Vegas-Rex
15-02-2006, 00:53
This has been argued about repeatedly, but I've never seen it with a thread of its own. It's basically an issue of definitions, and what it boils down to is this: does atheist mean lack of belief in a deity, or active disbelief in a deity? Where do agnostics fit in?
The two major camps on this issue are, as far as I've seen, these:
1. Atheist means lack of belief in a deity. You either believe or you don't believe, even if you're agnostic. Agnostics either believe in a god or don't, they simply aren't sure their side is correct. They are classified as either theistic agnostics or atheistic agnostics.
2. Atheist means disbelief in a deity. As such, agnostic is a separate category, neither theistic nor atheistic.
Thrown into this is another classification system, one for atheists. It classifies atheists as either explicit (I.E., active disbelief independent of evidence) or implicit, which can probably best be described as making an educated guess based on general trends that there isn't a deity. Such an atheist would be swayed if someone could manage to find actual evidence of a deity, but only then.
The question is, where in this system do agnostics fit in? Are they simply another word for implicit atheist? Is there a difference? And can someone be an atheistic/theistic agnostic, or is agnostic a separate category? Futhermore, the subject of the attached poll: does anyone actually classify themselves in either of those categories?
I would guess that they do not, as agnostics usually consider themselves agnostic so as to not be considered either an atheist or a theist. Anyway, here's my solution:
THE SOLUTION: break the field up into three categories.
1. Explicit Atheist: has faith in the nonexistence of gods.
2. Implicit Atheist: makes the educated guess that there are no gods based on their understanding of the universe.
3. Agnostic: does not feel they have enough information to make an educated guess.
Three clearly differentiated categories. Now, we can hopefully avoid hijacking other people's threads to argue about this.
The two major camps on this issue are, as far as I've seen, these:
1. Atheist means lack of belief in a deity. You either believe or you don't believe, even if you're agnostic. Agnostics either believe in a god or don't, they simply aren't sure their side is correct. They are classified as either theistic agnostics or atheistic agnostics.
2. Atheist means disbelief in a deity. As such, agnostic is a separate category, neither theistic nor atheistic.
Thrown into this is another classification system, one for atheists. It classifies atheists as either explicit (I.E., active disbelief independent of evidence) or implicit, which can probably best be described as making an educated guess based on general trends that there isn't a deity. Such an atheist would be swayed if someone could manage to find actual evidence of a deity, but only then.
The question is, where in this system do agnostics fit in? Are they simply another word for implicit atheist? Is there a difference? And can someone be an atheistic/theistic agnostic, or is agnostic a separate category? Futhermore, the subject of the attached poll: does anyone actually classify themselves in either of those categories?
I would guess that they do not, as agnostics usually consider themselves agnostic so as to not be considered either an atheist or a theist. Anyway, here's my solution:
THE SOLUTION: break the field up into three categories.
1. Explicit Atheist: has faith in the nonexistence of gods.
2. Implicit Atheist: makes the educated guess that there are no gods based on their understanding of the universe.
3. Agnostic: does not feel they have enough information to make an educated guess.
Three clearly differentiated categories. Now, we can hopefully avoid hijacking other people's threads to argue about this.