All Things Are Full of Gods
| Author | David Bentley Hart |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | philosophical dialogue, philosophy of mind |
| Publisher | Yale University Press |
Publication date | February 2024 |
| Publication place | United States |
All Things Are Full of Gods:The Mysteries of Mind and Life is a 2024 philosophical dialog about metaphysics and philosophy of mind, in which philosopher and religious studies scholar David Bentley Hart imagines a conversation between four Greek deities.
Structure and content
[edit]This story moves through six days of argumentation as agreed upon initially between the four participants. Eros and Psyche host Hephaistos and Hermes. Hephaistos is the only defender of mechanistic materialism or physicalism over against various more ancient forms of idealism defended by the other three deities.[1] In the course of the conversation, the deities reference a variety of more recent and even contemporary thinkers:
Hart's emeritus Olympians work through technical debates citing physicist Paul Davies, biologists James A. Shapiro and Denis Noble, evolutionary biologists Andreas Wagner and Richard Lewontin, geneticist Barbara McClintock, and physiologist J. Scott Turner, among many others. Along with a host of ancient philosophers, Psyche also draws on some contemporary thinkers such as Hans Jonas, Raymond Ruyer, Evan Thompson, and Philip Goff.[2]
David Brown observed that "arguments are repeatedly dismissed in uncomplimentary terms, effectively guiding readers to only one conclusion" and that "the book opens with a tirade against analytic philosophy."[3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Williams, Nadya (27 August 2024). "David Bentley Hart's Brain-Breaking Argument for the Supremacy of the Mind". Christianity Today.
- ^ Hake, Jesse (1 May 2025). "The gods present their arguments". The Christian Century.
- ^ Brown, David (31 January 2025). "Book review: All Things Are Full of Gods: The mysteries of mind and life by David Bentley Hart". Church Times.
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