What is Atheism?

[SuperSentient]

How do you define atheism? It may seem simple, but small variations exist in accepted definitions.

[Alex K]

I suppose atheism can be both, but I votes the weaker version because it already qualifies as atheism to me.

[Jesster]

The base requirement of atheism is a lack of belief (disbelief) in a god or gods. You can stop there if you are just trying to define atheism. Atheists can also believe that there is no god if they want to take it further.

[SuperSentient]

The base requirement of atheism is a lack of belief (disbelief) in a god or gods. You can stop there if you are just trying to define atheism. Atheists can also believe that there is no god if they want to take it further.

Would this be more accurate?:

Lack of a belief in any god- Atheism

Belief that there is no god- Anti-theism

or

Lack of a belief in any god- Weak/negative atheism

Belief that there is no god- Strong/positive atheism

[Alex K]

Anti-Theism already has a different meaning, usually

[Jesster]

Would this be more accurate?:

Lack of a belief in any god- Atheism

Belief that there is no god- Anti-theism

or

Lack of a belief in any god- Weak/negative atheism

Belief that there is no god- Strong/positive atheism

I've seen anti-theism used that way, but also to denote a strong dislike of theism. I personally don't use that one for this purpose because of the confusion it can lead to, but go ahead if you prefer it.

Strong/weak atheism or gnostic/agnostic atheism both work pretty well here and either gets the idea across well.

[ignoramus]

At the end of the day we're all agnostics since god is unfalsifiable so we can only go on what's logically probable.

[SuperSentient]

Would this be more accurate?:

Lack of a belief in any god- Atheism

Belief that there is no god- Anti-theism

or

Lack of a belief in any god- Weak/negative atheism

Belief that there is no god- Strong/positive atheism

I've seen anti-theism used that way, but also to denote a strong dislike of theism. I personally don't use that one for this purpose because of the confusion it can lead to, but go ahead if you prefer it.

Strong/weak atheism or gnostic/agnostic atheism both work pretty well here and either gets the idea across well.

Strong/Weak atheism are better terms for me. I personally never knew the term "gnostic" as opposed to "agnostic" existed.

[Jesster]

Strong/Weak atheism are better terms for me. I personally never knew the term "gnostic" as opposed to "agnostic" existed.

Sure. It really ends up with the same meaning in the end, but some people prefer one term over the other. Gnosticism just means that you assert knowledge, so a gnostic atheist would be comparable with a strong atheist. Agnostic atheism would therefore relate to weak atheists who do not believe in a god but can't assert that there is no god.

[Whateverist]

I think "gnostic" as the opposite of the weak form agnosticism is problematic in as much as it already has an entirely different meaning. But then, that is nature of english. Words morph and do double duty all the time; one has to keep up.

Whether someone answers the "do you believe in gods" question in the negative because they think the non-existence of gods is a demonstrable fact or because they just don't really know or care what the concept of 'god' means, doesn't much matter. An answer of "no" puts you in the atheist bin.

The main thing is that agnosticism vs atheism has nothing to do with probabilities, and they are no where near mutually exclusive. Most people on this site are both.