RE: Literal and Not Literal
September 3, 2019 at 2:00 am
(This post was last modified: September 3, 2019 at 2:03 am by Belacqua.)
(September 3, 2019 at 12:48 am)Fierce Wrote: It's easy to use hindsight to imagine it is simply better to answer I don't know to every single thing for which there is zero evidence to support its existence.
Yet, there is also something known as intellectual integrity by which an individual readily changes his mind when proper evidence is provided. Until such evidence becomes available, it is perfectly reasonable to state to know that something does not exist.
It's precisely a commitment to intellectual integrity which demands we don't claim knowledge we don't have.
You don't know whether or not extraterrestrials exist. For you to claim the knowledge that they don't exist is going too far.
(September 3, 2019 at 1:13 am)Fierce Wrote: Precisely. The lack of evidence for god's existence means I do not believe in god's existence.
I think this is a very reasonable statement.
But please notice it is not the same as the one you made before.
"I don't believe it exists" is NOT equal to "I know it doesn't exist."
Several people on this forum are very committed to this distinction: "I lack belief because I lack evidence" is NOT the same as "I have proof it doesn't exist."
I hope someone else -- a more passionate anti-religion type -- will join in here to emphasize this distinction.
