Humanism and the death of God. Searching for the good after Darwin, Marx, and Nietzsche

265 Pages·2017·1.13 MB·English

by  Ronald E. Osborn

HUMANISM AND THE DEATH OF GOD

Humanism and
the Death of God
Searching for the Good After
Darwin, Marx, and Nietzsche
RONALD E. OSBORN
1
3
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Acknowledgments
Parts of this book first saw print in The Hedgehog Review, Harvard
Divinity Bulletin, Modern Age, Totalitarian Movements and Political
Religions,andAndrewsUniversitySeminaryStudies.Fullcitationscan
befoundinmybibliography.Iwouldliketothanktheeditorsofthese
journals for kindly permitting me to publish revised and expanded
versions of the articles here. This volume first took form as a book
between2006and2012whileIwaspursuingmydoctoralstudiesasa
Bannerman Fellow in the Program in Politics and International
Relations at the University of Southern California. It was completed
between2014 and2016 whileI wasan AndrewW. Mellon Postdoc-
toralFellowatWellesleyCollege.IamgratefultotheBannermanand
MellonFoundationsforhelpingtomakethisworkpossible.Iowean
immense debt of gratitude to my dissertation chair, J. Ann Tickner,
for her guidance and friendship. I am also grateful to the other
members of my dissertation committee, Anthony Kammas, John
Barnes, and Sharon Lloyd, as well as to Robert English and Linda
ColefortheirsupportduringmystudiesatUSCandbeyond.Several
individuals who offered generous comments on early drafts of this
manuscript include C. Stephen Evans, Philip Clayton, Jim Walters,
and Lawrence Rosenwald. The ideas in this book have also been
enriched by countless conversations and vigorous debates with sev-
eralclosefriends.IamespeciallygratefultoZaneYi,EricGuttschuss,
MauryJackson,MatthewBurdette,YiShenMa,andShaneAkerman
forhelpingtosharpenmythinkingthroughtheyears.Ialsowantto
acknowledgetwodearmentorswhosetfiresinthemindandwhoare
greatly missed, Ottilie Stafford and Roy Branson. Finally, I want to
express my gratitude for the unflagging love and encouragement of
my parents, Ken and Ivanette Osborn. This book is dedicated to
them.

Contents
1. NaturalismandNihilism 1
2. DignityAfterDarwin 23
3. RightsAfterMarx 75
4. EqualityAfterNietzsche 128
5. BeyondHumanism 176
Bibliography 233
Index 249

1
Naturalism and Nihilism
Enlightenment, understood in the widest sense as the advance
of thought,hasalwaysaimedatliberatinghumanbeingsfrom
fearandinstallingthemasmasters.Yetthewhollyenlightened
earthisradiantwithtriumphantcalamity.
MaxHorkheimerandTheodoreAdorno1
THE QUESTION
In a 2011 article in the New York Times titled “The Sacred and the
Humane,”IsraeliphilosopherandhumanrightsactivistAnatBiletzki
declared, “There is no philosophically robust reason to accept the
claim that human dignity originates with God.”2 If anything, she
argued,beliefinGodisathreattohumanisticvaluesandtoconcepts
of human dignity. Religion should not even be admitted “as a legit-
imate player in the human rights game” since those concerned with
defending rights out of a sense of religious duty are not concerned
withrightsbutonlywithakindofslavishobediencetothecommands
of the deity. “Religion,” as Biletzki defined it, “is a system of myth
and ritual; it is a communal system of propositional attitudes—
beliefs,hopes,fears,desires—thatarerelatedtosuperhumanagents.”3
Themostimportantofthese“propositionalattitudes,”shecontinued,
1 AscitedinAllisonDushane,“WordsworthandEnlightenmentPhilosophy,”in
The Oxford Handbook of William Wordsworth, eds. Richard Gravil and Daniel
Robinson(Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,2015),p.597.
2 AnatBiletzki,“TheSacredandtheHumane,”TheNewYorkTimes,July17,2011,
onthewebat:<http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/the-sacred-and-the-humane>.
3 Ibid.