Gnostic Atheism? WTF?

[Clueless Morgan]

Personally, I find gnostic atheism to be as much of an overreach as gnostic theism.

I suppose it depends on one's epistemological standards. I don't think either camp has reached that bar.

I don't. When every indication is that there is nothing there, and every new method of searching always comes up empty, it's more rational to say "I know there's nothing there" than "I know there's something there".

It's equally irrational to state that you know A as to say you know not-A when the subject of the knowing (A) is unfalsifiable, though. A more rational position to take is "I don't know for sure but based on the evidence I've been able to assess I'm very certain A is probably false" or, using your example, "I'm not completely certain but I strongly suspect there's nothing there."

It may be that there is more evidence supporting one side than another, but to make a knowledge claim like "I know" about an unfalsifiable position is not rational.

That's not to say that the former is a correct statement, or that it is a wise assertion, but the two are not overreaching to equal degrees.

They kind of are, though, since there could be one bit of evidence that would only be expected or predicted the A-hypothesis alone that could completely overshadow all of the counter evidence that supports the not-A hypothesis. The evolutionary equivalent of this kind of evidence would be "a rabbit in the precambrian" (as is found in the precambrian layers, dated to the precambrian and scientifically verified to not be a forgery or anything - a legit rabbit from the precambrian). That is not evidence that is expected on the hypothesis that evolution is true, but is something predicted by the hypothesis that evolution is not true.

This is kind of a bad example, though, because evolution is falsifiable, it just hasn't been falsified. For that reason it is more rational to accept the Theory of Evolution than, say, ID or creationism, but you still have to allow for the fact that the possibility remains that it could be falsified one day, it just hasn't been, and why in everyday parlance it's said to be a fact.

That's why I'm as sure as as is possible to be sure that there is no god.

The fact remains, though, that there is some non-zero chance that you could be wrong, so to call yourself a gnostic atheist is overreaching, as Cthulhu said, just as there's some non-zero chance that a gnostic theist is overreaching in their claim to know there is a god.