Why Atheism? [Paperback]

George H. Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2000

Is it possible for the non-believer to lead a happy and meaningful life? This is one question George H. Smith, defender of reason and personal liberty and author of an influential contemporary classic on non-belief, seeks to answer in "Why Atheism?" Smith reviews the historical roots of non-belief going back to the ancient Greeks, argues that philosophy can serve as an important alternative to religion, and defends reason as the most reliable method humans have for establishing truth and conducting one's life.This book tackles a wide range of subjects, some of which have never been thoroughly analysed from an atheistic point of view. Beginning with the problem of atheism's credibility, Smith points out the various ways in which religious opponents have sought to exclude atheism from serious consideration. He also analyses a number of classical philosophical issues, such as the nature of knowledge and belief, concluding that modern atheism is largely an unintended consequence of the religious diversity brought about by the Protestant Reformation.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of Atheism: The Case Against God returns to the fray with a more concise and somewhat more accessible argument against religion. Here he attempts to summarize in 250 pages every deceit and paradox of organized religion over the past 3,000 years, using the cold light of reason and logic in an attempt to rewrite the history of nonbelief. He also champions the cause of the coherent use of critical analysis in destroying mythology, which he believes is morally detrimental because it is based on fallacy. Though overambitious in terms of historical scope and detail, the book is still more compact and readable than Smith's similarly themed earlier work and less polarizing. It even becomes almost funny near the end, when a closing chapter filled with irreverent questions about God lightens an otherwise serious appraisal of theology as a game played with smoke and mirrors. While the initial chapters may appear tedious in their exposition of Western philosophy, patient readers who bear up until the end will be rewarded with a fuller understanding of the logical argument for atheism. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"...clear, straightforward...worth a look..." -- Journal of Church & State

"...prose is clear, straightforward, and relatively easy to follow--no small achievement when wading through centuries of epistemology and metaphysics." -- Journal of Church and State, Autumn, 2001

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 170 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (November 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573922684
• ISBN-13: 978-1573922685
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #809,790 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful New Work, November 23, 2000

By 

eunomius (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Why Atheism? (Paperback)

Once again we are fortunate enough to have a new book from the formidable George H. Smith, one of the greatest free-thinkers of our day. Both of his previous works were excellent, and "Why Atheism?" does not dissapoint. Smith marshals his great learning and wit to deal with a number of important issues surrounding atheism, religious belief, history, ethics, and philosophy. Although he is treading on largely familiar ground, there is little overlap between this effort and his earlier volumes.

Smith begins by discussing the credibility and methodology of atheism, and continues on to examine the relationship of belief with doubt, knowledge, and free will. A great deal of attention is devoted to the history of ideas and those who developed them. Such thinkers as Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, Francis Bacon, Rene Descartes, Benedict Spinoza, and Arthur Schopenhauer, to name a few, are discussed at length. In addition to a chaper paying tribute to the philosophers of the seventeenth century, two others are devoted to a fascinating survey of the roots of modern ideas of atheism and secularism.

Objectivists and others interested in Ayn Rand's philosophy should be particularly interesting in his discussion of Rand's theory of knowledge. Drawing on the work of Rand's supposed "successor" Leonard Peikoff, Smith rejects the Objectivist theory of contextual certainty in favor of a more traditional variant of correspondence theory.

While each chapter is highly stimulating and informative, I particularly enjoyed those which dealt with the lifestyle of the philosopher, the Ontological argument for God's existence, and the atheistical view of death. The penultimate chapter as well, in which Smith discusses several "irreverent" aspects of the concept of God, was highly entertaining, despite, but perhaps because of, the response that it will inspire from the theistic reader.

The book is written in a clear, logical, and lucid prose that is no doubt a reflection of Smith's great talent for communication. While the discussion is kept at a consistently sophisticated level, the intelligent reader should have no trouble keeping up. All in all, "Why Atheism?" is a wonderful book, well worth the attention of anyone interested in the nature, history, and philosophy of nonbelief.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Nice Sequel on Atheism., August 3, 2001

By 

Dr. Francis A Olivo - See all my reviews

This review is from: Why Atheism? (Paperback)

I was first introduced to the author Mr. George H. Smith way back when he was Editor & Chief of Reason Magazine. I purchased his first book called, "Atheism: The Case Against God." It was brilliantly written. May I suggest perchasing this book first. In Why Atheism, Smith, often refers back to philosophies in his first book Atheism: The Case Against God, however, luckly, even though he expects you to have read that book, he still enlightens the reader to his old text, via a short review. The impression I got from Why Atheism was that Smith still had a few things to say about justification of being an Atheist. Why Atheism's concept was very straight forward. Smith wanted to give Atheists a leg to stand on while combating the endless war of being moral even though you're an atheist. Theists believe, through religious propaganda, that all atheists have no morals. This is not true in any way shape or form. Smith explains that the burden of proof is on the theist to prove that God exists. It's not the burden of proof for the atheist to prove that God does not exist. Smith breaks everything down very nicely for the reader. He explains that we must first give God some meaning or definition. In other words, we must first understand what exactly is God. Then if the theist cannot explain what God is, then how can he or she expect the atheist to understand what the theist is talking about. Smith goes on and explains how to view death as an atheist, hwo to live a good life as an atheist, and most improtantly how to use reason as a means to live your life. I say well done Smith! I'm also going to purchase his last book called, "Atheism, Ayn Rand, and other Heresies. Probably as soon as I'm done writing this review. Buy the book, he's ahead of his time...Regards Fellow Atheists....Another book worth reading is Atheism: A Philosophical Justification By Mr. Micheal Martin.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A review of this book and of the May 8, 2004 review, December 24, 2004

By 

Drew J "Drew J" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Why Atheism? (Paperback)

This is a fantastic book. I was impressed with Smith's first two books and I was satisfied once again with his work. If you care about philosophy, you should care about the history of it. Here, Smith does a great job of drawing on the roots of Atheism and of providing an general overview of famous philosophers who examined reason and although found it to be fallible, still seemed to be philosophical optomists (Locke and Bacon for example). In discussing a whole range of philosophers, he ends up presenting nice introductions into various philosophical theories including nominalism, realism, correspondence theory, and others. As well many chapters have extensive footnotes and mention a lot of books for further readings. This is a pro.

Ultimately, the layout is great. Here is why: He lays epistemological ground by defining terms, discussing knowledge, justification, faith, reason, Occam's Razor and burdens. Then he discusses what philosophers such as Locke and Bacon had to say about reason (they said it was fallible whereas Descartes said otherwise) in great detail. His critique of Ayn Rand's (and Leonard Piekoff's) contextual theory of knowledge is excellent in that he effectively refutes it in only a few pages. It's short and to the point!

Then he goes on to explore the Ontological argument which is one of the highlights of the book since it is clearly written and easily understood. Thankfully, draws on a lot of sources for criticisms of the argument as well. Next comes two fairly long chapters on the roots of modern atheism. In the first, quotes a lot of arguments from ancient Greeks, some of which still have validity today. In the second, he has an excellent discussion on Hume and miracles and why one should be able to refuse consideration to miracles as a class instead of wasting time trying to disrpove one miracle at a time. Finally, he has a chapter with some humourous questions that still have philosophical validity.

The final chapter, which is devoted to ethics considers the question of whether ethics without God are possible, and of course they are. He makes a good point in that most theists, in terms of morality, deep down are natural law theologians like Thomas Aquinas since most theists these days would never willingly do anything designated as immoral simply because God demands it.

About the May 8 review: NOWHERE in the first chapter has Smith defined theism solely as belief in the Christian deity. He simply would not do that since he has atheism (correctly) defined as lacking belief in any deity. As well, he made the point in his book that throughout history, people have been deemed atheists for not believing in the god of another person.
"Some theists have been called atheists for disbelieving in the god (or gods) of the orthodox majority. Early Christains, for example were frequently accused of atheism by their pagan critics." (p.19)
Therefore, Smith clearly understands that theism means the belief in any supernatural being, not just the Christian deity. This reviwer should try a little harder to discredit Smith.

Another great book from another great author. I am eagerly awating for his newest book "Happiness in a Godless World," to eventually arrive at the store in my cold Canadian city. Here is a good place one can go where he talks about this book [...] And don't hesitate to check him out on the website of Resources for Independent Thinking.

Keep em' coming George. You keep writing and I'll keep buying.