Worldview Foundations
Which two worldviews are atheistic?
Scientific Materialism and Nihilism
In what century did atheist voices become popular in Western history?
1800s (19th century)
What's the big problem with Nihilism as a worldview?
It's not livable.
This person famously proclaimed "God is dead."
Friedrich Nietzsche
Nihilism comes from the latin word 'nihil,' which means...
Nothing
Which worldview believes in God but seems him as distant, the Divine Watchmaker?
Deism
Why is Nietzsche so important in the history of Western culture and philosophy?
He demonstrated the radical implications of atheistm/naturalism (there is no inherent value/meaning in the world)
What are two of the four appeals of scientific materialism?
Possible answers:
1. a focus on this world/life
2. the promise of scientific progress
3. no hear of hell/final judgment
4. freedom from external moral standard.
Famous American deist who wrote The Age of Reason
Thomas Paine
What is the term for the metaphysical view that reality is purely physical...
Materialism
The key difference between Deism and Christianity is that deism rejects what?
Special Revelation
Common worldview amongst people who believe in God but don't hold to a fully Christian view of God. "God only needs to be involved when you have a problem" and "The central goal of life is to be happy and feel good about yourself."
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
Secular Humanism has to borrow its affirmation of what from a religious worldview.
Its affirmation of human value/human rights.
Thomas Jefferson
The belief that all events, including human actions, are ultimately brought about by causes external to our will.
Determinism
Give the 4 elements of the "Big Story" of Scientific Materialism in order?
Big Bang
Evolution of Humanity
Enlightenment Progress
Ultimate "Nothingness"
Why is deism inherently unstable? Why does it tend to lead toward atheism?
Two answers possible: In deism, God is relegated to the beginning and end of life; in the middle you function as an atheist.
Or
In deism, God can't break the laws of nature, which is like saying the laws of nature are ultimate.
We talked about 4 problems with Deism. Give me at least two of them.
Possible answers: de-personalizes God.
Illogical: "God bound by laws of nature?"
No grace: be good to get to heaven.
No hope: maybe there is an afterlife, but what evidence do we have from nature/science alone?
18th century skeptical Scottish philosopher, critiqued the possibility of miracles.
David Hume
The idea that everything can be understood in terms of its basic physical parts is called...
Reductionism
What's the key difference between scientific materialism and nihilism?
Two possible answers:
Nihilism draws much more radical conclusions from materialist starting point.
or
Nihilism recognizes life has no meaning, whereas scientific materialism tries to hold on to some kind of meaning for our lives.
The publication of what book made "Intellectually fulfilled atheism" possible.
I said that scientific materialism can't explain 4 features of our universe. What are they?
1. The beginning of the universe
2. the Fine-tuning of the universe.
3. The beginning of life.
4. Consciousness.
19th century philosopher who argued that humans create God in their own image in his book The Essence of Christianity
Ludwig Feuerbach
The belief that science is the only way to obtain knowledge about reality.
Scientism