RE: Atheism's Definition - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
December 3, 2013 at 3:10 am
(This post was last modified: December 3, 2013 at 3:10 am by Vincenzo Vinny G..)
(December 3, 2013 at 2:18 am)Esquilax Wrote:(December 3, 2013 at 12:46 am)Vincenzo "Vinny" G. Wrote: When the definition of your belief doesn't match the dictionary, it's time to consider picking a new word to name your belief.
I recommend agnosticism, because it is essentially the same as "lacks belief in God."
I mean, doesn't it strike you as questionable that you're basically trying to redefine a word so you can apply it to yourself?
Doesn't it strike you as questionable that just a post ago you were telling me you just wanted us to examine our beliefs as much as we want theists to, and now you just seem to care about definitions?
And frankly, I find it particularly interesting that you'll give us all such a hard time over the definition of atheism, and then stop dead at even looking at the definition of agnosticism, which in the beginning, was a rejection of knowledge of the spiritual or mystic.
This puts us in a fun little double whammy for you, where on the first count, you're guilty of using a definition of a word that's changed from its initial usage, and therefore have no grounds to be bitching at us for doing the same with atheism, but now that you're educated on what the coiner of the word originally meant- since you're so down on changing the definitions of words- you'll happily allow us to use the more accurate double-term that we use now: I'm an agnostic atheist, wherein I don't claim absolute knowledge over my disbelief in god. Happy?
Not sure I worded it like that.
But the use of agnosticism, I understood, originated with Huxley. What are you referring to exactly with your "in the beginning"?
For the record, I have no problem with words that change from initial usage. I'm all for it. Rather what I have a problem with is the illegitimate change of meaning. For instance, when people claim the definition they like, or they see commonly is the One True Definitiontm.
(December 3, 2013 at 2:07 am)Lemonvariable72 Wrote:(December 3, 2013 at 1:39 am)Vincenzo "Vinny" G. Wrote: If anyone's being dishonest, it must be Collins, because it supports your definition as well as mine, as I clearly linked to.
Ahh so how do we determine who is right?
After all it appears dictionary.com and the oxford dictionary use our definition as well.
By which one makes more sense.
the claim "does not believe in God/gods" is not only too vague, because it doesn't distinguish between "belief in" versus "belief in the existence of."
Atheism usually refers to the latter, while the former refers to the irreligious, and can include agnostics, deists, pantheists, etc.
In the end, the question is whether you're more interested in getting to the truth, or getting to a definition that's convenient for word-games.
