Beyond Atheism, Beyond God
The Quest for Transcendent Being
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My problems with atheism emerged over the last few years, including: 1-The inability of any two atheists to agree on even basic principles for their positions 2-The tendency of many atheists to abandon the strict position of absence of belief and instead attacking others’ beliefs outright, hence veering into anti-theism as opposed to atheism (the simple withholding of belief in a claim already made). 3-The corruption of epistemological atheism by interjection of irrelevant economic-political overtones, especially libertarianism, which I believe demeaned the atheists asserting it and atheism overall. 4-The inability to forge a rational bridge between weak or implicit Atheism and strong or explicit atheism. 5-The self-assured position that one could definitely know that a transcendent or ultimate power did not exist. 6-The ultra-reductionist stance that consciousness is simply reducible to Newtonian classical interactions, and that since the human brain operates by hindsight –based dynamics only, no real time interpretative reality is feasible. The effect of these changes has been to forge a more realistic, cogent and effective ethics and morality based on scientific Materialism. This includes seeing all ethical judgments as provisional and not absolute or permanent. Because the world and human minds are rapidly changing, so also must ethics. The latter allows for the replacement of the supernatural concept of soul with the more apt physicalist concept of consciousness which also embraces quantum features. The primary aim of this book then is to arrive at a transcendent concept of Being that also surpasses absolutism and naïve or dogmatic deity templates.
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About the Book
In his new study, Beyond Atheism, Beyond God, author Philip A. Stahl uses atheism as a rational stepping stone to arrive at an emergent conception of the universe, exposing features that might be described as transcendent.
He presents an impersonal approach to Being that is devoid of any specific religious overtones or affi liations. Each person becomes a quantum-based co-creator in his or her own right, according to physicist Henry Stapp. As such, we are able to thereby see ourselves and our humanity in a new light, as opposed to being merely reactive cogs in a vast mechanical-reductionist machine. Effectively, we emerge as much more than assemblies of molecules.
This volume, the fourth and final entry in Stahl’s series on atheism, seeks to arrive at a transcendent concept of being that also surpasses absolutism and naïve or dogmatic deity templates. It considers the development of a more realistic, cogent and effective ethics and morality less likely to be exploited by the power mongers or sacred source apologists, and it answers the question of whether God exists—though not in the way one would normally assume.
About the Author
Philip A. Stahl is an emeritus member of the American Astronomical Society, with a specialty in solar physics. He has written three previous books on atheism, as well as books on solar physics and astrophysics. His hobbies include computer chess, GO, mathematical modeling, hiking, and reading and writing science fiction.