The Case Against Theism by Raphael Lataster

Author:Raphael Lataster
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

3.5 The Problem of Pantheisms

If theism were deemed more plausible than its infinitely many polytheistic alternatives only on account of its not unnecessarily multiplying entities, then theism fails to overcome the problem of pantheism.96 In fact, ceteris paribus, pantheisms are the simplest and ‘thus’ more plausible god-concepts of all, as they posit even fewer entities and kinds of entities. While all the monotheisms – including theism – and polytheisms assumed a transcendent god or gods, many pantheistic variants posit at least one fewer entity. While theism posits a transcendent God, in addition to the universe, pantheistic alternatives partly or wholly equate God and the universe. Instead of god and the universe, there exists only the godly universe, an arguably 50% reduction in entities. Of course in this case, theism is also susceptible to the problem of naturalism, as like pantheism, naturalism posits fewer entities.97 If theism were deemed more plausible than the infinitely many alternative monotheisms on account of the greatness and infinite nature of its god, then theism again, arguably, fails to become extricated from the challenges set by the pantheistic god-concepts, as pantheistic gods could share the same properties as the theistic God, and could incorporate yet more great-making properties such as omniessence (and perhaps infinitely many of them). For example, the supposedly infinite God of theism is ‘bounded’ by that which it is not (and which exists),98 such as the universe, and possibly, ‘the nothing’.99 The monistic god/s of pantheism is/are generally boundless, including all that exists.

Furthermore, pantheistic explanations are decidedly less ad hoc (some might prefer “more modest”) as, unlike theism, they do not rely on the problematic and unknown concept of ‘the nothing’. Theism, with its creatio ex nihilo, faces challenges regarding the possibility of nothing, the ‘existence’ of nothing, and the mechanism of something coming from nothing. Pantheistic explanations are also less ad hoc in explaining many other streams of available evidence, such as the chaotic ‘beginning’ of the universe, and the supposed hiddenness and indifference of god, and further do not rely on the unproven concept of the unembodied mind. In other words, various pantheisms better fit the evidence. Since we have no evidence whatsoever of the supernatural realm, it can be tempting to simply declare that if the supernatural is appealed to, any supernatural explanation would do, so that such theories cannot be compared to find the most probable one (though this still leaves the theist in a quandary). But, arguing probabilistically, based on available evidence, alternatives to theism are obviously to be preferred.

Also, since pantheism is a ‘catch-all’ hypothesis, there is a specific pantheistic scenario for almost every set of evidence, making pantheism – like naturalism – extraordinarily robust relative to classical theism, particularly against the sort of defeaters already levelled at theism thus far. Conversely, there is only one theistic concept – or at least one posited by individual theists like Craig100 – and if any of the vital elements is found wanting, theism is disproved. This reveals that the

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