Nature and the Gods / From "The Atheistic Platform", Twelve Lectures

The author defines Nature in both a broad philosophical sense and as distinct from the artificial, arguing that humans know only observable phenomena and not the underlying substratum; from this epistemic limitation he locates many theological errors. He traces religious belief from fetish and animal worship through polytheism to monotheism, presenting gods as imagined responses to danger and need rather than moral instructors. The lectures assert that virtues and social order arise from human cooperation, criticism, education, and practical struggle, and that material progress results from intelligence and collective effort rather than divine agency.