Skeptical Theism and Skeptical Atheism

Abstract

This chapter argues that skeptical theism not only lacks the reach claimed for it by theistic philosophers but suggests ways of extending the reach of atheism. Atheistic arguments, as it turns out, are not prevented by skeptical theism from providing justification for the atheist to be an atheist. Moreover, skeptical theism suggests a new way for the atheist to question the theist’s support for her own belief—in particular when the latter is experientially based. Finally, this chapter shows how an investigative atheism may be embedded in a wider skepticism and, using a form of reasoning similar to that employed by skeptical theists, promotes both new doubts about theism for those left unconvinced by atheistic arguments and new investigation into non-theistic understandings of the divine.