After reading a few posts suggesting that atheism is shallow and deep thought leads to religion I googled "percentage of philosophers who are atheists" on a lark and came up with a survey of philosophers. What Do Philosophers Believe? David Bourget and David J. Chalmers Here's a useful summary with some thoughtful analysis: The Largest-Ever Survey of Philosophers: What Do They Believe? by Luke Muehlhauser
The short answer is :72.8% atheism; 14.6% theism; 12.5% other
The exception is of course philosophers of religion:
"[T]hough theism is unpopular in philosophy in general, it is more popular among philosophers of religion (72.3%) than physicalism is among philosophers of mind (61.2%). Trent Dougherty sees this as a credence-boost for theism, since the experts on the subject of God tend to believe in him. But the obvious reply is that most people aren’t going to do philosophy of religion if they don’t believe in God. There doesn’t seem to be anything about philosophy of mind in general that would show a selection effect for physicalism, but obviously philosophy of religion will show a selection effect for theism." Muehlhauser
But there isn't any correlation between the study of applied ethics and a belief in moral realism.
The correlations between what atheist philosophers believe and specialize in compared to what theist philosophers believe in and specialize in is, at least to my mind, predictable:
"Atheism is most correlated with not being a philosopher of religion, with not identifying with Plato or Aristotle or Kant or Leibniz, with analytic philosophy, with identifying with Hume and Quine, and with specializing in philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of biology, and philosophy of cognitive science.
Theism is most correlated with being a philosopher of religion or specializing in medieval and renaissance philosophy, with identifying with Plato and Aristotle and Kant and Leibniz, with being a continental philosopher, and with not identifying with Hume and Quine." Muehlhauser
The short answer is :72.8% atheism; 14.6% theism; 12.5% other
The exception is of course philosophers of religion:
"[T]hough theism is unpopular in philosophy in general, it is more popular among philosophers of religion (72.3%) than physicalism is among philosophers of mind (61.2%). Trent Dougherty sees this as a credence-boost for theism, since the experts on the subject of God tend to believe in him. But the obvious reply is that most people aren’t going to do philosophy of religion if they don’t believe in God. There doesn’t seem to be anything about philosophy of mind in general that would show a selection effect for physicalism, but obviously philosophy of religion will show a selection effect for theism." Muehlhauser
But there isn't any correlation between the study of applied ethics and a belief in moral realism.
The correlations between what atheist philosophers believe and specialize in compared to what theist philosophers believe in and specialize in is, at least to my mind, predictable:
"Atheism is most correlated with not being a philosopher of religion, with not identifying with Plato or Aristotle or Kant or Leibniz, with analytic philosophy, with identifying with Hume and Quine, and with specializing in philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of biology, and philosophy of cognitive science.
Theism is most correlated with being a philosopher of religion or specializing in medieval and renaissance philosophy, with identifying with Plato and Aristotle and Kant and Leibniz, with being a continental philosopher, and with not identifying with Hume and Quine." Muehlhauser
If there is a god, I want to believe that there is a god. If there is not a god, I want to believe that there is no god.
