider free-thought movement. Dennett’s popular work in philosophy of mind and cognitive science, the books Content and Consciousness and Consciousness Explained reflect an expansive and detailed development of his philosophical ideas that have generated some heated debates among his peers. Their arguments for this conclusion focus on what they take to be the moral deficiencies and factual errors of these books. Dawkins’ argument for the probable non-existence of God is the most explicit and thorough attempt at an atheistic argument amongst the four. The one I dated for 7 … She married socialite businessman Ludlow Ogden Smith in 1928, but divorced six years later. Contending with Christianity’s Critics (Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman and Holman, 2009). Definitely a skeptic, he is thought by some to also have been one of the earliest modern atheists.It is often been pointed out that many of his ideas were similar to those of the Buddha. I am still relatively new to philosophy and was curious to realize that most modern philosophers seem to announce that they are a physicalist or an atheist. The Reason for God: Belief in God in an Age of Skepticism (New York: Dutton, 2007). His most famous case was the defense of Tennessee teacher John Scopes in the “Monkey Trial” against the state law that barred the teaching of evolution. Padma Vibhushan Subrahmanyan Chandresekhar [1910-1995] better known by his nickname “Chandra” – has a space-based X-ray observatory named after him, launched by the space shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999. It refersto the propositional content of belief, not to the attitude orpsychological state of believing. How non-living molecules become living organisms, and how the human brain creates a conscious mind. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006). I believe there’s nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for other people.”. 1928] is one of the most notable American philosophers of any age. He has also written against creationism in the book The Blind Watchmaker and against theism in A Devil’s Chaplain and The God Delusion, both popular best-sellers. This earned her the obsessed attention of would-be Presidential assassin John Hinckley Jr. who stalked her while she was attending Yale. “Afterword” in Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 10th anniversary edition (London: Penguin Random House, 2016), pp. 1984] is an American computer programmer named by Time Magazine as one of the World’s Most Influential People in 2008 for his development of the internet application Facebook. Hume: A Very Short Introduction Jean-Jacques Rousseau Genevan (1712-1778) Jean-Jacques Rousseau was an important figure in the Romantic movement and made key contriutions to educational and political theory. Foster is an atheist who celebrates both Christmas and Hannukah with her two sons, and claims great respect for all religions. The volume has an excellent and extensive bibliography and fine end notes. Harris is explicit about placing the blame for these evils on faith, defined as unfounded belief. poet and sophist from Melos known as Diagoras the Atheist. Mark Elliot Zuckerberg [b. Claude Elwood Shannon [1916-2001] was an electronic engineer and mathematician known as “the father of information theory.” While at the University of Michigan he was introduced to the works of George Boole, and once in grad school at MIT working with the ‘differential analyzer’, an early analog computer, he saw that Boole’s concepts could be used used to simplify the complicated circuitry of the analyzer and wrote his master’s thesis on what became known as Boolean logic. Carnegie preferred naturalism and science, saying in his autobiography that, “not only had I got rid of the theology and the supernatural, but I had found the truth of evolution.”. 1928] received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1962 as co-discoverer along with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins of the molecular structure of DNA. These authors include Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens. Bruce Jun Fan Lee [1940- 1973] was an American born Chinese martial artist, philosopher, instructor and actor, the founder of the Jeet Kune Do combat form. He is said to have stretched his influence very thin in his efforts to protect his son and Jewish daughter-in-law and their children from the Nazis. He argues that faith in what religious believers take to be God’s will as revealed in God’s book inevitably leads to immoral behaviors of these sorts. Mackie, Anthony Flew, etc. Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American author, philosopher, neuroscientist, and podcast host. He had an elaborate system for interpretation of dreams as indicators of unconscious desires, and did early neurological research on cerebral palsy. As a producer he contributed to recordings by Genesis, David Bowie, Zvuki Mu and Robert Calvert. Pop goes the philosophy–it’s time for top 10 ancient atheist philosophers and their quotes. Katherine Houghton Hepburn [1907-2003] was an acclaimed actress in film, television and stage for 73 years of her long life. Carroll is perhaps better known for his strong advocacy of atheism, once going so far as to turn down an invitation to speak at a conference sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation because he didn’t want to be seen as advocating a reconciliation between science and religion. Though he has been often accused by his critics of turning his environmental causes into a religion of its own, Suzuki describes himself in his autobiography as an atheist with no illusions about life and death. He became a National Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, and worked freely across disciplines with other notable scientists to shape the ideas that became information theory. Hitchens, Christopher. Forging am independent, modern India where educational and social opportunities could been afforded to all citizens regardless of religion or caste, this rejection of any particular belief system in a region hosting such wide diversity no doubt helped him toward his considerable accomplishments. 1941] is the most prominent scientific atheist in the world today, and was the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford until his retirement in 2008. Born Sigismund Schlomo Freud [1856-1939], Freud was an Austrian psychiatrist founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. In a 1999 speech in Washington, D.C., he said, “With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil – that takes religion.”. Despite his ideas falling out of favor or being modified in later years, his methodology and theoretics continue to exert influence in the humanities and some social sciences. While attending Phillips Exeter Academy he developed an AI program called Synapse that both Microsoft and AOL attempted to purchase as part of recruitment efforts, but he determined to attend Harvard instead. Wozniak is a committed philanthropist, funding various educational projects, and has even taught fifth graders. Regarding the metaphysical component, the New Atheist authors share the central belief that there is no supernatural or divine reality of any kind. Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature (298) Fellows of the Royal Society (217) 20th-century English novelists (206) In reply to Dawkins, Craig argues that though the contents of God’s mind may be complex, God’s mind itself is simple. George Denis Patrick Carlin [1937-2008] was one of the most popular and controversial comedians during his lifetime, having won five Grammy awards for his comedy albums. The New Atheists and Old Testament Ethics,” Philosophia Christi 10:1, 2008, pp. If,however, “atheism” is defined in terms of theism andtheism is the proposi… The fourth philosophical question raised by the New Atheists is one they address themselves: “Why should we be moral?” Harris’s answer is that being moral tends to contribute to one’s happiness. Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009). He does sketch a brief version of the cosmological argument for God’s existence but asserts that the final conclusion does not follow because the argument does not rule out alternative possibilities for the universe’s existence. Dennett, Daniel. He earned that Ph.D. in zoology from Indiana University at the age of 22. His storied career has been set with his accomplishments as a conservationist, a promoter of civil rights and a supporter of the Kenyan Safina Party. Prominent atheists are getting the word out about their views in increasing numbers and generating lots of public debate on the proper place of religion in governments and share societies in the modern world. At the heart of his argument is the claim that any God capable of designing a universe must be a supremely complex and improbable entity who needs an even bigger explanation than the one the existence of such a God is supposed to provide. At first Spinoza was reviled as an atheist - and certainly, his God is not the conventional Judo-Christian God. Finally, as regards ethics, critics argue that a problem with the New Atheists biological answer to the philosophical question concerning the ontological ground of the universal moral standard is that it could only explain what causes moral behavior; it can’t also account for what makes moral principles true. 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