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Graham Oppy’s Followers (73)
Graham Oppy
Born
in Benalla, Victoria, Australia
October 06, 1960
Genre
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Atheism: The Basics
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The Best Argument Against God
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published
2013
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9 editions
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Arguing about Gods
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published
2006
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7 editions
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Atheism and Agnosticism
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Is There a God?
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Naturalism and Religion
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Philosophical Perspectives on Infinity
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published
2006
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7 editions
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Reinventing Philosophy of Religion: An Opinionated Introduction
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published
2014
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4 editions
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Describing Gods: An Investigation of Divine Attributes
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published
2014
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5 editions
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Ontological Arguments and Belief in God
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published
1996
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6 editions
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“To help us think about this question, it is useful to start by considering a slightly different question. Rather than think about the origin of natural reality, let us consider the origin of causal reality. Since causal reality is the whole causal network, it cannot be that there is a cause of causal reality: such a cause both would and would not belong to causal reality. So it cannot be that it is true both that causal reality began to exist and that whatever began to exist had a cause of its beginning to exist. In order to maintain logical consistency, theists and atheists alike must either accept that causal reality did not begin to exist, or else accept that there are some things that began to exist that do not have causes of their beginning to exist.”
― Atheism: The Basics
― Atheism: The Basics
“That leaves the allegation that atheists are humourless. There are atheist jokes. Here is a modest example. A Jewish atheist enrols his son in what he is told is the best school in town. The school is Catholic. All starts well. Then, one day, his son comes home and says: ‘Today, I learned about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.’ The father is furious. ‘Steve, listen carefully. This is very important. There is only one God … and we do not believe in Him!”
― Atheism: The Basics
― Atheism: The Basics
“Perhaps it is worth extending this discussion a little bit further. Consider the question of the explanation of the existence of natural reality: why is there natural reality? Those theists who suppose that there are gods who created natural reality may suppose that they have an explanatory advantage here: there is no similar story that atheists can tell about the existence of natural reality. However, while it is true that there is no similar story that atheists can tell, this does nothing to support the claim that theists here have an explanatory advantage. Why not? Look back to the discussion in §5.10.2. The story that atheists tell about natural reality can be just like the story that theists tell about causal reality. If, for example, theists say that causal reality exists because gods must exist, then atheists can say that natural reality exists because it must exist. When we look at the total picture, there is no explanatory advantage that accrues to theists; rather, theists and atheists agree that causal reality exists because something must exist, but disagree about what it is that must exist. The existence of natural reality is not better explained by the suggestion that it is created by gods that must exist than it is by the suggestion that natural reality itself must exist: if all that we are considering is the existence of natural reality, then the introduction of creator gods is a fifth wheel to the explanatory coach.”
― Atheism: The Basics
― Atheism: The Basics
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