Berkeley Meeting

Sunday, June 15, 1:30 - 3:30 PM

Berkeley Main Library, 3rd Floor Meeting Room

2090 Kittredge St.

One Block From Downtown Berkeley BART

This month we feature part two of the BBC documentary, A Brief History of Disbelief, the Jonathan Miller examination of Atheism in Western thought. Skipping the entire Dark Ages for obvious reasons, Miller examines the beginning of the modern era in which science finds itself in contradiction with the dogmas of religion. Copernicus, Galileo, and Bruno are among the most familiar predecessors to modern science, and they were considered heretics by the Church. Bruno was burned at the stake by the Roman Inquisition, and is sometimes referred to as the first martyr for science. Thomas Hobbes, the 17th century British Deist philosopher, provided a philosophical underpinning for Atheism by arguing that the universe consisted of only one thing, matter. Another notable Deist philosopher, David Hume, expanded materialist thought in many ways; his polemics against the argument by design remain fresh today. Still Hobbes hinged his bets by accepting the possibility of the immortality of the soul, and Hume accepted the possibility that their might be a supernatural first cause of the universe. 

Voltaire spread the ideas of the English Enlightenment to France, where philosophers were willing to reject religion outright. Diderot, known for his Encyclopedie, is among the most well-known proponents of the French Enlightenment. The Baron d’Holbach is far less well known, and that is probably because he was a hardcore Atheist. D’Holbach’s System of Nature was published under a pseudonym, no doubt to avoid persecution from the authorities. He demonstrated outright contempt for religion, as evinced by one of his most famous quotations:

“If we go back to the beginning we shall find that ignorance and fear created the gods; that fancy, enthusiasm, or deceit adorned or disfigured them; that weakness worships them; that credulity preserves them, and that custom, respect and tyranny support them in order to make the blindness of men serve their own interests.”

“If ignorance of Nature gave birth to gods, then knowledge of Nature is calculated to destroy them.”

Please join us as we examine our intellectual roots in the modern era, and please stay for a lively discussion afterwards. 

BART Access: From the downtown Berkeley BART Station, walk 1.5 blocks south on Shattuck Avenue, then turn right on Kittredge. The library is a half block down the street on the left.

Parking: The city parking lot at Allston & Harold Way, a short block from the library, is $5 for the entire day on Sunday. If you don’t minds walking, take University to MLK, turn right and then instead of proceeding left on Allston to the parking lot, turn right. In several blocks you will see parking on the side streets.

Information:

Larry Hicok: 510-222-7580

Ski Grabowski: 510-652-8350