RE: Can a potato be an atheist?
September 18, 2012 at 2:11 am
(This post was last modified: September 18, 2012 at 2:15 am by FallentoReason.)
Vinny Wrote:All these -ists are positive beliefs, and thus obviously things only humans can hold.
But atheism is the LACK of a belief.
I think the 'lack' of belief has come by through the ability to choose. I have cognitive functions that have made me aware of this choice I can make, to believe or not, and I have chosen to lack the belief.
A potato isn't aware of this and to say it lacks a belief is ignorant of the fact it couldn't choose for itself to begin with.
EDIT: this is also true of the positive stance: to believe. It can only be attained through being able to think. This could only happen if one was made aware of the choice at hand. Therefore, the same reason why you wouldn't say a potato is a theist applies to the argument for why it doesn't make sense to call a potato an atheist.
No thought -> no choice can be made.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it" ~ Aristotle
