RE: What is an atheist?
September 8, 2012 at 5:24 am
(This post was last modified: September 8, 2012 at 5:39 am by Tempus.)
I voted for option #2, "I am an atheist and believe that atheiswm only implies that one lacks a belief in (a) god." I still think I'll clarify here though. I call myself, when asked about gods, an agnostic atheist. I think knowledge* and belief are separate. Agnosticism is my stance on gods for knowledge, atheism for belief. The Greek words from which they originate literally translate as "without knowledge" and "without god" respectively if I recall rightly (not that I'm appealing to their origin for current definition. Etymological roots and dictionary definitions don't determine word a word means, only its usage does. Since I think the words "agnostic" and "atheist" are still ambiguously used I usually accompany them with my definition. Ultimately I want people to understand what I mean, I don't care about the words used. If people want to call me a "pineapple" and recognise that means "lack of belief in gods" then go for it. Might be a bit confusing though.)
I'm interested to see the results of this poll once more votes are in. I like the nuance that you put into it, breaking things down rather than throwing everything into 3 - 5 options.
*I'm beginning to think there's a couple of problems with knowledge in this context. Firstly, what is knowledge? I remember seeing knowledge defined as "a belief that is true" once. Yet presumably you'd never be certain if you had an untrue belief... so how could you be certain you know? Secondly, gnostic atheists, those who "know" there are no gods, don't really know at all - they're certain. A distinction should be made between certitude and knowledge. Having said this, perhaps it's more accurate and relevant to say I'm an "uncertain atheist". Regardless, my vote is still an accurate representation of what I believe since the question was "what is an atheist?", not an agnostic.
I'm interested to see the results of this poll once more votes are in. I like the nuance that you put into it, breaking things down rather than throwing everything into 3 - 5 options.
*I'm beginning to think there's a couple of problems with knowledge in this context. Firstly, what is knowledge? I remember seeing knowledge defined as "a belief that is true" once. Yet presumably you'd never be certain if you had an untrue belief... so how could you be certain you know? Secondly, gnostic atheists, those who "know" there are no gods, don't really know at all - they're certain. A distinction should be made between certitude and knowledge. Having said this, perhaps it's more accurate and relevant to say I'm an "uncertain atheist". Regardless, my vote is still an accurate representation of what I believe since the question was "what is an atheist?", not an agnostic.
