(July 6, 2012 at 10:34 am)CliveStaples Wrote: Because "un-" doesn't always mean "not". "Unmake" doesn't mean "not make", "undo" doesn't mean "not do", etc.
Not always. But to add "dis" to belief is the more active form, which tends to provide the assumption that there is an anti-belief...which is a belief, in a sense. Comparing the word of "make" and "do" to "believe" is grammatically inaccurate for the comparison of the prefix of "un" since the former two are based on physical activity where "belief" is a mental or emotional activity [depending on how you see it]. For example, "unimpressed," to not be impressed, in other words the lack of being impressed, see? In my case, unbelief is actually a fitting terminology if you use it as the retractor, negator, and absentee-descriptive prefix, as I once believed and now I do not, so I "unbelieve." Non works fairly well, too, but it also DOES imply some active form of not believing, similar to disbelieve.
Ahhh, the English language with its ridiculous amount of nuances and intricacies...