Are Atheists Fundies?
Moderator: Alyrium Denryle
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Utsanomiko
- The Legend Rado Tharadus
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Myself, I subscribe to the practical definition of atheism:
"Are your choices affected by a belief in the existence of some entity, or entities, which exist in some realm which is not part of the real world? For example, God, karma, 'the good spirits', Satan, Zeus, etc"
If you answer no, then you are, in effect, an atheist. Many agnostics, if confronted with this question, turn out to actually be behaving like atheists. Some, on the other hand, are more deistic or theistic. Basically, agnosticism is an unstable category - you can stay there for a while, but on a personal level it is not really a viable long-term attitude.
When an atheist switches from "there is no evidence that God (or any other spiritual realm) exists, therefore I see no point in believing in it", to "it is categorically impossible that God exists", then they are displaying fundamentalist characteristics. They have abandoned logic, because anyone with any schooling in logic knows that it is impossible to prove a negative - there is always going to be at least a tiny element of doubt (i.e. "maybe there is evidence, and we just haven't found it yet").
Generally, however, people who fall into that second category are atheists for all the wrong reasons (e.g. an emotional rejection of their original faith, or based on the authority of their parents or some other figure).
"Are your choices affected by a belief in the existence of some entity, or entities, which exist in some realm which is not part of the real world? For example, God, karma, 'the good spirits', Satan, Zeus, etc"
If you answer no, then you are, in effect, an atheist. Many agnostics, if confronted with this question, turn out to actually be behaving like atheists. Some, on the other hand, are more deistic or theistic. Basically, agnosticism is an unstable category - you can stay there for a while, but on a personal level it is not really a viable long-term attitude.
When an atheist switches from "there is no evidence that God (or any other spiritual realm) exists, therefore I see no point in believing in it", to "it is categorically impossible that God exists", then they are displaying fundamentalist characteristics. They have abandoned logic, because anyone with any schooling in logic knows that it is impossible to prove a negative - there is always going to be at least a tiny element of doubt (i.e. "maybe there is evidence, and we just haven't found it yet").
Generally, however, people who fall into that second category are atheists for all the wrong reasons (e.g. an emotional rejection of their original faith, or based on the authority of their parents or some other figure).
"People should buy our toaster because it toasts bread the best, not because it has the only plug that fits in the outlet" - Robert Morris, Almaden Research Center (IBM)
"If you have any faith in the human race you have too much." - Enlightenment
"If you have any faith in the human race you have too much." - Enlightenment
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Slartibartfast
- Emperor's Hand
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No, he did not. Falsifiable evidence is evidence which can, in theory, be shown to be false. If the evidence is falsifiable and no one can produce evidence which shows it to be wrong, then it is probably true. On the other hand, unfalsifiable evidence we can never be sure of, because even if it was false, no one would ever be able to show us that it is.Slartibartfast wrote:I think you meant falsifiable evidence.Phil wrote:We atheists are denying evidence from authority, revelation, nonfalsifiable evidence and subjective evidence.
data_link has resigned from the board after proving himself to be a relentless strawman-using asshole in this thread and being too much of a pussy to deal with the inevitable flames. Buh-bye.