RT Article
T1 Militant atheism, pragmatism, and the God-shaped hole
JF International journal for philosophy of religion
VO 65
IS 3
SP 139
OP 139
A1 Fiala, Andrew
LA English
PB Springer Science + Business Media B. V
YR 2008
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1821425022
AB This paper addresses recent examples of militant atheism. It considers the theistic reply that describes atheism as deriving from a “God-shaped hole” in the human soul. The paper will argue that American pragmatism offers a middle path that avoids militant atheism without suffering from this problem. The paper describes this middle path and considers the problem that is seen in Rorty’s recent work: how the pragmatist can remain critical of religious fundamentalism without succumbing to a militant version of atheism. The solution proposed is tolerant acceptance of religion along with melioristic criticism developed within shared norms of inquiry.
K1 Sam Harris
K1 Richard Dawkins
K1 Christopher Hitchens
K1 Richard Rorty
K1 John Dewey
K1 William James
K1 Pragmatism
K1 Atheism
DO 10.1007/s11153-008-9188-3