Pop goes the philosophy–it’s time for top 10 ancient atheist philosophers and their quotes.

Philosophers aren’t always atheists. The one I dated for 7 years was though–I still tease her by saying God is controlling the universe. It seems like a weird thing to tease someone about I know–but she often teases me by telling me that everyone’s brain is just existing in a vat someone and the universe isn’t real. As the philosophers say, people do weird things. Then I make her reassure me that it is because Hilary Putnam made many arguments against the theory we are all brains in vats. Also, my man Ned Block said that we have no reason to think we are living in a simulation. Take that, the Matrix.

Atheism, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is “a lack of belief or a strong disbelief in the existence of a god or any gods.” Atheists stress that atheism is not a religion. It is not a disbelief in a god or any gods, but is rather a lack of belief. It’s as if you reach into your pockets to see if you have any belief on you, turn them inside out, and they’re empty. That being said, atheists are also very diverse in what they believe in–there can be a multitude of subtle differences to a belief or non-belief. They have different reasons for their lack of belief. The only commonality in their belief is that there is no god nor supernatural beings.

If you are wondering where atheism came from, or how long it has been existing, here is the answer. Atheism is believed to trace back its origins to Ancient Greece–which is why we have what we call the ancient atheist philosophers. Atheism also has roots in the Vedic period of India. There are also ancient atheists hailing from pre-Socratic Greece, like Thales and Anaximenes. In the ancient time, atheist philosophers were persecuted and punished for what they believed and did not believe in. There were philosophers who were thrown out of their cities and some were even executed.

At one point in history, Christians were tagged as atheists by non-Christians because of their lack of belief in the Roman gods. When Christianity became well-established, their positions shifted, and soon enough non-Christians were dubbed as either pagans or atheists.

18 Most Famous Atheists in the World

There have been several ancient atheist philosophers who had their mark in history over the years. They were most popular because of their quotes that defined what they did and did not believe in. Here, we enumerate the top 10 ancient atheist philosophers and their quotes, and we have also prepared 18 Most Famous Atheists in the World. No ranking is necessary, as there is simply no way to really rank them from greatest to least. They were all great in their own right. We just searched for the 10 great ones who made an impact with their arguments through the quotes they once have said in their lifetime. We used data from Arguments For Atheism and BBC–as well as the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Now, let’s take a look at the list of top 10 ancient atheist philosophers and their quotes.