The Six Ways of Atheism: New Logical Disproofs of the Existence of God

by Geoffrey Berg

Geoffrey Berg is a graduate of Cambridge University, England. He believes the case for atheism has never been put in as forceful and logically cogent a way as it merits, least of all by the great philosophers. In this book he sets out to remedy that by strengthening some traditional atheistic arguments and by initiating some new logical arguments of atheism. Geoffrey Berg develops six simple completely logical arguments in clear language that practically everybody can understand in a way that has never been done before to prove that belief in God is not merely unsupported by Logic but is actually contrary to Logic.

Genres: Religion, Atheism, Philosophy

176 pages, Paperback

First published May 29, 2009

Reviews

[Pete Rizzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the beginning is a bit dry and confusing if you've thought about the subject and aren't prone to logical step by step proofs, the end delves into some cool questions and lines of thinking I hadn't considered. Not bad for a guy who published the book himself and thinks of himself more highly than any diety

[Peter Harrington · Rating 2 out of 5]

While an interesting thought experiment, this work leaves much to be desired in terms of philosophical strength. Berg comes across as an inflated wannabe who doesn't really give his opposition the time of day it deserves. He expects his own thoughts, which were clearly created in the echo chamber of his own mind, to end the discussion completely about whether God exists. How arrogant.
1. Berg's Aggregate of Qualities argument pretends that the whole issue is a game of probabilities, which doesn't work in the context of reality.
2. The Comprehension Gulf argument doesn't bear on God's existence at all, merely on our ability to know whether He exists. Also, it assumes that God has no interest in making Himself known to humanity, an assumption that flatly contradicts every religion in existence.
3. An argument that is by no means original to Berg, the Explanatory Value argument is just a modification of infinite regress applied to God. It's a clearly faulty argument if you know the essence of the Cosmological Argument, which is that to prevent infinite regress, an extra-temporal originator of all things is necessary.
4. The Best Possible World Argument is, as far as I have been able to understand it, utterly absurd and narrow-minded. Berg assumes that God has no greater an imagination than a human, and places God as necessarily a slave driver, without accounting for free will. this is the proof that I have the least respect for in this book. It's incredibly weak.
5. The Universal Uncertainty argument only works assuming that God is confined inside of time, which is quite impossible for the prevention of infinite regress.
6. The Defining Qualities argument is based purely on Berg's personal experience. It's a subjective argument with little to no use or weight as a real proof.
To conclude, I found that this book is a pitiful attempt at ending the discussion about God's existence. I would only recommend it as easy cannon fodder for the thinking theist.

[Juan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book had a few decent points but overall it was poorly backed up by arrogance and ignorance. His arguments to try and disprove the existence of God is flawed and even the way he tried to argue his flaws are flawed sometimes even repeating his original argument in a different way. He also uses the fallacy of assuming that everyone who believes in God must believe in certain qualities of God otherwise they don't believe in a "real" God but at the same time he argues that no one can comprehend God.

Even his uncertainty argument is contradictory. He argues that no one can be certain for sure that God has certain qualities even a potential God can't be sure it's God so therefore God can't exist which is an obvious fallacy. But this can be said about anything even his own logic to disprove God. How can he or anyone else be absolutely sure that his logic isn't wrong?

[Nathan Schwartz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow this guy is a seriously pompous jerk. Almost impossible to read. If you ignore that for a bit he does have a couple of interesting ideas.

The one that struck me as particularly interesting is the idea that, if God knows everything, how does he know that? For example, how can anything logically know that it is immortal? You can’t test it. It doesn’t seem like you could prove it. God’s knowledge is not just greater than human’s but is fundamentally different. So different that should it even be called knowledge? This is an interesting contradiction.

[James S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty bad. The author (who is described, hilariously, as a "graduate of the University of Cambridge) is incredibly fond of exclamation marks, a punctuation mark not known for its ability to lend gravitas to works of purportedly logical rigor. Not a very serious or readable book.

[Reiden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know that I've read a more logical disproof for the existence of a monotheistic god than what's presented in this book. There is good material here for anyone who wants to argue against any western religion. One of my favorite lines from the 'Universal Uncertainty Argument': "Nothing can be sure of not being limited in intelligence (or knowledge) because limited intelligence might include (even for a potential God) inability to see one's own limited intelligence."

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be required reading. I have been critical of books about atheism because of a lack of "meat" or substance. This book is pure substance...so much so that I can safely say irrefutably substantive! Berg's logic is sound and his arguments against his points that he expects to hear are thoroughly refuted. I will be reading this again!

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

rather arrogant in tone. not expressed very clearly, some good points here and there, lots of wading through messy writing, the occasional nugget, if you could sieve this for the good stuff it might make a good short essay.

[D Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

the author mailed this to our library ... didn't make it into the general collection - it has some interesting angles - not good just interesting

[Chris Houlden · Rating 1 out of 5]

Utter rubbish. Author keeps claiming time & again how clever & original he is. Self-indulgent, boring, badly written crap. His arguments are not unique and barely readable.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent book going over a variety of proofs of non-existance of God. Gets a little philosophical and logical, but brought up some decent points.