It's ambitious, I know. Sometimes I think about it but quickly tell myself, "I do not know enough to write a book."
Then again, other times I think I could do it if I could just read and study for several months [to find the necessary information to write this book].
So here's my imaginary book: A comprehensive rebuttal to theism (In Christian, Judaic, Islamic, and perhaps Buddhist forms) and a positive, compelling case for metaphysical naturalism.
For example, I would address all the usual arguments for God (As I do on my website) but more effectively and comprehensively. For instance, I would consider obscure arguments like the "Argument from Contingency". I would consider not just the usual formulation of the ontological argument, but also those put forth by Rene Descartes and Alvin Plantinga.
There will also be a section defending the evidence for evolution against all those who would attack it. For instance, homology would be shown and I would rebutt the claim that it may stand as evidence for a common designer (as I have before). Although there would be no way for me to rebutt every creationist claim (As Mark Isaak has, in his book An Index to Creationist Claims) I could go over the main creationist objections and offer several references for those who want to learn why creationist arguments don't work.
I would also address questions about how consciousness could be in a naturalistic universe, how the universe came to be (We don't know, but we do have several excellent speculations to put forth) and so on.
Here's the thing: To write this, I'm going to need to read a lot more books, peer reviewed papers, and so on in order for me to have the knowledge and confidence to write something like this. This means I either need to know in advance that a good many people are going to want to buy my book, or that I have someone who will back me financially (I don't think it would be expensive, perhaps just two or three hundred dollars) or several people who could give lesser donations which would add up to the total amount. If have people sponsor me, I'm planning on offering my book online for free and only charging those who want a paperback. If I am not, I plan on selling the book for probably about $9.95
But I still need to know if anyone's interested: Please leave a comment or email me if you are
Ryansarcade AT Yahoo DOT Com
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Peace.
3 comments:
Ryan,
That sounds like a great project. There are several self publishing houses like iUniverse that could be used. The one major problem with self publishing is editing, unless you have some people that know what they are doing the book may end up being great on content but a major failure on delivery. With editing not only do you have issues of spelling, grammar, etc. you also have the issue of organization.
Its also interesting that you brought up the issue of consciousness in relation to theism because J.P. Moreland has recently published a book called "Consciousness and the Existence of God" where he develops his thesis that consciousness proves theism. I would like to see someone take the time to rebut his work.
That sounds great! I'd buy it without second thought! Also if you want input, I'm sure if you asked for various inputs on the blog, you could get much helpful information and expertise.
I plan on writing a book on these topics as well, although it sounds like yours aims to be much more comprehensive (the index on my blog gives the basic shape of the sort of book I have in mind). Best of luck!
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