(November 4, 2010 at 4:59 pm)Jazzykatt Wrote: I have a curious question and I don't want to lump all atheists, including myself, into one group of non-believers of the supernatural. Obviously I don't believe in god or a creator. I do believe we naturally evolved. So, without a heaven there can be no afterlife....right?
I would really like to hear what others think about ghosts, hauntings and things that go bump in the night. I personally have never experienced such phenomenon; although I may have convined myself that I saw or heard something when I was a teenager with a ouija board and an overactive imagination.
Please share your thoughts on this subject. I'm sure it has been discussed to naseum but I am a virgin atheist so would love to know what the general concensus is.
Everything stems from an Epistemology for me, a theory of knowledge and justification. No supernatural events that have ever been proposed to exist come close to satisfying my epistemic standards, nor can my epistemology shown to be false and simultaneously an epistemology that is logically coherent and permits supernatural belief is shown to be true.
My epistemology (2 stage Evidentialist Reliabilism):
1. Acquisition of belief (Reliabilism)
A belief that P is not unreasonableIF AND ONLY IF it is a belief that is arrived at by reliable mechanism AND ONLY UNTIL that belief is examined.
2. Examination (Evidentialism)
A belief that P is Justified IF AND ONLY IF it is a belief that is supported by evidence. ELSE the belief that P is unreasonable.
For example, I am not unreasonable (but not justified) in believing that my old flatmate is across the street in a crowd if I perceive him with my senses (visual identification is reliable) ONLY UNTIL I examine my belief. Upon examination (for example security camera footage) I am either Justified in my belief because it is supported by evidence OR I am unreasonable if my belief that P is unsupported.
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