In a tract against this belief, Voltaire famously stated that if a certain figure did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.
A Hindu school that espouses this belief was headed by Carvaka, and Hindu schools that espouse it are generally known as "nastika." One work advocating this position begins by listing three degrees of excitement for a given passion, and states that testimony cannot contradict reason. One book advocating this position outlines the absurdity of referring to children as Marxist or Keynesian; that same book criticizes Hoyle's Boeing 747 argument as (*) self-refuting. This belief was asserted in The System of Nature by the materialist Baron d'Holbach and in a pamphlet asserting its "necessity" by Percy Bysshe Shelley that got him expelled from Oxford. In a tract against this belief, Voltaire famously stated that if a certain figure did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. For 10 points, name this idea espoused by Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion.
A Hindu school that espouses this belief was headed by Carvaka, and Hindu schools that espouse it are generally known as "nastika.
atheism [accept materialism before mention; accept agnosticism]