(October 24, 2014 at 9:21 pm)datc Wrote:(October 24, 2014 at 9:15 pm)Stimbo Wrote: Know why the atheist has no burden of proof?Even to yourself, to make sure you are not mistaken?
Because we're not trying to prove anything.
Depends if I'm trying to convince myself of something or other. But don't even try to twist it - BoP is an intrinsic part of presenting a case to someone else, not oneself. It's pretty much the fundamental rule of logic and critical thinking.
Most claims get through the filter basically unhindered, while the ones that do give us pause tend to be fairly trivial - does this washing powder really perform as well as it says on the adverts, why should I buy it over another brand etc. Only claims that sound far too good to be true are rejected outright and dumped in the "evidence pending" folder. But that's basic scepticism. Atheism is a specialised subset of that, focusing on one issue only. So when we talk about burden of proof in atheist terms, all we are asking is what are you claiming as your god, what are its attributes and how can we investigate anything about it?
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
