In models, atheistic universe refers to []
Overview
In c.450BC, Empedocles, in his On Nature, outlined a four element, two force view of all things, according to which the elements, as Cicero (45BC) described things, were considered “divine”; this is coded atheism, coated with a light veneer of theism, so to say. [1] On this basis, Empedocles, according to Theophilus (c.170AD) (Ѻ) “taught an atheistic” view of the universe. [2]
In 300BC, Epicurus, building on the atomic theory work of Democritus, who described gods as “phantoms”, outlined an overtly atheistic model of the universe, wherein everything in the universe is made of atoms and voids governed by chance; to not incur odium or indictment of the mass, however, according to Cicero, does not outright deny the existence of the gods, but rather refers to them as “appearances” and says that they are powerless things that are made of atoms that reside in the outskirts of the universe, having no concern for humans, or “deprived of any stewardship or activity” (Cicero, 45BC). Posidonius (c.60BC), e.g. was the first to argue that Epicurean religion was “virtually atheistic”. [1]
In 1770, Baron d’Holbach, in his The System of Nature: Laws of the Moral and Physical World, penned a famous atheistic universe model. [4]
In 1802, Pierre Laplace, in his five-volume Celestial Mechanics, outlined a mechanical universe view of things, wherein he implicitly dismissed with the hypothesis of god, as he told Napoleon Bonaparte (see: Napoleon Laplace anecdote).
In 1855, Ludwig Buchner, in his Force and Matter: Principles of the Natural Order of the Universe, with a System of Morality Based Thereon, outlined a famous atheistic universe model, based on the premise that the universe is made of matter and that force is the governing principle. [5]
In 2004, David Mills, in his Atheist Universe: the Thinking Person’s Answer to Christian Fundamentalism, outlined a soft atheism / new atheism stylized take on semi-modern religion vs atheism conflicts, such as intelligent design, “open atheism” (vs closet atheism), mythological disproof of god, etc. [3]
Quotes
The following are related quotes:
“The idea of an atheistic universe is an absurdity.”
— J.M.G. (1873), “Modern Difficulties in Reference to Prayer” (Ѻ)
See also
● Dead universe
● Living universe
● Mechanical universe
● Pantheistic universe
● Physical universe
● Spiritual universe
● Theistic universe
● Thermodynamical universe
References
1. Cicero. (45BC). The Nature of the Gods (Introduction, translation, and notes: Patrick Walsh) (Empedocles, pgs. 13-14; Epicurus, pgs. 108, 178, 183). Oxford University Press, 1998.
2. (a) Theophilus. (c.170). “Letter to Autolycus” (Ѻ) (Adversus Autol III.2), Book 3, Ch. 2: “Profane Authors had No Means of Knowing the Truth”. Publisher.
(b) Kors, Alan C. (2014). Atheism in France, 1650-1729, Volume I: the Orthodox Sources of Disbelief (pg. 191). Princeton University Press.
3. Mills, David. (2006). Atheist Universe: the Thinking Person’s Answer to Christian Fundamentalism. Ulysses Press.
4. d’Holbach, Baron. (1770). The System of Nature: Laws of the Moral and Physical World (notes by Denis Diderot; translator: H.D. Robinson). J.P. Mendum, 1889.
5. Buchner, Ludwig. (1855). Force and Matter: Principles of the Natural Order of the Universe, with a System of Morality Based Thereon (15th German edition; 4th English edition). London: Asher and Co, 1891.
