In 2011 Alex Rosenberg publishes The Atheist's Guide to Reality, naturalism stated without remainder: physics fixes all the facts, and introspection, purpose, and the self are illusions the record must learn to live without. The book's cheerful severity makes it the contemporary program's most uncompromising popular statement.
Tagged: Naturalism
The Event
- Date
- 2011 (exact)
- Era
- The Contemporary Program; Standard periodization of naturalist history
- Location
- New York; today New York, New York
- Traditions
- Naturalism
- Streams
- Naturalism
- Key figures
- Alex Rosenberg
- Key texts
- The Atheist's Guide to Reality
Primary Sources
- Rosenberg, Alex. The Atheist's Guide to Reality: Enjoying Life without Illusions. New York: Norton, 2011.
Secondary Sources
- De Caro, Mario, and David Macarthur, eds. Naturalism in Question. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004.
- Gregory, Frederick. Scientific Materialism in Nineteenth Century Germany. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1977.
- Papineau, David. Philosophical Naturalism. Oxford: Blackwell, 1993.
Provenance: HIST-1419; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-30.
Related on This Site
History Event
Büchner's Force and Matter
1855
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D'Holbach's System of Nature
1770
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Huxley's Man's Place in Nature
1863
History Event
La Mettrie's Man a Machine
1747
History Event
Laplace's Exposition of the System of the World
1796
History Event
Mill's A System of Logic
1843
History Event
Newton's Principia Mathematica
1687
World View
Naturalism
Naturalism holds that nature is all there is: the universe of matter, energy, and natural law needs no god, soul, or purpose beyond itself.