RE: Most philosophers are atheist.
November 5, 2017 at 1:40 pm
(This post was last modified: November 5, 2017 at 1:49 pm by Edwardo Piet.)
(November 5, 2017 at 10:53 am)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote:(November 3, 2017 at 5:35 pm)Hammy Wrote: 12.5% don't understand what the words mean, I notice. Some philosophers they are.
Really? So, deists are theists now? Or are they atheists?
IOW, could it be that respondents who answered "other" did so because they *do* know what words mean, and both atheist and theist fail to capture the nuance of their position?
Deism is a form of theism, yes. "Theism" just means belief in a god/deity which includes deism. If you're not an atheist, you're a theist. "Atheist" means "non-theist" and "theist" and "non-theist" is a true dichotomy that covers everything. Since the answer "neither" to any "x or non-x" dichotomy doesn't make logical sense. True dichotomies are any x/non-x. Which is what theism/atheism is. Because it's identical to theism/non-theism. You can't logically answer with "neither" in this case. False dichotomies are dichotomies in which you can logically answer with "neither".
People often use "theism" to refer to specifically non-deistic theism, to refer to specifically a belief in a personal god, but on another level deism is a sub category of theism because "theism" just means belief in any god, including impersonal deistic gods. The fact "deism" is used at all is simply so it's easier to specify that you mean specifically impersonal non-interventionist theism.
And no it's because they don't know what the words mean. If you're not a non-theist you're a theist. And atheism is non-theism. "a-theism"= "without theism". Which includes without deism.
