The most brilliant atheists?

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Charlemagne_III

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Who would you nominate as the most brilliant atheists who ever lived?
 
Charlemagne_III said:
Who would you nominate as the most brilliant atheists who ever lived?
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I think this is a tough question, since historically most of our brilliant minds have been religious. I would say quite possibly the most intelligent agnostic was probably Carl Sagan.
 
Bertrand Russell and Nietzsche should make the list, I’d think.
 
adamhovey1988 said:
I think this is a tough question, since historically most of our brilliant minds have been religious. I would say quite possibly the most intelligent agnostic was probably Carl Sagan.
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Its so hard to say, because the works of atheists were so frequently destroyed, and their philosophizing cut short by death sentences. For example:
Kazimierz Łyszczyński

In the modern era, I’d say that John Rawls is a strong contender.
 
stavros388 said:
Bertrand Russell and Nietzsche should make the list, I’d think.
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In a radio debate in London Russell described himself as an agnostic, not an atheist.

The practical difference is negligible, it seems.

Are you aware of any brilliant argument Nietzsche raised against theism? I’m not, except that he thought it was dead, which is hardly an argument.
 
adamhovey1988 said:
I think this is a tough question, since historically most of our brilliant minds have been religious. I would say quite possibly the most intelligent agnostic was probably Carl Sagan.
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“An atheist has to know a lot more than I know. An atheist is someone who knows there is no God.” Carl Sagan

I suppose he was more the agnostic than the atheist.
 
Charlemagne_III said:
What is John Rawls best argument against theism?
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The post asked for atheists who were brilliant, not brilliant arguments against theism. Rawls’ brilliance lay in the field of political and moral philosophy, not metaphysics.
 
JapaneseKappa said:
The post asked for atheists who were brilliant, not brilliant arguments against theism. Rawls’ brilliance lay in the field of political and moral philosophy, not metaphysics.
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O.K. Thanks. I just thought maybe you knew something about his brilliance in relation to atheism.
 
Charlemagne_III said:
Who would you nominate as the most brilliant atheists who ever lived?
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Here are a few:
Here are a few:
Theodorus the Atheist
Democritus
Steven Weinberg
Richard Dawkins
Mark Zuckerberg
Warren Buffet
Noam Chomsky
Richard Feynman
Vladimir Lenin
 
Charlemagne_III said:
In a radio debate in London Russell described himself as an agnostic, not an atheist.

The practical difference is negligible, it seems.

Are you aware of any brilliant argument Nietzsche raised against theism? I’m not, except that he thought it was dead, which is hardly an argument.
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As far as I know, Nietzsche didn’t develop any systematic arguments against the existence of God. He did, however, make a case against Christianity and considered it an ideology detrimental to our species. If you are specifically seeking brilliant arguments against theism (rather than just brilliant people who happen to be atheists), I personally think that many of the ‘new atheists’ do quite well, even if many of their arguments are borrowed from older atheists. Their arguments are buttressed by the findings of modern science. I have found that John W. Loftus, Carl Sagan, Pascal Boyer, Robert Wright, Michael Shermer, and Jerry Coyne (among others) to offer worthy challenges to many aspects of Christian faith.
 
stavros388 said:
As far as I know, Nietzsche didn’t develop any systematic arguments against the existence of God. He did, however, make a case against Christianity and considered it an ideology detrimental to our species. If you are specifically seeking brilliant arguments against theism (rather than just brilliant people who happen to be atheists), I personally think that many of the ‘new atheists’ do quite well, even if many of their arguments are borrowed from older atheists. Their arguments are buttressed by the findings of modern science. I have found that John W. Loftus, Carl Sagan, Pascal Boyer, Robert Wright, Michael Shermer, and Jerry Coyne (among others) to offer worthy challenges to many aspects of Christian faith.
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Please give an example.
 
tonyrey said:
Please give an example.
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Sorry, but I don’t have the time for that. You’ll find plenty on the internet and YouTube if you’re keen to hear their arguments. Of course, their books would be your best bet.
 
Scratch Robert Wright from that list. Great author and brilliant thinker, but he is probably more of an agnostic or weak deist than an atheist. In his books The Moral Animal and The Evolution of God, he leaves little room for the God of classical theism. But apparently he is something of a critic regarding most of the ‘new atheists’.
 
stavros388 said:
If you are specifically seeking brilliant arguments against theism (rather than just brilliant people who happen to be atheists), I personally think that many of the ‘new atheists’ do quite well, even if many of their arguments are borrowed from older atheists.
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If their arguments are borrowed from older atheists, that would not be a sign of their brilliance as atheists, though it might be a sign that they are brilliant at borrowing. 😉
 
Charlemagne_III said:
If their arguments are borrowed from older atheists, that would not be a sign of their brilliance as atheists, though it might be a sign that they are brilliant at borrowing. 😉
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Well, the arguments are certainly expanded upon and they have the benfit additional insights from the sciences (biology, neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, anthropology, etc.). I mean, what more can be said that hasn’t already been said except in light of new discoveries?
 
stavros388 said:
Well, the arguments are certainly expanded upon and they have the benfit additional insights from the sciences (biology, neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, anthropology, etc.). I mean, what more can be said that hasn’t already been said except in light of new discoveries?
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I don’t understand how new (scientific) discoveries would bolster the argument against the existence of God. Can you explain how they might?

Are you suggesting that scientists might eventually disprove the existence of God? :confused:
 
Charlemagne_III said:
I don’t understand how new (scientific) discoveries would bolster the argument against the existence of God. Can you explain how they might?

Are you suggesting that scientists might eventually disprove the existence of God? :confused:
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Sure. The more we understand how the human brain functions, how change over deep time happens (biological evolution by natural selection), how altruism and various religious tendencies in humans may be explained by evolutionary psychology, how anthropology can examine how differing beliefs and religious impulses arise in different cultures, how materialist physicists like Victor Stenger and Sean Carroll explain away the need for a God as creator and sustainer of the universe, and so on.

I am not here to advocate for or defend these views. But if this is something you’re interested in, I suggest exploring some of the herein mentioned authors’ works (if you haven’t already). They have certainly challenged my faith over time, so much so that I really am not sure where I stand on matters of faith.
 
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