010098 VO Atheism: Old and New (2018S)

Aim:
The aim is to introduce students to the academic study of atheism and to the main ideas and arguments promoted by exponents of atheism. The course will cover examples from antiquity and the modern period.

Students will:
• acquire knowledge of what constitutes ‘atheism’, and how can be studied in a comparative context and in relation to ‘theism’;
• acquire knowledge of the different approaches to atheism; will identify the sometimes complex nature of atheistic argumentation; and will be able to compare this vivid movement from antiquity to the modern times.

Description:
Atheism is as old as theism. Contrary to the traditional modern view that sees atheism as a modern accomplishment, humans have doubted, challenged, and scrutinized the religious ideas of their own societies ever since the emergence those ideas. The course will examine such theories from different and diverse cultural and historical contexts, ranging from Ancient Greece to the modern period and the so-called ‘New Atheism’ of the 21st century.

Method:
Lectures with visual and textual material in English.