The Relationship Between Pantheism and Deism
This is something I've been mulling over for quite some time. I've come to the conclusion that you can be a deist without being a pantheist, but you cannot be a pantheist without being a deist (and no, I'm not specifically talking about pandeism). Both philosophies (usually) have a naturalistic worldview, both are free of any dogma, and both are drastically different definitions of god from the traditional theistic definition. Deists view god as the first cause. Pantheists view the totality of existence as god. So if there IS a first cause of some kind, conscious or not, it would constitute a part of the totality of existence, so it would therefore be god to the pantheist. Since the pantheist would define the first cause as a part of god, and deists define god as first cause, would a pantheist then be a deist by necessity?
Can't wait to hear peoples' responses =)
...a pantheist who doesn't believe in a first cause at all, but rather eternal, dynamic energy?
Furthermore, a person could believe that what has evolved is "god" without considering the primordial condition it evolved from as god, just as it isn't necessary to view the quadrapedal apes humans evolved from as "human." I don't see a necessary relationship to deism.
I know, I don't believe in a first cause. I'm just saying that if it ever WERE shown that there was a first cause, would that mean pantheists would also have to be deists?
"I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings." - Albert Einstein
I'm increasingly of the opinion that our Universe is part of some guy named Bob (or perhaps Dog) who's annoyed the people on Earth keep mispronouncing his name.