Speaker
Jon Mills
Title
God as Psychomythology or 'A Logical Proof for the Non-Existence of God'
Abstract
In this provocative talk, Jon Mills argues that God does not exist. God is merely an idea—a mental object, the invention of imaginative thought championed by reason yet conditioned on desire. Humanity has devised this myth and it is likely here to stay because world masses cannot live without it. Although there is a rational tenor to predicating God’s existence, reason is ultimately mediated by fantasy. God is the product of a collective ideological psychomythology fueled by unconscious illusion ensconced in the basic desire for wish-fulfillment. In this presentation, he will explore the parameters of proof and negation and will offer a logical proof for the non-existence of God.
Speaker Bio
Jon Mills (PsyD, PhD, ABPP) is a philosopher, psychoanalyst, and clinical psychologist. He is Professor of Psychology & Psychoanalysis at the Adler Graduate Professional School in Toronto and is the author of many works in philosophy, psychoanalysis, psychology and religion including eighteen books. In 2006, 2011, and 2013 he was recognized with a Gradiva Award from the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis in New York City for his scholarship, received a Significant Contribution to Canadian Psychology Award in 2008, a Goethe Award for best book in 2013, and the Otto Weininger Memorial Award for lifetime achievement in 2015 by the Section on Psychoanalysis & Psychodynamic Psychology of the Canadian Psychological Association. He runs a mental health corporation in Ontario, Canada. One of his recent books is Inventing God: Psychology of Belief and the Rise of Secular Spirituality (Routledge, 2016).
Location
York University, Behavioral Science Building, 'War' Room 061 (basement level)