The Greatest Atheist thinker

Post Reply New Topic

I don't understand why Milton Friedman and Robert Nozick are missing from the list. They definitely rate above anyone else on that list, barring some breakthrough future work by Awesomelyglorious.

Milton Friedman wasn't very public about his atheist beliefs, unlike the people on the list. Robert Nozick is the same.

Most of the people on the list are noted for their public opposition to religion.

So was Epicurus, who certainly never denied the existence of gods, merely that they have no bearing on human existence, nor take any interest in our affairs. I think the "atheist" charge was one stuck on him and his followers by critics of the school.

I think Dennett of Nozick are of comparable intellectual ability. Milton Friedman was an economist. His atheism was essentially irrelevant to his major interests. He was interested in monetary policy and regulatory policy mostly.

Both Dennett and the late Robert Nozick are first class thinkers. I was fortunate to be acquainted with Robert Nozick, while he lived. We had some conversations and greeted each other when we met. He was a comparatively young man when he died (62 years old I think) and his death was a great loss to the thinking community.

ruveyn

Richard Dawkins.

George Carlin is another one in that he uses his sense of humor to show just how ridiculous religious dogma can be.

agreed

Well, that's an oops on my part. He is often associated with the problem of evil.

I would suggest the Buddha... okay, modern forms of buddhism bear little resemblance to what the man actually taught, but he certainly changed the world.

I can see that argument with respect to Friedman; as ruveyn notes, atheism wasn't central to his work, so while he was a great thinker who was an atheist, his thought didn't have to do specifically with atheism.

Nozick's work, though, had to do specifically with ethics and morality; while ethics might flow from some nonreligious source even for the religious, I can't see that for morality. In that sense, Nozick's work was fundamentally atheist. Indeed, Nozick addressed what's perhaps the most important issue with atheism in society: while most atheists don't acknowledge it, fully rational atheism relies on finding some basis for morality other than religion.

Morality and ethics are considered the same in most philosophy departments, so I don't see your distinction as relevant. Nozick addressed the field of ethics in analytic philosophy, and that field really has no concern for God, period, seeing the idea as irrelevant to their work. I don't see how Nozick is better than any other atheist ethicist, and really, he is likely worse than a number of them in terms of anti-theism. He is still not outspoken on his beliefs.

I chose Richard Dawkins because he actively promotes atheism and slams anyone who has religious beliefs. Although people may think he is a little too harsh and I agree. But I think he is treating the whole thing as if it were politics. So he attacks the other parties that he is up against.

I think "The God Delusion" was a much needed book. Reading it, it appears he is being childish and poking fun. But what I think he's doing is giving ordinary people ammunition against the things they hear from religious people in real life.

Other than that he is a brilliant science writer and promotes the scientific method all the time.

Other.

C.S. Lewis.

Y'know, at least Iamnotaparakeet actually picked somebody known as an atheist thinker. I mean.... dude, look, he went through a period of atheism in his life, but how many CS Lewis writings are openly from an atheist standpoint? Why don't we just start picking our favorite religious thinkers so long as they held to atheism for a brief moment in their lives?

"Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Pregnant woman. Gunned her down. Bang. And y'know what? You watched me. You coulda changed the gun into steam or the bullets into mercury or the bottle into snowflakes! You coulda teleported either of us to goddamn Australia...but you didn't lift a finger! You don't really give a damn about human beings. I've watched you. You never cared about whatsername, Janey Slater, even before you ditched her. Soon you won't be interested in Sally Jupiter's little girl, either. You're driftin' outta touch, Doc. You're turnin' into a flake. God help us all."

-Comedian's rant to Doctor Manhattan.

Enjoy....he had a lot of good lines.

This is another good one:

"Stood in firelight, sweltering. Bloodstain on chest like map of violent new continent. Felt cleansed. Felt dark planet turn under my feet and knew what cats know that makes them scream like babies in night. Looked at sky through smoke heavy with human fat and God was not there. The cold, suffocating dark goes on forever and we are alone. Live our lives, lacking anything better to do. Devise reason later. Born from oblivion; bear children, hell-bound as ourselves, go into oblivion. There is nothing else. Existence is random. Has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long. No meaning save what we choose to impose. This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It’s us. Only us. Streets stank of fire. The void breathed hard on my heart, turning its illusions to ice, shattering them. Was reborn then, free to scrawl own design on this morally blank world. Was Rorschach. Does that answer your questions, Doctor?"

-Rorschach to his court-appointed psychiatrist.



The fun thing about actually understanding Watchmen as a morality play is understanding the challenges to the concept of a god.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SNKRo0Zalk

^Alan Moore reading a few of Rorschach's lines. The phrasing really adds to how poetic/theatrical the writing really is (which the movie lacked).

Hard to choose, but Madalyn Murray O'Hair should've made the list at least.

Russell had a hidden agenda, i think.
Carlin was able to take it to a non sophisticated crowd
the Hitch was the person to show how political religion is, a very important work indeed.
If the question were the most *cough*strident*cough* atheist, then Dawkins.

But it's the greatest atheist thinker... so of the atheists listed.. who was the greatest thinker?
Ayn or Freddie?
Freddie limited himself too much to just thinking about god and the divine.
Ayn applied the knowledge of atheism to other ideas... though not all do i agree with, I think she has my vote.

I'm not thinking about atheism at all when I vote for Russell, but rather about On Denoting, Russell's paradox, and type theory.