Mackie on Neoplatonism's 'Replacement for God'

Religious Studies 22 (3-4):325 - 342 (1986)
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Abstract

David Hume's greatness depends in large part on how his writings hint at beautiful and coherent theories which are recognizably Humean despite their divergences from the untidy originals. Now, perhaps the clearest vision of a contradiction–free Platonic Form of Hume was had by J. L. Mackie; he described it in such masterpieces as The Cement of the Universe, Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong, and The Miracle of Theism. How successful is this last in its attack on theism? I shall discuss Mackie's case against theism of a Platonic or Neoplatonic type which replaces ‘God as a person or mind or spirit’ by a more abstract Creative Force or Principle. Mackie sees in it a ‘a formidable rival’ to any theism treating of a divine being; ‘if you demand an ultimate explanation, then this may well be a better one’ . But, his chapter thirteen contends, it fares badly in competition with an atheistic, naturalistic approach

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Citations of this work

A Spinozistic Vision of God.John Leslie - 1993 - Religious Studies 29 (3):277 - 285.
Creation stories, religious and atheistic.John Leslie - 1993 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 34 (2):65 - 77.

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References found in this work

Evolution and Creation.Ernan Mcmullin - 1986 - Philosophy of Science 53 (4):608-610.
Efforts to explain all existence.John Leslie - 1978 - Mind 87 (346):181-194.

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