albeto. Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Yeah, if your interests take you back to classical times, I'd second Nature of Things... ... and raise idnib by Rebecca Goldstein's Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away, which is immensely accessible and also hilarious but a very good serious synthesis of the implication of old ideas in the modern world. Looking at you, albeto. Goldstein transports the ancient Greek philosopher to the twenty-first-century headquarters of Google, where his probing voice engages three modern hosts in exploring what knowledge means in an age of computerized crowd sourcing. Further dialogues put Plato into conversation with an advice columnist fielding questions about love and sex, with a child psychologist arguing with an obsessive mother, with a television broadcaster trying to score political points, and with a neuroscientist certain he can resolve all intellectual questions with brain scans. :glare: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam in CT Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 It's Socratic, darling. Don't confuse the characters with the content. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albeto. Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 It's Socratic, darling. Don't confuse the characters with the content. I get your point, but what a tired, old cliche, though. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam in CT Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Yes, well, sometimes people use old tired cliches to, you know, make a point. In any event, I would exhort you not to judge a book by its Amazon review. Goldstein herself is quite wickedly funny as well as super smart. I think you'd dig it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 I listened to Goldstein to a talk and read a portion of a book. She was funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onceuponatime Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 More for the OP: Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, by Daniel Dennett, a really deep thinker. 😃 Books by Elaine Pagels. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 The Higgenbothem's book on Christopaganism was interesting in parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 (edited) :lol: what the heck is that? Scientism? I see all sorts of stuff on the hive. Also, what is a New Atheist? Atheism has been around for quite a long time. It's not new. The ideas written by modern day authors are not even new. New answers to questions due to advancement in knowledge, but the lack of believe in gods is not new. New Atheism is what you might call a school of thought, historically and ideologically related though not tightly connected. It tends to come very strongly from a scientific materialist perspective. Characteristically it is evangelical and populist. Scientism is a type of extreme positivism, which says that science can investigate and know all things. It's essentially pejorative, it doesn't mean acceptance of science or it's method, it's implied that its use and limits have been misunderstood and over-extended. Edited February 5, 2016 by Bluegoat 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Cool! I now have new vocabulary words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 You might want to check out the "Unbelievable?" podcast. It's a debate/discussion podcast between athiests and theists (or theists and other theists) moderated by a guy in the UK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraw4321 Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 I'm currently reading Faith & Doubt by John Ortberg. He's Christian. It contains TONS of references to theist and atheist thinkers / writers / philosophers. I'm enjoying it and it's a good reference for further reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 My favorites are all agnostics: Voltaire, Russell, Popper, Vonnegut. Simone Weil was one of my favorite thinkers of faith. I love Rumi for mysticism as well. Dennett is amazing, props to a PP for mentioning him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShariM Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 (edited) A book that I read and really found helpful was Why I Became an Atheist by John W. Loftus. While it deals specifically with the Christian religion and Bible I think some of his points can be extrapolated and applied to a variety of theistic beliefs. I am not an intellectual or really deep thinker, so the more academic authors are really over my head. This book wasn't too hard. Edited March 6, 2016 by ShariM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momacacia Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 (edited) Ravi Zacharias rzim.org Edited March 6, 2016 by momacacia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.