Answers to E.V. Loginov (The Existence of God? )

From 2016 to 2024, we conducted a survey of philosophers to explore their views on proofs of God’s existence. The study asked participants about their overall assessment of such proofs, their perspectives on the definition of the concept of “God,” the most compelling theistic and atheistic arguments, the cultural impact of these proofs, whether Kant undermined natural theology, and their recommendations for relevant literature. 212 interviews with philosophers from 18 countries were collected. Among the contributors are Daniel Dennett, Simon Blackburn, Colin McGinn, Linda Zagzebski, Xing Nan, Muhammad U. Faruque, On-cho Ng, Daniel Stoljar, John Milbank, Robert Kane, Vadim Vasilyev, Paolo Livieri, Timothy O’Connor, Eric Olson, Hamidreza Ayatollahy, Mikhail Epstein, Graham Oppy, Nazif Muhtaroglu, Gunnar Hindrichs, Eleonore Stump, Steve Fuller, Anton Koch, Samuel Lebens, Graham Priest, Philip Goff, Richard Swinburne, Graham Harman, Gunnar Hindrichs, Peter van Inwagen, and numerous other voices in contemporary philosophy. The study results culminated in the book Loginov E.V. (Ed.) The Existence of God? Contemporary Positions and Approaches. Saint-Petersburg: Umozrenie, 2025. 928 pages (in Russian). The collected data were analyzed and compared with existing literature in the field. Here are some notable findings from the study: 1. The Russian philosophical community was found to be significantly more theistic than its English-speaking counterpart. According to data from Chalmers and Bourget, only 14.6% (2009) and 12.5% (2020) of philosophers accept theism (or lean toward it). In contrast, data from surveys by the Moscow Center for Consciousness Studies (Besedin, Volkov, Onosov, et al.) show 46% (2015) and 44.7% (2024). According to Chalmers and Bourget, the proportion of atheists (including those leaning toward atheism) is 72.8% and 74.2%, respectively, while data from MCCS indicate 21% and 28.5%. Interestingly, a similar survey among Chinese philosophers excluded the topic of God altogether. 2. 60% of our respondents view arguments for and against God as rational arguments, while the rest perceive them more as meditations or something similar. The evidence for the existence of God is rational arguments: 78% of analytic philosophers are in favor and only 27% of continentals are in favor. 3. Classical theism and the perfect being theology remain more popular in academic philosophy than alternative concepts such as weak God (an imperfect creator), process theology, the theology of a dead God, dark theology, and so on. 4. Only 19% of respondents believe that Kant refuted rational theology. An interesting trend emerged: 90% of analytic philosophers deny that Kant’s critique of theoretical proofs of God’s existence destroyed rational theology, whereas 80% of continental philosophers are more inclined to agree with this statement. Thus, a statistical divide between analytic and continental philosophical traditions is evident. 5. The ontological argument was the most popular argument for theism in our survey. This is surprising since Chalmers and Bourget’s data suggest it is the least popular argument. We hypothesize that this discrepancy arises because our survey included a higher percentage of continental philosophers. Hypothetically, when asked to identify an interesting argument for theism, a continental philosopher is more likely to choose the ontological argument. 6. The philosophers most frequently mentioned in our study were: Kant, Anselm, Aquinas, Hume, Plantinga, Plato, Descartes, Swinburne, Leibniz, and Aristotle.