God and the PhilosophersRecent conflagrations over atheism, creationism, and religion have sparked wide discussion of the existence and character of the divine and how best to conceive of God in light of current science, philosophy, and theology. This timely, lively new book from renowned theologian and philosopher Keith Ward tells us what Western philosophy's greatest thinkers from Plato and Aquinas to Kant and Hegel thought about such questions as the existence of God, the nature of reality and humanity's meaning, value, and purpose. Far from being the enemy of religion, philosophy has more often than not supported a non-materialist view of the universe, argues Ward. Based on Ward's 2008 Sarum Lectures, God and the Philosophers adapts his theme for a wide readership and will be seen as both a brilliant armchair philosophers' primer on the history of religious thought and a staunch defense of some of the less fashionable themes in Western philosophy. |
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actual affirm appearances Aquinas argument Aristotle basic beauty belief Berkeley Bishop Berkeley Cartesian Cartesian dualism causal cause Christian claim common-sense complete conceive cosmic mind cosmos create creative David Hume Descartes dualism eternal Eugene Wigner evil exists by necessity experience express external world fact final explanation finite minds freedom goal God Delusion Hegel Hume Hume’s hypothesis Ibid idea idealism intellectual intelligible intrinsic John Polkinghorne Kant knowledge laws Leibniz live materialist matter metaphysics modern moral nature of reality necessarily necessary Niels Bohr Nietzsche ontological argument particles perceived perfect perhaps phenomenal philosophers physicists Plato Plotinus possible worlds postulate purely purpose quantum physics rational realise reason religion religious Richard Dawkins Schopenhauer sciousness seems sense sense-experience Socrates sort soul space-time Spinoza Spirit Steven Weinberg structure suffering supreme theology theory things thought tradition trans transcendent transcendental transcendental idealism ultimate reality understanding wholly