RE: Community help for Non-Cognitive?
October 27, 2012 at 4:14 am
(This post was last modified: October 27, 2012 at 4:26 am by mralstoner.)
TROC, you seem to have two concerns that are not shared by the atheist community:
1 - An emphasis on life after religion, rather than on arguments against god's existence.
2 - An understanding of the emotional needs that drive us, regardless of our beliefs.
Point 1 suggests that you would be more interested in humanism (in the broad sense of the word) rather than atheism/skepticism. Humanist writers include Paul Kurtz, Robert Ingersoll, James Croft, Susan Jacoby, and Alain de Botton (though he calls himself a philosopher).
Point 2 suggests that you would be interested in authors who (unlike most atheists) understand the full relationship between reason and emotion i.e. that reason informs us, but emotion moves us. Pure reason cannot move us, we require emotion to have drive/motivation e.g. David Hume, Epicurus, Bertrand Russell, Antonio Damasio, Jonathan Haidt, Drew Westen, David Brooks, George Lakoff, etc.
You might like this video:
The Best Argument for Atheism: Emotional Attention
Also, I would not be so quick to draw a distinct line between yourself and "cognitive" atheists. To my knowledge, nobody can prove god does not exist. Nor can anyone prove he is even less than 50% likely to exist. We can point out logical fallacies in religious arguments but, beyond that, I don't think anyone can statistically say that god is unlikely to exist. My point is that even the most "cognitive" atheist still has to admit that seemingly impossible gods still might exist. Hence, when you get down to it, all atheists either make a guess or (more likely) choose atheism as an emotional preference (though many internet atheists will vehemently deny this - which is often a good indication of someone who can't refute the point with logic).
This was true in my own case. No matter how much I thought god was impossible/unlikley I still couldn't definitely say he doesn't exist. Nor could I even say he was less than 50% likely to exist. In the end, I had to admit uncertainty, and hence chose to ignore god because of my emotional preference for getting this infernal nonsense out of my head and getting on with my life.
Richard Dawkins creates a scale of theistic probability and puts himself 6 out of 7 in non-belief, but he appears to have plucked this number out of the air (i.e. it's an emotional preference).
So, I don't think there really is a distinct line between cognitive and non-cognitive atheists.
If I were you, I would simply call yourself some brand of humanist.
I can expand on these topics if something interests you.
1 - An emphasis on life after religion, rather than on arguments against god's existence.
2 - An understanding of the emotional needs that drive us, regardless of our beliefs.
Point 1 suggests that you would be more interested in humanism (in the broad sense of the word) rather than atheism/skepticism. Humanist writers include Paul Kurtz, Robert Ingersoll, James Croft, Susan Jacoby, and Alain de Botton (though he calls himself a philosopher).
Point 2 suggests that you would be interested in authors who (unlike most atheists) understand the full relationship between reason and emotion i.e. that reason informs us, but emotion moves us. Pure reason cannot move us, we require emotion to have drive/motivation e.g. David Hume, Epicurus, Bertrand Russell, Antonio Damasio, Jonathan Haidt, Drew Westen, David Brooks, George Lakoff, etc.
You might like this video:
The Best Argument for Atheism: Emotional Attention
Also, I would not be so quick to draw a distinct line between yourself and "cognitive" atheists. To my knowledge, nobody can prove god does not exist. Nor can anyone prove he is even less than 50% likely to exist. We can point out logical fallacies in religious arguments but, beyond that, I don't think anyone can statistically say that god is unlikely to exist. My point is that even the most "cognitive" atheist still has to admit that seemingly impossible gods still might exist. Hence, when you get down to it, all atheists either make a guess or (more likely) choose atheism as an emotional preference (though many internet atheists will vehemently deny this - which is often a good indication of someone who can't refute the point with logic).
This was true in my own case. No matter how much I thought god was impossible/unlikley I still couldn't definitely say he doesn't exist. Nor could I even say he was less than 50% likely to exist. In the end, I had to admit uncertainty, and hence chose to ignore god because of my emotional preference for getting this infernal nonsense out of my head and getting on with my life.
Richard Dawkins creates a scale of theistic probability and puts himself 6 out of 7 in non-belief, but he appears to have plucked this number out of the air (i.e. it's an emotional preference).
So, I don't think there really is a distinct line between cognitive and non-cognitive atheists.
If I were you, I would simply call yourself some brand of humanist.
I can expand on these topics if something interests you.
