When I hear atheists proclaiming their good news that gods are well and truly dead, I get the uneasy feeling they haven’t seriously considered or fully comprehended the implications of this apparent fact. In his justly famous “Parable of the Madman” Nietzsche cautions against underestimating the seriousness of killing gods:
The madman jumped into their midst [...]
Tags:American Nietzsche·Brian Leiter·Friedrich Nietzsche·gnu atheism·God is Dead·Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen·new atheists·Ralph Waldo Emerson·Ross Posnock·The Madman
In the celebrated closing of the Origin of Species, Darwin hits his lyrical stride with a paradox:
Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of [...]
Tags:Arthur Schopenhauer·creation·cruelty·Darwin·destruction·dialectic·Friedrich Nietzsche·grandeur·life·nature·nihilism·omnibenevolence·Origin of Species·paradox·pessimism·red in tooth and claw·Richard Dawkins·Richard Schacht·suffering·theodicy·transcendence
Making and keeping promises is a hallmark of human behavior that many consider to be a cornerstone of “morality.” As such, it is often linked to religion. The linkage is expressly acknowledged by religious groups such as Promise Keepers.
Until recently, I hadn’t given much thought to promises per se or their critical importance to the [...]
Tags:conscience·consciousness·Friedrich Nietzsche·Genealogy of Morals·Making Sense of Nietzsche·memory·memory activation·morality·morals·Promise Keepers·promises·Richard Schacht
In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905), Max Weber sought to correct or temper Karl Marx’s view that religion was always a reflection or epiphenomenon of the economic base. Although Marx’s understanding of religion was considerably more complicated and drew heavily on Ludwig Feuerbach’s idealist critique in The Essence of Christianity (1841), [...]
Tags:Calvinism·Christianity·evil·Friedrich Nietzsche·good·history of science·India·Iran·Islam·Judaism·Karl Marx·Ludwig Feuerbach·Max Weber·modernity·monotheism·Muslim·Parsis·Persia·profane·Protestant Ethic·Puritans·Robert Kennedy·Robert Merton·Rodney Stark·sacred·spirit of capitalism·truth·Zoroaster·Zoroastrianism
In the inaugural issue of Religion, Brain & Behavior, Jeffrey Schloss and Michael Murray examine the idea that belief in supernatural agents is adaptive because these agents are punishers: supernatural policeman if you will. This policing can have two effects. First, belief in supernatural punishment can enhance within group cooperation. Second, it can reduce cheating [...]
Tags:ancestral environment·Azim Shariff·cheating·cooperation enhancement·essentialism·free riders·Friedrich Nietzsche·functionalism·game theory·Genealogy of Morals·Jeffrey Schloss·Jesse Bering·Lee Cronk·Mario Brandhorst·Michael Murray·morals·neolithic·Paleolithic·punishment avoidance·supernatural punishment·supernatural surveillance
Philology is alive and well, though it does not go by that name anymore. When philologists focus on the Bible, the results are usually unsettling for those who believe this collection of disparate writings to be the handiwork of God. For some, philological analysis of the Bible can lead to disbelief.
This certainly was the case [...]
Tags:Bart Ehrman·bible·Christianity·exegesis·Friedrich Nietzsche·manuscripts·Misquoting Jesus·New Testament·philology·scribes·textual criticism
“The irrationality of a thing is no argument against its existence, rather a condition of it.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human (aph. 515)
In this review of Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Religion by Julian Young, Weaver Santaniello provides some observations that — if true, are startling:
And while many simply regard Nietzsche as an atheist, Young does not view Nietzsche as a non-believer, radical individualist, or immoralist, but as a nineteenth-century religious reformer belonging to a German Volkish tradition of [...]
Tags:Beyond Good and Evil·Dionysius·existential·Friedrich Nietzsche·Greek mythology·Julian Young·Nietzsche's Philosophy of Religion·paganism·pantheism·Schopenhauer·Supposing Truth is a Woman·Volkish tradition·Weaver Santaniello
As most social and critical theorists know, Karl Marx asserted that the “criticism of religion is the premise of all criticism” (Critique of Hegel, 1843). This is a startling foundational statement coming from Marx, who also thought that the criticism of religion was complete — a key accomplishment which enabled him to proceed with his [...]
Tags:Christopher Craig Brittain·critical theory·criticism·Critique of Hegel·Essence of Christianity·evolutionary history·Frankfurt School·Friedrich Nietzsche·God is Dead·God is Not Dead·historical materialism·human constructions·Karl Marx·Lectures on the Essence of Religion·Ludwig Feuerbach·Marxism·Max Horkheimer·Max Horkheimer on Religion·metaphysical truths·mystification·Sigmund Freud·social theory·supernaturalism
Letter from Friedrich Nietzsche to his sister, Elisabeth Forster Nietzsche (1865):
As for your principle that truth is always on the side of the more difficult, I admit this in part. However, it is difficult to believe that 2 times 2 is not 4; does that make it true? On the other hand, is it really [...]
