Atheism and the Failures of Modern Philosophy

Intellectual historian Wayne Hudson rejoins the show for a discussion about atheism and modern philosophy. The discussion covers the history of atheism, shifts in its meaning over time and place, the purported role of the enlightenment in its rise, the difficulty of understanding what people actually mean today when they declare themselves to be atheists, common mistakes made by both atheism and theism, the failure of modern philosophy to make any serious advance in knowledge, the challenges facing theology in the 21st century and the role of science and mathematics in our understanding of reality.

Wayne Hudson is an adjunct professor at Charles Sturt University, the Australian National University and the University of Tasmania. He is the author of many books, including: The English Deists: Studies in Early Enlightenment (2009), Enlightenment and Modernity: The English Deists and Reform (2009), Atheism and Deism Revalued (2014) and Australian Religious Thought (2016).

The Political Animals is hosted by Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersetion of religion and politics. He is Assistant Director of the Centre for Religion, Ethics and Society at Charles Sturt University, and author of Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter and Facebook.