Deism — The Acceptance of Existence
Good Fit
- Readers seeking short, systematic information about deism
- Those interested in the Enlightenment critique of religion
- Readers of the series' «Atheism», «Agnosticism» and «Buddhism» volumes
- Anyone wanting a brief look at the religious views of thinkers like Thomas Paine and Voltaire
Not a Fit
- Readers expecting academic depth and source criticism
- Those wanting a fully neutral presentation — the author's stance shows in places
- Anyone tired of heavy, old-fashioned Turkish academic prose
The chapter opens with the key point separating deism from theism: for theists creation is ongoing and God watches over the universe at every moment; for deists the universe was created once, God gave it natural laws and does not intervene afterwards. The book puts it neatly: in deism creation is a 'done and finished' act, in theism there is continuity. From this follows the rejection of miracles: a perfect God breaking his own laws would contradict his perfection.
The image of the 'watchmaker God' is at the heart of the chapter. The book discusses Descartes's 'mechanistic nature' and the scientific revolution of Galileo, Kepler and Newton, quoting the Turkish philosopher Ahmet Arslan: this world was a machine that neither allowed nor needed miracles, itself seeming a miracle through its perfection. There is an interesting note too: contrary to positivist histories of science, Newton, Galileo, Kepler and Leibniz were religious men, but because they used God as a 'gap-filler', his space shrank as science advanced.
The section on revelation and prophecy is the fullest part of the book. After Thomas Aquinas's principle that 'revelation can give man what is above reason, but nothing can be contrary to reason', Thomas Paine's «The Age of Reason» is summarised at length: every national church is founded on the claim that God spoke to particular individuals; true revelation is man's observation of nature; revelation received by someone else cannot be accepted as revelation from God. Voltaire, Rousseau and Paine's charge that revealed religions caused wars and persecution is also noted.
The section on the afterlife shows how differently deists thought: Herbert of Cherbury believes in reward and punishment, the radical deist Anthony Collins holds that the soul is material and the idea of immortality came from Egyptian priests, and Bolingbroke argues that even if there is a future life there will be no punishment. In the science section, Antony Flew — once an atheist — accepting God through 'natural theology', independently of religions, is given as an example of modern deism. The chapter ends by listing Leslie Stephen's distinction between 'critical' and 'constructive' deism.
The book's problem is neutrality. Some sentences pass judgement rather than inform: deism is said to be 'peculiar to the West', no such tradition to have arisen in Islamic culture, the deist view of the afterlife to amount to 'unlimited freedom and irresponsibility', and deists to have practised 'taqiyya' out of fear of the Inquisition. These views are debatable, but presenting them without sources in a pocket-encyclopaedia format steers the reader. The editing is weak too: the same letter ('Ç') is used twice in section headings and some terms are misspelt.
Even so, the chapter presents deism's core claims — creation, miracles, revelation, afterlife, science — in a clear scheme, and the short biographies in the margins (Plutarch, Bolingbroke, Leslie Stephen) are useful. For a first look at the subject it is a short but somewhat biased map; for a more balanced picture, readers would do better to go straight to Paine's or Voltaire's own texts afterwards.
- Short sections and bulleted comparisons
- Brief biographies of philosophers in the margins
- Quotations from deists such as Paine, Voltaire, Collins, Bolingbroke and Flew
- Bibliography and the translator's sources at the end
From the same series, explaining the position that rejects God entirely — reviewed on our site
From the same series, explaining the position that God is unknowable — reviewed on our site
At the end of the chapter the afterlife section shows how differently deists thought on the subject: Herbert of Cherbury believes in reward and punishment, Anthony Collins says the soul is material, and Bolingbroke argues that even if there is a future life there will be no punishment. In the science section, Antony Flew, once an atheist, accepting God by way of «natural theology» is given as an example of modern deism.
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