RE: My sympathies for pantheism
March 31, 2014 at 3:26 pm
(This post was last modified: March 31, 2014 at 3:32 pm by jesus_wept.)
(March 31, 2014 at 3:20 pm)sven Wrote: Joseph Raphson (the man who coined the term Pantheism) wrote:
"(Pantheists believe in) a certain universal substance, material as well as intelligent, that fashions all things that exist out of its own essence.”
If that doesn't mean smart atoms, I don't know what does.
Ha! I knew I'd read something like that somewhere. Thank you, wikipedia!
Also: "the pantheistic opinion of those who believe in no other eternal being but the universe"
-Liebniz
I.e. No separate spirit world.
Joseph Raphson said this in 1697 and he wasn't talking about naturalistic pantheists.
Raphson begins by making a distinction between atheistic panhylists (from the Greek pan 'all' and hyle 'wood, matter'), who believe everything derives from matter, and pantheists who believe in “a certain universal substance, material as well as intelligent, that fashions all things that exist out of its own essence”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Raphson
edit. I made a mistake and confused panhylists with pantheists but I think the point I tried to make about him saying this years ago, so naturalistic pantheists dont necessarily believe it today, still stands.
