Abstract
The author explores a typically philosophical atheism, which he dubs the “atheism of the concept”, which for him gives rise to the “cult of the concept”. He asks if the “atheism of the concept” might not be a vestige of theistic thinking, which we ought to overcome. He also asks if an “atheism beyond the concept” might be possible. He does not present “atheism of the concept” as opposite to “atheism without the concept”, in as far as “the concept” is not the opposite of “life”. “Atheism without the concept” is rather an atheistic practice and concerns “lifestyle” rather than the content of convictions. In an atheistic world, it is not the reality of time that creates the reality of events, but the events themselves allow the course of time to unfold.
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Notes
- 1.
For this reason, Žižek writes: “In our officially atheistic, hedonistic, post-modern secular culture, where no one is prepared to publicly admit to his faith, the fundamental structure of faith is ubiquitous – we all believe in secret. Atheism is not a zero-level of comprehension for everyone, because it only means God’s absence (belief) – perhaps there is nothing more difficult than to maintain a position, to be a true materialist. Because the structure of faith is in the form of a fetishistic Spaltung und Verleugnung, [fission and negation] (‘I know that there is no great Other, but ... I secretly believe in Him’)”. Slavoj Žižek, On Belief, London: Routledge, 2001, p. 10.
- 2.
Daniel Barber in his intriguing book on Deleuze’s “atheism” offers a slightly different interpretation, one that is more kind to Deleuze. For Barber, “the production of the gods” is the production of values, which leads to the devaluation of the action by which all value is produced. God, who is an idol, recreates itself in a captivated imagination, which from then on becomes dead. This is the true meaning—according to Barber—of Nietzsche’s famous statement: “Do not believe those who talk about other worlds”. Deleuze’s discourse is a discourse on the very possibility of novelty, and therefore creativity. This discourse should not be treated and interpreted as one more story about secularization, rationalization, or modernization of the world. Deleuze’s philosophy is political, but not because he thinks of “politics”, Deleuze’s philosophy is political because he categorically insists on fidelity to immanence, that is, maintaining a close bond between immanence, imagination, and the world. Imagination belongs to the world, but the world is the imagination. Immanence for Deleuze is a well-thought-out anti-Christian theology, and at the same time cannot be reduced to secular and post-secular categories. According to Barber, Deleuze’s philosophy is an operation of language practices that are inextricably linked to religious practices. This thought is already present at Spinoza and Nietzsche. As a result, Deleuze’s thought becomes the mere articulation of the “space of immanence”, and also, it is the thought that immanence is a constant problem for thinking. It requires us to be able to imagine change without referring to the idea of “transcendence”, demanding “differentiated and differentiated immanence”, “internally dispersed”. This immanence can fold and change itself, without having to refer to anything beyond. For Barber, the main question is: what does it mean to speak of immanence, which is the ability to self-differentiate? Barber replies: This implies that immanence is “without object” and “without ultimate goal”, “without a designated destination” (Daniel Colucciello Barber, Deleuze and the naming of God. Post-Secularism and the Future of Immanence, Edinburgh University Press 2014). By agreeing with the premises on which this interpretation is based, there is no transition from “the concept of atheism” to practice, especially if the practice of language (naming) and religious practice (ceremonies) are central.
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Wróbel, S. (2020). From Atheism of the Concept Towards Atheism Without the Concept. In: Wróbel, S., Skonieczny, K. (eds) Atheism Revisited. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34368-2_13
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