Product Description

"Thousands of philosophers--from the ancient Greeks to modern thinkers--have defended atheism, but none more comprehensively than Martin. . . . Atheists should read it to bolster their creed, and theists should read it to test their faith against the deadly force of Martin's attack."--Martin Gardner, The Humanist.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #610631 in Books
• Published on: 1992-01-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 541 pages

Review

From the Publisher
Logical reasons for being an atheist

From the Inside Flap
"Thousands of philosophers—from the ancient Greeks to modern thinkers—have defended atheism, but none more comprehensively than Martin. His lengthy arguments, detailed and incisive, are sharpened by modern developments in logic and inductive reasoning and by special attention to contemporary thinkers whose subtle writings are unknown to the general public.... Atheists should read it to bolster their creed, and theists should read it to test their faith against the deadly force of Martin's attack."
—Martin Gardner, The Humanist

"A tour-de-force for the mind.... This is a book to be read several times and savored while being slowly digested.... If one follows Martin's reasoning throughout this book, one will have gone through the most thorough and vigorous examination of the logical arguments surrounding atheism and theism that has ever been offered."
—Gordon Stein, American Rationalist

"[This book] has the impact of a runaway train. It is certainly the best philosophical justification of atheism that I have ever read.... Even readers with little philosophical background will find themselves richly repaid."
—Free Inquiry

"This is a bold work which presents its case with clarity, rigour, and a thorough knowledge of the most recent articles and monographs in the field of philosophy of religion.... The details of Martin's arguments deserve the close attention of all philosophers of religion."
—Michael Banner, Journal of Theological Studies

"The arguments in this clearly written work are sound and conclusive. There is scarcely a questionable sentence in the entire enormous work. A comprehensive work of solid scholarship, Atheism: A Philosophical Analysis is an important contribution to the philosophy of religion."
—Wallace Matson, University of California, Berkeley

"Martin's net is much more broadly cast than [Bertrand] Russell's to provide a comprehensive defense of atheism that pulls together criticisms scattered throughout atheistic literature. Clearly and systematically, Martin defends negative atheism the absence of belief in god or gods, by attacking the major classical and contemporary arguments for God's existence."
—Choice

Customer Reviews

VERY comprehensive but dated introduction to atheism
This book is a HUGE overview of the different types of atheism. Overall, I think Martin's book is an excellent introduction to atheism. I particularly enjoyed his refutation of various theistic answers to the argument from evil. Unfortunately, I cannot report that I enthusiastically endorse every feature of this book. Here's why:

First, Martin creates unnecessary problems for himself by trying to argue BOTH that theism is meaningless AND that if theism were meaningful, it is false. I am very familiar with Martin's Internet essay, "Positive Atheism and the Meaninglessness of Theism," where he explains that his defense of both negative and positive atheism is a "fall-back" position. However, Martin's defense of the claim, "theism is factually meaningfulness," is unconvincing. (Even most nontheists believe that theism is meaningful!) Moreover, Martin's "fall-back" strategy is a poor one. By writing such a huge discussion of arguments for and against the existence of God, it sure *appears* that Martin can think of ways in which the existence of God might be confirmed or disconfirmed. In other words, despite the fact that Martin was using a "fall-back" strategy, by the very nature of the issue Martin's fall-back strategy undermines his claim that theism is factually meaningfulness.

Second, given that his book was first published 10 years ago, it is now starting to become dated. Martin's book lacks a discussion of several new evidential arguments for atheism developed and defended since 1991. John Schellenberg has defended the highly influential atheological argument from divine hiddenness. (Indeed, this argument is so powerful that even Christian philosophers are taking it seriously: witness the forthcoming publication of Howard-Snyder's and Moser's anthology on divine hiddenness.) Martin's book is missing other important evidential atheological arguments as well, including Michael Tooley's argument from physical minds, Paul Draper's argument about combining evolution with the problem of evil, Draper's argument from the biological role of pain and pleasure, and religious confusion. Likewise, on the theistic side, Martin's book says nothing about recent sophisticated defenses of so-called 'intelligent design' theory.

Third, I doubt that Martin's critique of moral arguments for theism will satisfy anyone except atheist philosophers, given the brevity of the discussion. If morality can be objective without God, Martin needs to say more about the matter than he does. And moral objectivists will not be impressed by Martin's 4-sentence (hypothetical?) dismissal of moral objectivism (which, I suppose, is another one of Martin's "fall-back" strategies.)

Overall, I think Michael Martin's _Atheism_ can be a useful addition to a person's library, so long as he or she is aware of its limitations. I hope that Martin revises his book so that these limitations are removed.

Charged Atheism
In my opinion, this is undoubtedly one of the strongest defenses of Atheism ever written. Martin gives information on both "negative" and "positive" Atheism. These two distinctions are as follows: "negative" Atheism is simply non-belief in any particular god, while "positive" Atheism is the firm belief that no gods exist. It may sound like there is no difference at all, but it mostly has to do with how strong one's Atheism is.

Martin, a professor of philosophy at Boston University, destroys numerous modern incarnations of common theist arguments, including William Lane Craig's twist on the Kalam cosmological argument. The one draw back to this book is that it might make for rough reading for those who are not familiar with the symbolization and syntax of sentential logic. Such readers may have a tough time with Martin's arguments which, at times, resemble mathematical equations.

This book is not for the weak hearted.
This book was right at my brink of comprehension. It took almost everything I had to follow what Martin was talking about. I still love the book. I had a little trouble following the negative atheist philosophy. Yes, a child or infant that's born is an atheist because they've never heard of God yet. Yes, I feel that people who know God or have studied God and choose Atheism over Theism are the true Athiests. Yes, I believe that an Atheist doesn't hate God he or she simply doesn't believe in God. Really Cool book but read it slow. No, I'm not an idiot. It's very slow and hard reading. Martin is somewhat beyond my intelligence level. I can follow along but it takes lots of reviewing for me...Regards...