Anti-Theistic Theories (1877)

ANTI-THEISTIC THEORIES ANTI-THEISTIC THEORIES BEING Bairtr Lecture for 18Z7 ROBERT FLINT D.D., LL.D., F.R.S.E. 'RESPONDING MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH J AUT, ' 'THE PHILOSOPHY IN EUROPE, ' ETC. PREFATORY NOTE. THE present volume is closely connected with the work entitled 'Theism' which was published in 1877. The two works may be regarded as two parts of a system of Natural Theology which is still very far from complete. The chief omission in the present volume relates to Agnosticism. The explanation of the omission is that the author was anxious to avoid, in a semi-popular work, abstruse metaphysical discussion, and has long cherished the hope of being able, at some future time, to publish a historical account and critical examination of the various phases of Modern Agnosticism. He has again to thank Mr James A. Campbell of Stracathro for kindly assisting him in the work of revision. JOHNSTONS LODGE, CRAIGMILLAK PARK, EDINBURGH, zot/i May 1879. PREFATORY NOTE TO THIRD EDITION. THE alterations in this edition are chiefly in the literary references. Lecture VIL, and the Notes connected with it, have been left unchanged. They may be compared with the very elaborate examination of Sir John Lubbock's views on the atheism of savage peoples in G. Roskoff's ' Religionswesen der Rohesten Naturvolker/ a work published the year after the first edition of the present volume, and in which the results arrived at are precisely those which I had reached. Among the many works which have recently appeared dealing with Theism and Anti-Theism, it is proper to mention at least these three the ' Philosophical Basis of Theism ' (1883) by Professor Samuel Harris of Yale, the ' Philosophy of Theism (1884) by the late Dr Ward, and f Modern Theories in Philosophy and Religion ' (1885) by Principal Tulloch. JOHNSTONE LODGE, CRAIGMILLAR PARK, EDINBURGH, ampisf April 1885. CONTENTS. LECT. PAGE I. ATHEISM, ........ II. ANCIENT MATERIALISM, ..... III. MODERN MATERIALISM, ..... IV. CONTEMPORARY OR SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM, . Ill V. POSITIVISM, . . . VI. SECULARISM, ........ VII. ARE THERE TRIBES OF ATHEISTS? . . . VIII. PESSIMISM, ........ IX. HISTORY OF PANTHEISM, ..... X. PANTHEISM, ........ APPENDIX. NOTE I. THE TERMS THEISM, DEISM, ATHEISM, AND ANTI-THEISM, ......... II. ABSOLUTE ATHEISM IMPLIES INFINITE KNOWLEDGE, . III, PHYSICUS, ......... IV. HISTORY, CAUSES, AND CONSEQUENCES OF ATHEISM, . x Contents. v. LANGE'S HISTORY OF MATERIALISM, . 462 VI. CHINESE MATERIALISM, . VII. HINDU MATERIALISM, . 4 VIII. EARLY GREEK MATERIALISM, . 4.67 IX. EPICUREAN MATERIALISM, . X. MATERIALISM IN THE MIDDLE AGES, . XI. MATERIALISM OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES, . " * 4 9 XII. LA METTRIE, .......* XIII. MIRABAUD AND VON HOLBACH, . XIV. ENGLISH MATERIALISM IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, . XV. RECENT MATERIALISM, . . . ' XVI. MATERIALISM AND FORCE, ..... XVII. MATERIALISM AND LIFE, ..... XVIII. MATERIALISM AND MIND, ..... XIX. MATERIALISM AND MORALITY, ... XX. POSITIVISM AND ITS SCHOOLS, .... XXI.