Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T00:48:47.031Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Atheism and Agnosticism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2018

Graham Oppy
Affiliation:
Monash University, Victoria

Summary

This Element is an elementary introduction to atheism and agnosticism. It begins with a careful characterisation of atheism and agnosticism, distinguishing them from many other things with which they are often conflated. After a brief discussion of the theoretical framework within which atheism and agnosticism are properly evaluated, it then turns to the sketching of cases for atheism and agnosticism. In both cases, the aim is not conviction, but rather advancement of understanding: the point of the cases is to make it intelligible why some take themselves to have compelling reason to adopt atheism or agnosticism.
Get access
Type
Element
Information
Online ISBN: 9781108555340
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 17 May 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Bibliography

Allen, W. (1964) Woody Allen Colpix CP 518 (track eight: ‘NYU’).Google Scholar
Antony, L. (ed.) (2007) Philosophers without Gods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Atran, S. (2002) In Gods We Trust. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ayer, A. (1936) Logic, Truth and Language. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd.Google Scholar
Berman, D. (1988) A History of Atheism in Britain. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Blom, P. (2010) A Wicked Company: The Forgotten Radicalism of the European Enlightenment. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bonett, W. (ed.) (2010) The Australian Book of Atheism. Melbourne: Scribe.Google Scholar
Budd, S. (1977) Varieties of Unbelief: Atheists and Agnostics in English Society 1850–1960. Portsmouth: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Bullivant, S. (2013) ‘Defining “Atheism”’ in Bullivant, and Ruse, , 1121.Google Scholar
Bullivant, S. and Ruse, M. (eds.) (2013) Handbook of Atheism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chalmers, D. (1996) The Conscious Mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cline, A. (2016) ‘University Study on American Attitudes towards Atheists’ ThoughtCo, www.thoughtco.com/study-american-attitudes-towards-atheists-248478Google Scholar
Colbert, S. (2007) I am America (and So Can You!). New York: Grand Central Publishing.Google Scholar
Curran, M. (2012) Atheism, Religion and Enlightenment in Pre-Revolutionary Europe. London: Boydell & Brewer.Google Scholar
Dawes, G. (2009) Theism and Explanation. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
D’Holbach, P. (1790/1820) The System of Nature, translated by Wilkinson, S.. London: Thomas Davison.Google Scholar
Doyle, A. (1922/2006) The Coming of the Fairies. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Draper, P. (2017) ‘Atheism and Agnosticism’ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/Google Scholar
Drum, K. (2017) ‘Atheists Open Gap against Muslims for Title of most Hated Religious Group in America’ Mother Jones, www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/02/atheists-no-longer-most-hated-religious-group-america/Google Scholar
Earman, J. (1996) Bayes or Bust? Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Earman, J. (2000) Hume’s Abject Failure. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Edgell, P., Gerteis, J., and Hartmann, D. (2006) ‘Atheists as “Other”: Moral Boundaries and Cultural Membership in American SocietyAmerican Sociological Review 71, 211–34.Google Scholar
Everitt, N. (2004) The Non-Existence of God. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flynn, T. (ed.) (2007) The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief. Amherst: Prometheus.Google Scholar
Forbes, G. (1994) Modern Logic. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Friedrich, S. (2017) ‘Fine-Tuning’ Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/fine-tuning/Google Scholar
Gervais, W. and Najile, M. (2017) ‘How Many Atheists are There?’ Social Psychological and Personality Science, DOI: 10.1177/1948550617707015.Google Scholar
Gervais, W., Norenzayan, A., and Shariff, A. (2011) ‘Do you Believe in Atheists? Distrust is Central to Anti-Atheist PrejudiceJournal of Personality and Social Psychology 101: 1189–206.Google Scholar
Goldschmidt, T. (ed.) (2013) The Puzzle of Existence. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Griffiths, F. and Lynch, C. (2009) Reflections on the Cottingley Fairies. Black Hawk: JMJ Publications.Google Scholar
Guthrie, S. (1993) Faces in the Clouds. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hájek, A. (2008) ‘Are Miracles Chimerical?Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion 1: 82104.Google Scholar
Haldeman-Julius, E. (1931) The Meaning of Atheism. Girard: Haldeman-Julius Publications.Google Scholar
Hirschberg, D. (n.d.) Quote available at http://atheisme.free.fr/Quotes/Atheist.htm.Google Scholar
Horwich, P. (1982) Probability and Evidence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hunter, M. and Wootton, D. (eds.) (1992) Atheism from the Reformation to the Enlightenment. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Huxley, T. (1889/1894) ‘Agnosticism and Christianity’ in Collected Essays of Thomas Henry Huxley, Volume 5. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 309–65.Google Scholar
Jacoby, S. (2013) The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Free Thought. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
James, W. (1902) Varieties of Religious Experience. London: Longmans.Google Scholar
Jillette, P. (2011) God, No!: Signs You May Already be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Korzdorfer, N. (2009) ‘Brad Pitt Interview: “With Six Kids Each Morning it is About Surviving”’, Bild.comwww.bild.de/news/bild-english/inglourious-basterd-star-on-angelina-jolie-and-six-kids-9110388.bild.html.Google Scholar
Le Poidevin, R. (1996) Arguing for Atheism. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Le Poidevin, R. (2010) Agnosticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Leslie, J. (1989) Universes. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Losure, M. (2012) The Fairy Ring; or Elise and Frances Fool the World. Somerville: Candlewick Press.Google Scholar
Manson, N. (ed.) (2003) God and Design. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Mackie, J. (1982) The Miracle of Theism. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Martin, M. (1990) Atheism: A Philosophical Justification. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Martin, M. (ed.) (2007) Companion to Atheism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Millican, P. (2013) ‘Twenty Questions about Hume’s “Of Miracles”’ in O’Hear, A. (ed.) Philosophy and Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 151–92.Google Scholar
Ohlheiser, A. (2013) ‘There are 13 Countries where Atheism is Punishable by Death’ The Atlantic www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/12/13-countries-where-atheism-punishable-death/355961/Google Scholar
Oppy, G. (2013) The Best Argument against God. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Oppy, G. (ed.) (2018) A Companion to Atheism and Philosophy. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Paul, G. (2005) ‘Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in Prosperous DemocraciesJournal of Religion and Society 7: 117.Google Scholar
Phipps, S. (2013) ‘Should we Care Whether God exists?’ Nooga.com, http://nooga.com/164154/apatheism-should-we-care-whether-god-exists/Google Scholar
Platinga, A. (2012) Where the Conflict Really Lies Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Priest, G. (2000) Logic: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rauch, J. (2003) ‘Let it Be: Three Cheers for Apatheism’ The Atlantic Monthly, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/05/let-it-be/302726/Google Scholar
Reichenbach, B. (2017) ‘Cosmological Argument’ Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cosmological-argument/Google Scholar
Reppert, V. (2009) ‘The Argument from Reason in Craig, W. and Moreland, J. (eds.) Companion to Natural Theology Maldon: Wiley-BlackwellGoogle Scholar
Roberts, S. (n.d.) ‘Brief History of the Quote’, Freelink, http://freelink.wildlink.com/quote_history.php.Google Scholar
Rowe, W. (1976) ‘The Ontological Argument and Begging the QuestionInternational Journal for Philosophy of Religion 7: 443–7.Google Scholar
Sartre, J. (1964) The Words, translated by Frechtman, B.. New York: George Braziller.Google Scholar
Schellenberg, J. (2007) The Wisdom to Doubt: A Justification of Religious Scepticism. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Shapiro, S. (2013) ‘Classical Logic’ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-classical/Google Scholar
Sheard, M. (2014) ‘Ninety-Eight Atheists: Atheism among the Non-Elite in Twentieth Century Britain’ Secularism and Non-Religion, https://secularismandnonreligion.org/articles/10.5334/snr.ar/Google Scholar
Smart, J. (2007) ‘The Mind/Brain Identity Theory’ Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mind-identity/Google Scholar
Smith, T. (2017) Science and Religion: A Conflict of Methods. PhD dissertation, University of Otago.Google Scholar
Sobel, J. (2004) Logic and Theism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Swinburne, R. (ed.) (2002) Bayes’ Theorem. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Talbott, W. (2008) ‘Bayesian Epistemology’ Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epistemology-bayesian/Google Scholar
Talmont-Kaminski, K. (2012) In a Mirror Darkly. Lublin: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej.Google Scholar
Thrower, J. (2000) Western Atheism: A Short History. Amherst: Prometheus.Google Scholar
Van Gulick, R. (2014) ‘Consciousness’ Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consciousness/Google Scholar
Van Inwagen, P. (2018) ‘Begging the Question’ in Oppy, G. (ed.) Ontological Arguments. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Von Hegner, I. (2016) ‘Gods and Dictatorships: A Defence of Heroic Apatheism’ Science, Religion and Culture 3.Google Scholar
Whitmarsh, T. (2015) Battling Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Zuckerman, P. (2009) ‘Atheism, Secularity and Well-Being: How the Findings of Social Science Counter Negative Stereotypes and AssumptionsSociology Compass 3: 949–71.Google Scholar

Save element to Kindle

To save this element to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Atheism and Agnosticism
  • Graham Oppy, Monash University, Victoria
  • Online ISBN: 9781108555340
Available formats
×

Save element to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Atheism and Agnosticism
  • Graham Oppy, Monash University, Victoria
  • Online ISBN: 9781108555340
Available formats
×

Save element to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Atheism and Agnosticism
  • Graham Oppy, Monash University, Victoria
  • Online ISBN: 9781108555340
Available formats
×