Atheism

Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly it is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist, and in the narrowest sense it is the position that there are no deities, in contrast with theism, the belief that at least one deity exists. Evidence of atheistic viewpoints can be traced back to classical antiquity and early Indian philosophy; atheism declined in the Western world after Christianity gained prominence, then resurged in Europe in the sixteenth century and the Age of Enlightenment. Arguments for atheism range from philosophical to scientific to social approaches. Philosophers recorded in this atlas are grouped here when their work belongs to the atheist tradition in philosophy.