ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author introduces and defines the scientific cogito, compares it to the theological cogito, and reviews the history of the very idea of atheism. The scientific cogito defines science as presumptive, corrigible, fallible, and a collective historical process that establishes facts of the matter over time and always colored in skepticism. Faith and blind faith have no role in this process. The theological cogito, which seeks a rock-like certainty on which to ground faith and belief, cannot abide the scientific cogito. Theism is discussed in a more abbreviated form than atheism as prelude to its amplification in the following chapters.
