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    The Worldview of Atheism
    The Worldview of Atheism
    The Worldview of Atheism
    Ebook75 pages1 hour

    The Worldview of Atheism

    By Jensen DG. Mañebog

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    About this ebook

    The book philosophically analyzes the worldview offered by today’s popular belief system called atheism. As atheism comes in various shapes and sizes, this work pertinently discusses various ‘isms’ such as Naturalism, Materialism, Secularism, Humanism, Darwinism, Evolutionism, and Scientism.

    Various aspects of, and topics related to, atheism are comprehensively introduced and philosophically analyzed. Some topics dealt with are: Can atheism truly account for morality or the concept of right and wrong? Can atheistic worldviews serve as a sound and plausible foundation of morality? Is the worldview offered by atheism plausible, sound, and practicable?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJensen DG. Mañebog
    Release dateOct 17, 2013
    ISBN9781301321308
    The Worldview of Atheism
    Author

    Jensen DG. Mañebog

    JENSEN DE GUZMAN MAÑEBOG writes about philosophy, history, life lessons, education, and literature. He took up Bachelor of Arts degree (graduated summa cum laude), finished his Master's from University of the Philippines-Diliman, and completed doctoral level units.He taught History, Philosophy, Debate, Education, and Social Science subjects in some universities in Metro Manila, Philippines for many years. A textbook author and editorial consultant of some academic sites, his published textbooks (adopted by some universities), multidisciplinary researches, lectures, and blogs have been garnering various favorable comments and are used by many educators.Graduated class valedictorian both in elementary and high school, the author was a Professorial Lecturer in the Graduate School of a state university in Metro Manila and became the first President of the academic organization ELPAP (E-Learning Practitioners Association of the Philippines). His e-books were written in partnership with OurHappySchool.com and/or Philippine-Guide.com.You may contact the author through jensenismo@gmail.com.(In mid-2014, Prof. Jensen took on a holy vocation and voluntarily granted the full copyrights of his e-books to his partners/publishers.)

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      Book preview

      The Worldview of Atheism - Jensen DG. Mañebog

      The Worldview of Atheism

      By Jensen Mañebog

      Copyright 2013 Jensen Mañebog

      Smashwords Edition

      Table of Contents

      About the author

      Dedication

      Introduction

      Atheism, Naturalism, and Materialism

      Atheism

      Naturalism

      Materialism

      Analysis

      Life in the worldview: happy or gloomy?

      The implications of upholding the worldview

      The worldview’s ‘leaps of faith’

      Accounting for morality

      The ‘compassionate tear’ and self-sacrifice in atheism

      Secularism and Humanism

      Secularism

      Humanism .

      Human experience as moral basis

      Human need and reason

      Analysis

      Darwinism and Evolutionism

      Evolution and ethics

      Evolution

      Darwinism

      Analysis

      Accounting for the origin of intelligent life

      Evolution: Scientific?

      Evolution’s implicit reasoning

      Darwinism and Ethics

      Scientism

      The beauty of science

      Scientism as a philosophical foundation

      Analysis

      Science as an epistemological tool

      The ‘science-explains-everything’ theory

      Morality and science

      Social Convention and Social Conditioning

      Moral law as a social convention

      Morality as effect of social conditioning

      Analysis

      Herd Instinct, ‘What We Actually Do,’ and Beneficial Behaviors

      Moral Law as Herd Instinct

      What people actually do

      The behaviors that pay

      Analysis

      Lewis’ reasons against ‘herd instinct’ theory

      Many things people do are wrong

      Some moral acts could be bothersome

      Atheism vs. Theism

      Theistic ethics

      Justifying moral values

      Explaining moral accountability

      Accountability in Non-theism

      The cut-flower thesis

      The Euthyphro Dilemma

      Bibliogrphy

      Appendices

      About the author

      Jensen de Guzman Mañebog took Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and graduated summa cum laude at Saint Louis University. He finished his Master of Arts degree at the University of the Philippines-Diliman and is currently a candidate in the doctoral program.

      He has been teaching Philosophy, History, Debate, Education, and Social Science subjects in some universities in Metro Manila for 15 years. A textbook author and editorial consultant of some academic sites (e.g. OurHappySchool.com), his published multidisciplinary researches, lectures, and blogs have been garnering numerous favorable comments and are used by other educators.

      Graduated class valedictorian both in elementary and high school, the author is also a Professorial Lecturer in the Graduate School of a state university in Metro Manila.

      Dedication

      To Kuya Rodel Mañebog, Rommel Laconsay, Joji Crisistomo, Boyet Menorca, Matt Talens, Siegfred Gollayan, Oblai Gaddi, Julius Malabanan, Mark Crelencia, Richard Calangian, Mandy Nepomuceno, Edwil Zabala, and Al Sinocruz.

      Introduction

      This endeavor humbly attempts to philosophically analyze the worldview offered by today’s popular belief system called atheism. Each chapter begins with an introduction of an aspect of, or topic related to, atheism and culminates in a critical evaluation of the issues involved.

      As atheism comes in various shapes and sizes, this book pertinently discusses various ‘isms’ and ideologies. A range of belief systems that are either necessarily atheistic or practically related to atheism are thus dealt with in this book. Hence, famous non-theist ‘philosophies’ such as Naturalism, Materialism, Secularism, Humanism, Darwinism, Evolutionism, and Scientism are relevantly evaluated in this work.

      The approach used in the book is basically a ‘philosophical analysis.’ Admittedly however, the thrust is significantly ‘ethical.’ That is, many of the analyses made deal with how the various atheistic worldviews fare in explaining ethical matters and in serving as a moral foundation. This endeavor thus works on the principle that if a certain worldview is viable, then it must at least be capable of accounting for basic ethical concepts.

      Indeed, the importance of Ethics cannot be overemphasized. Having a sense of morality is one of the things that differentiate us from animals. By nature, we humans are sincerely concerned with what is right and what is wrong in human behavior. Unlike animals, we care about living out ethical principles and we ask basic moral questions such as, What is the good? What makes a life a good life? What are the virtues of a human being? and What duties do we have to each other?

      It is just fair to evaluate atheistic worldviews in relation to Ethics for even atheists affirm that we, humans, experience moral obligation. Contemporary atheist Kai Nielsen, for instance, recommends that one ought to act or follow the rule, policy, practice, or principle that maximizes happiness and minimizes pain. Concerning his principle of justice, he states in his book Ethics Without God that, "it is not enough just to seek maximization of human happiness … and minimization of suffering, but that we must maximize and minimize it fairly (Nielsen, 1973, p. 82). Obviously, his must is supposed to be taken as a term of moral obligation such as ought or should. Furthermore, even the outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins explicitly declares that there are moral instructions on how we ought to behave."(Dawkins, 2006, p. 347)

      Indeed, we are essentially moral agents and we can possess knowledge that some things ought to be done while other things ought not to be performed. Accordingly, such fundamental moral concepts, especially the so-called moral obligation, have binding force and overriding character features which explain that which is called moral accountability.

      These concepts are just some of the things that shall serve as our ‘yardstick’ in appraising the worldview of atheism in its various versions. Can atheism truly account for morality or the concept of right and wrong? Can atheistic worldviews serve as a sound and plausible foundation of morality? Is the worldview offered by atheism plausible, sound, and practicable?

      Atheism, Naturalism, and Materialism

      Confident that his worldview is far from being unhealthy,

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