Tradition
New Atheism
Overview
New Atheism or Neo-Atheism, sometimes referred to as scientific atheism, is a 21st-century movement attributed to some atheist academics, writers, scientists, and philosophers opposed to superstition, religion, and irrationalism. New Atheists advocate the antitheist view that the various forms of theism should be examined, countered by rational and scientific arguments, and criticised, especially when they exert strong influence on the broader society, such as in government, education, and politics.
Major figures of New Atheism include Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris, sometimes collectively referred to as the "Four Horsemen" of the movement. Proponents of the New Atheist movement have experienced criticism from academics and other atheists.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
But the fact is that pure Atheism even in the present day is very rare. What is called Atheism is usually a phase of Pantheism, which is really nothing but a relapse disguised under learned terms, into a vague and abstract form of Fetichism. And it is not impossible that it may lead to the reproduction in one form or other of every theological phase as soon as the check which modern society still imposes on…
Auguste Comte, A General View of Positivism Or, Summary exposition of the System of Thought and Life
States what New Atheism is.
Since there was little in the apparent condition of the public mind, indicative of any tendency in this direction, my view of the immediate prospects of human improvement was not sanguine. More recently a spirit of free speculation has sprung up, giving a more encouraging prospect of the gradual mental emancipation of England; and concurring with the renewal under better auspices, of the movement for political…
John Stuart Mill, Autobiography
Close in meaning to New Atheism; the term itself is not named.
These forces were the authority of reason and science. In _The Christian Philosopher_,[i-29] basing his attitude on the works of Ray, Derham, Cheyne, and Grew,[i-30] Mather attempted to shatter the Calvinists' antithesis between science and theology, asserting "that [Natural] Philosophy is no Enemy, but a mighty and wondrous Incentive to Religion."[i-31] He warned that since even Mahomet with the aid of reason found…
Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Franklin
Close in meaning to New Atheism; the term itself is not named.
Philosophers who discussed New Atheism
- Antony Flew
- A. C. Grayling
- Christopher Hitchens
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
- Sam Harris
- Richard Dawkins
- Daniel Dennett
- Victor J. Stenger
Related ideas
- Roger Scruton
- Empiricism
- John Gray (philosopher)
- Falsifiability
- Fundamentalism
- Afterlife
- Germany
- Gender equality
- Philosophy
- Michael Ruse
- Atheism
- Judaism
- Scientism
- Massimo Pigliucci
- Michel Onfray
- The Guardian
- A. C. Grayling
- Hypothesis
- Superstition
- Authoritarianism
- Well-being
- Omnipotence
- Omniscience
- Christopher Hitchens
Place in the tradition
Part of A. C. Grayling.