Godless: Atheism and Skeptical Thought in the West

Catalog description

The history of atheism, or whether atheism even has a history, is difficult to establish. Scholars have used a narrow definition of the term atheism to suggest its origins in the 18th century, or a broad definition to trace its antecedents back to classical antiquity. This course considers atheism within the tradition of skepticism, and leaves open for classroom debate the question of whether the thinkers studied; from Epicurus to Ingersoll, Diderot to Dawkins; represent a coherent tradition or merely a collection of radical challenges, each tied to its own time and place.