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Authored by: bprice on Sunday, January 20 2013 @ 07:48 AM EST |
In the parent, I had listed LaPlace as a historic atheist, largely on the
strength of his famous quote about Napoleon's god question: «Je n'avais
pas besoin de cette hypothèse-là» ("I have no need for
that hypothesis"). It has come to my attention that sources are in disagreement
about
whether LaPlace actually uttered the sentence in question;
whether, if he did, he meant it to be restricted to his astronomy rather than
generally about his life; and
whether he was an atheist or a deist (there
seems to be little dispute that he was not religious, however).
Because of
this uncertainty, please disregard my listing of LaPlace as a historical
atheist. It makes little difference: there are plenty more post-Enlightenment
atheists. --- --Bill. NAL: question the answers, especially mine. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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