(September 17, 2012 at 6:17 pm)Vincenzo "Vinny" G. Wrote: Atheism is the only position that seems to, by popular notion, define itself in the negative.It's a prefix thing.
A- means negation
just like
Un-, as in unpleasant (not pleasant) or unmanned (not manned)
In-, as in independent (not dependent)
Im-, as in imperfect (not perfect)
Dis-, as in dishonest (not honest)
Non-, as in nonexistent (not existent)
The A- prefix comes in other words as well as atheist (not theist), atypical (not typical), achromatic (not chromatic), amorphous (not morphous, i.e., not crystalline), asymmetric (not symmetric), anaerobic (not aerobic), anhydrous (not hydrous - does not contain water), anoxic (not oxic, does not contain oxygen). Basically, words originating in greek have the A- or An- as negating prefix.
So, when I say that a molecule is apolar, it means that the molecule does not have any electrical poles. There's another thing that get's defined in the negative.
Can't say that atheism is alone in that category.
It is alone when you constrain yourself to "religious positions", but I'd say that, in this topic, it's a bit difficult to have more than one kind of atheism.
