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One of the great difficulties about considering New Atheism is that many of the names associated with the movement have come from the scholarly ranks. This raises some difficult questions for how it is we, as academics and scholars, respond to them and treat their treatment of religion. In this reflective final chapter I look back over the previous contributions to the volume from the perspective of philosophy of social science—positioning myself halfway between our philosophical contributors and our social scientific contributors. Looking at what it is the New Atheists themselves might be trying to achieve, I investigate the ways in which we have responded to them and what this might say about us as a "scholarly group". Ultimately the fact that some of the New Atheists come from the ranks and engage so willingly with the general public we must address the fundamental questions of what it is to do philosophy and what it is to do social science.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-54964-4_12

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