ZDover

Keep in mind the distinction between strong atheism and weak atheism. Strong atheism is the belief that there are no Gods, or that God does not exist, or that the proposition "God exists" is false. Weak atheism is characterized by a lack of belief in Gods. Weak atheism appears to me to be tenable prima facie, and the weak atheist seems have nothing to answer for since his position refers merely to the fact that <i>he</i> does not detect the divine. Strong atheism likely opens itself up to many epistemological criticisms facing theism, which are neatly put in the sentence "But how do you know?". Probably an inductive case can be made for strong atheism (I see no God, I have seen no God, each passing day gives me that much more reason to believe that no God exists), but I don't know how one would go about building a 100%-certain case that God did not exist.

So, for what it's worth, you sound to me like a weak atheist or an agnostic.

agapeo

"Keep in mind the distinction between strong atheism and weak atheism. Strong atheism is the BELIEF [emphasis mine]that there are no Gods, or that God does not exist, or that the proposition "God exists" is false."

:lol

Dr. Retard

Care to share with the rest of the class what's so funny?

Vorkosigan

Strong atheism likely opens itself up to many epistemological criticisms facing theism, which are neatly put in the sentence "But how do you know?". Probably an inductive case can be made for strong atheism (I see no God, I have seen no God, each passing day gives me that much more reason to believe that no God exists), but I don't know how one would go about building a 100%-certain case that God did not exist.

The strong atheist relies on two sets of evidence/argument. One is the manifest impotence of gods to affect the world, the utter lack of evidence for their existence, and the fact that the world moves along nicely without them. The other is positive argument in the form of the absurdity, incoherence and contradictory nature of a given belief.

Michael

agapeo

[Care to share with the rest of the class what's so funny?]

Are you serious? Explain to me how a "non-belief" can be a belief.

I'm With Stupid

Yup.

Dr. Retard

Easy. Strong atheism isn't a "non-belief", it's a belief in the nonexistence of something. It's an interesting fact that, in order to believe in the nonexistence of something, you must also lack belief in that something -- otherwise, you're insane. The non-belief in X is rationally entailed by the belief in X's nonexistence, but not vice-versa.

Let's take Sasquatch as an example. Some people believe in Sasquatch -- this set is composed of "believers". Others lack belief in Sasquatch -- this set is composed of "non-believers". Of that set of non-believers, there are a few that go further than the rest and take the stance that Sasquatch does not exist: these folks not only do not believe in Sasquatch, they believe that Sasquatch is nonexistent, a fiction.

It's not a winsome character trait to be amused due to one's one obtuseness.

sir drinks-a-lot

Here it is symbolized:

B = "Believe in" Predicate
S = Sasquatch
~ = negation operator

B(S) Believe Sasquatch exists
~B(S) Do Not Believe Sasquatch exists
B(~S) Believe that Sasquatch does not exist

[ February 14, 2002: Message edited by: sir drinks-a-lot ]</p>

Euromutt

Throwing in my two €cents; after professionally dealing with the results of war crimes for some four years, I concluded that any supreme being who made my job possible, let alone necessary, wasn't worth my time. Thus existence or non-existence is rather irrelevant, except that in the case of the existence of a god as described by the three Abrahamic religions, I've got an indictment for him for crimes against humanity, and it's thicker than a truckload of Bibles.
I don't know where that puts me; more importantly, I don't care.

agapeo

[Here it is symbolized:

B = "Believe in" Predicate
S = Sasquatch
~ = negation operator

B(S) Believe Sasquatch exists
~B(S) Do Not Believe Sasquatch exists
B(~S) Believe that Sasquatch does not exist]

Sounds like BS to me. :lol Was that your point?

Larry