Why do so many Philosophers NOT believe in GOD?

Question

All I see is :"What if God THIS..." and "What if God THAT.." and "IS there a God?". And all this is in the Philosophy section...

What's up with that?

Answer 1

I doubt many of the people in the philosophy section of Yahoo answers are true philosophers. Leo Tolstoy was a philosopher and he believed in God....I think most of them are agnostic though.

Answer 2

Its called love of knowledge, or the lust for truth.

Philosophy has allowed Christianity to get over its dark ages. When philosophers such as St. Thomas of Aquinas (yes, he was a philosopher) started rediscovering the ancient Greek, the renaissance began. The old extreme that persecuted and restricted the likes of Copernicus and Galileo had been overcome by the light of reason.

Do you think you KNOW God? How could you if you never asked "What if God THIS" and "What if God THAT"? Rather what you have is a vague concept of GOD that you have kept immune from criticism and discussion. How sure are you that it is even the same God that St. Thomas worshipped? Do you think what you have is faith?

If you read their works, you'll be surprised how many philosophers do believe in God. And you'll also understand why so many don't.

Edit:

I just looked at some of the other answers. I can't believe that people are insisting that Philosophy is strictly scientific or logic. One of the professors where I studied always criticized me that "Logic" is NOT "Philosophy"!!!, but merely one of its tools. Anyone who is asking questions is a philosopher. You don't have to have a name like Descartes and you don't have to have a book published to be one. You just have to have a sense of wonder. A desire to see things from all points of views.

Answer 3

Do you think Philosophers NOT believe in GOD?

To me philosopers are 'THE TRUE GOD SEEKER'.

Why they bother to ask : "What if God THIS..." and "What if God THAT.." and "IS there a God?". And all this is in the Philosophy section...

By questioning, they seek deeper in a issue
By disbeliefing GOD they hunger to seek GOD

Let me tell you an illustration
There is a class room, a POOR teacher, and students. The teacher would give a big prize if his/her students can found buried treasure in the class. Students who disbelief just doing nothing and sure the teacher told a crap. Students who hunger of the 'truth' not just doing nothing. Some of those who 'not just doing nothing' doubt it by asking the teacher, some search it.

To me philosophers are NOT believe in GOD because they hunger of knowledge and truth about GOD. If they not hunger of knowledge and truth about GOD, they would not search it.

One more thing : philosophers search is an endless, like circle, where it start and where it end unlimited. The answer to a question is the question to another answer.

May your hunger of truth to this problem CAN NOT be sattisfied, so you ask more and more.

Answer 4

well mainly because they're logic based and some see innate feelings as unjustifiable knowledge because it cannot be refuted. it's like claiming one is god, there is no way to prove or disprove because they find ways around ones observed conclusion. this is the whole argument in philosophy between the ideal and material realms. what you are seeing is the handy work of Kant who devised what one could call knowledge or true knowledge through 12 categories. some of those books might give credit to god some might be trying to find a synthesis between the two ideas like Kant did or they might just bash the whole thing but this is what philosophy has been plagued with because of Plato and Aristotle, more or less. if you want to see a real synthesis of the two check out the new discover magazine. inside they have test to provide evidence for the existence of god :o

Answer 5

There are two parts necessary to address your question. The first part has to do with the idea of a God and the second part has to do with what belief is.

Philosophers like to be sure about things. So if you present them with the idea of a unicorn, they would ask you whether you can verify that it exists. You might say that you believe that unicorns exist but you would be unable to verify that. The philosopher would probably reply that until you can verify that the unicorn existed or not that you would have to wait to talk about any of the interesting attributes of the unicorn. Something cannot have any attributes unless it exists, as existence is the possession of attributes.

Likewise, a philosopher would apply the same process to any metaphysical entity, like God, angels, demons, devils, souls, etc.

The second part dealing with "belief" is actually more interesting. As what is at issue here is how do we determine what we know to be true. If we say that by belief we know the truth, then we are immediately confronted with the question of how do we decide between two contradictory beliefs? That is where a verification process becomes important. This is the reason why science has succeed where religions have failed. Science is built on verification, religions are not. No belief can be verified, has ever been verified, or could ever be verified. So philosophers tend to avoid beliefs as they are suspect of bias, either cultural or from ignorance and stupidity. Of course we also use the word "belief" to mean "assume" or "trust" but these are not religious. But because they can so easily be confused with the religious meaning of belief many, myself included, avoid using the word at all in casual conversation.

So in summary: God cannot be proven to exist and one must not be careless about using a tricky word like "belief" that sounds like it means "know" but actually means "ignorance".

Answer 6

My guess is that a good number actually do believe in a god. But philosophers like to think and question much like scientists.

Answer 7

Philosophers have vast amounts of education and learning behind them. They study what makes the world tick. And what makes people tick too. Religion is the backbone of those who are less educated. It is comforting and reassuring. there is someone or something that controls their lives, and is responsible for why their life is the way it is. This way, there can also be someone to blame for what is wrong with their lives. It is less responsibility for their own life. It has now become god's will that this or that has happened, and thus nothing can be done about the situation. With more and more education, it is realized that a person is responsible for what happens to them. There is a direct cause and effect to anything they do. And with this, a diety is removed from the big picture.

Answer 8

Your question is ill posed. Not just philosophers, but for any rational person, it is not a question of " believing in ", it is a total lack of evidence for. Rational people are not too big on belief not supported by evidence.

Answer 9

Thats not true... most do believe in a higher being, just not necessarily the christian God.

Something had to create us, and most philosphers are not big on the "big bang" theory, they know that this could be by chance.

what philosphers like Aristotle are all about is that you may not NEED God, through ethics and logic, in determining what is right and wrong.

Answer 10

Philosophers use a mental tool called reason, which gives them the ability to see beyong lies and into the truth.