Systematically Dismantling Atheism

[bennyboy]

Benny, note the jump in subject from your responses 1 and 2, to response number 3. The first two address belief, the third addresses knowledge claims. They aren't the same thing.

There are only two responses to the question "Do you believe in God", and those are
1) Yes, I affirmatively believe in god.
2) Anything else that is not an affirmative belief in god.

Even if you say "I don't know if I believe in god" (which would be strange, as it would imply you don't know what's going on in your own head), you would still be in category 2, i.e. not having an affirmative belief.

A/gnosticism is about the claim to knowledge, whether or not you know god exists or claim it as an epistemological truth. It isn't a confidence rating, it just a claim to either not know for sure (agnosticism) or to claim to know for sure (gnosticism).

It's not strange at all not to be able to resolve a question into a single answer, and many reasons why "I don't know" doesn't imply your assessment of your knowledge about something. For example, if I ask you "Do you think 'x' is true?" You could answer that you don't believe in 'x'. But you could also say, "Until you tell me what 'x' means, then I don't know whether I have a belief that represents it or not." I wouldn't say I default to a-xism because I'm incapable of forming an active belief.

So if you DEFINE God, I'm very likely to say that I'm either an agnostic theist or a gnostic theist. "God is Sky Daddy." Nope. "God is the subjective spark which makes us more than machines." Weird, but yep.

If you cannot adequately define God, then my position is: "wtf you talkin' about, Linus?"

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I am giving you a BETTER definition.

Great. Define "better" while you're at it.

Are you CURRENTLY agnostic about unicorns? You would still have to admit since you have not lived the future that "technically" you have to be "agnostic" since we cannot no with 100% certainty.

I'm an agnostic a-unicornist, because my mind can resolve that question down to a single answer-- no, I don't believe unicorns are real, and in fact I believe they are false. The agnosticism isn't about unicorns-- it's about my confidence in my disbelief in unicorns.

So the term agnostic atheist is not contradictory.

No, it's not contradictory, and it probably desribes 90% of atheists.

Now Huxley took a Greek prefix and a Greek suffix that were never used in ancient Greece together. But when you properly use them individually separately this is how they are defined.

Prefix "a"=without

Suffix="gnosis or gnostic"=knowledge.

NETHER that prefix or suffix say anything about subject matter or position. So the word has to be put in front of something for it to make sense.

Answers are partially defined by the context in which they are given. If someone is unable to answer a question, or even to establish a leaning toward an answer, then agnosticism is itself a viable position.

Next time you are out in public, walk up to a complete stranger and say "I dont know", don't say anything else. I would bet my life they are going to say "You don't know what?" The simply repeat "I don't know". Keep repeating that and nothing else until they walk away from you because they think you are nuts.

That is why I say "I don't know" is not a position. It has to go in front of something to make sense.

Okay, let's try this. Is there a boobledyboo on my desk? Hint-- boobledyboo is a common household object.

Are you going to claim that you're an agnostic a-boobledybooist?

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re: agnosticism

Bullshit. Agnosticism doesn't have to be seen as a confidence rating-- it is, in fact, a position, which I hold. When asked, "Do you think God exists," you have three perfectly coherent and distinguishable responses: 1) Yes, I think God exists; 2) No, I don't think God exists; 3) I don't know whether God exists.

There are gnostics and agnostics on either side.

So the extreme left/right position, in lack of a better word, would be "I know, god exists" and "I know, god doesn't exist".

I call myself an agnostic atheist, but I'm tending more to gnostic atheism when it comes to the biblical god.

And what if someone is neither theist nor atheist, but is agnostic?