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Agnostic: a pointless term?
#20
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term?
(December 8, 2014 at 12:08 pm)Parkers Tan Wrote:
(December 8, 2014 at 6:40 am)bennyboy Wrote: I agree about "agnostic atheism" being redundant and mostly pointless-- to me, it's kind of a philosophical cop-out.

A more charitable way of saying it would be to describe it as truth in advertising. I'm not trying to tack my jib to catch multiple winds when I call myself that; I'm merely saying that I don't know, but I certainly don't believe.

It also is useful shorthand when dealing with assholes on the Internet who want to impute positions to me that I don't hold, such as "You're stating that you know god(s) don't exist."
Fair enough.

(December 8, 2014 at 5:49 pm)Pickup_shonuff Wrote: As I have yet to meet a definition of God that I find credible in weight of the evidence, I'm comfortable with defining atheism as either "I don't believe in gods" (which agnosticism is also reducible to) or the stronger affirmation, "I believe there are no gods."
I want to talk about the relationship between beliefs and an -ism. I think for most -ists, the actual feeling of belief is variable, while the position is (for the most part) invariable.

Maybe I do lack an active belief that God is real, in an emotional sense. But I don't think that is sufficient to merit the term "atheist," as that lack of belief isn't really a defining feature for me, any more than it is for my beagle or for my big toe (both of which also lack the belief in God).

More accurate is that I think the universe is infinitely complex, far, FAR beyond our understanding, and that if I was face-to-face with any of that complexity, I wouldn't be able to discern that experience from a religious one. So my chosen position is that of not really knowing anything except what's right in front of my face-- and that doesn't include any good information about many of the important "mysteries" in life-- why there is consciousness, why there's a universe, etc.

I'm only atheist about ideas that are obviously made up, and that includes any definition of God concrete enough to be put into words.
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Messages In This Thread
Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 8, 2014 at 3:42 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - December 8, 2014 at 5:25 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 8, 2014 at 5:51 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - December 8, 2014 at 6:40 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Rarthyr500 - December 8, 2014 at 6:44 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - December 8, 2014 at 12:08 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - December 8, 2014 at 10:39 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 8, 2014 at 6:46 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by abaris - December 8, 2014 at 7:52 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Alex K - December 8, 2014 at 8:20 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Whateverist - December 8, 2014 at 11:34 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by MysticKnight - December 8, 2014 at 5:40 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - December 8, 2014 at 11:11 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Tonus - February 2, 2015 at 11:00 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 8, 2014 at 5:41 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by MysticKnight - December 8, 2014 at 5:43 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Whateverist - December 9, 2014 at 12:54 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Simon Moon - December 9, 2014 at 8:50 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 8, 2014 at 5:44 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by MysticKnight - December 8, 2014 at 5:45 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by abaris - December 8, 2014 at 5:45 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by FatAndFaithless - December 8, 2014 at 5:45 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by MechViking - December 8, 2014 at 5:46 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by abaris - December 8, 2014 at 5:53 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Mudhammam - December 8, 2014 at 5:49 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Neo-Scholastic - December 8, 2014 at 10:59 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 9, 2014 at 3:25 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - December 9, 2014 at 4:05 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - December 9, 2014 at 4:07 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 9, 2014 at 4:06 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 9, 2014 at 4:09 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - December 9, 2014 at 4:35 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 9, 2014 at 4:39 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - December 9, 2014 at 4:41 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 9, 2014 at 4:44 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - December 9, 2014 at 5:02 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 9, 2014 at 5:05 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - December 9, 2014 at 6:08 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 9, 2014 at 6:15 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by FreeTony - December 9, 2014 at 7:15 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - December 9, 2014 at 9:33 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 9, 2014 at 7:31 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by ManMachine - December 9, 2014 at 7:44 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 9, 2014 at 7:46 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by FreeTony - December 9, 2014 at 7:55 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Whateverist - December 9, 2014 at 11:51 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 9, 2014 at 8:21 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 9, 2014 at 9:36 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by FreeTony - December 9, 2014 at 10:46 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - December 9, 2014 at 8:18 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Whateverist - December 9, 2014 at 9:22 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - December 9, 2014 at 11:09 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 9, 2014 at 11:27 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 9, 2014 at 11:55 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - December 9, 2014 at 9:59 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 10, 2014 at 2:20 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Whateverist - December 10, 2014 at 2:39 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Grandizer - December 10, 2014 at 2:41 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Darkstar - January 26, 2015 at 10:12 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Dystopia - January 26, 2015 at 10:17 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - December 10, 2014 at 2:50 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Dystopia - January 26, 2015 at 6:25 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - January 26, 2015 at 11:38 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Dystopia - January 26, 2015 at 11:49 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - January 26, 2015 at 7:52 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Dystopia - January 26, 2015 at 8:05 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Whateverist - January 26, 2015 at 8:53 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by AFTT47 - January 26, 2015 at 11:02 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by c172 - January 26, 2015 at 11:14 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - January 27, 2015 at 12:10 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - January 27, 2015 at 4:25 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - January 27, 2015 at 11:18 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Dystopia - January 27, 2015 at 12:23 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Davka - January 27, 2015 at 11:35 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - January 27, 2015 at 6:55 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Dystopia - January 27, 2015 at 7:51 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - January 27, 2015 at 12:54 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Norman Humann - January 27, 2015 at 1:31 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by IATIA - January 27, 2015 at 8:25 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by YGninja - January 30, 2015 at 8:31 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by wiploc - January 31, 2015 at 3:55 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by YGninja - February 1, 2015 at 9:55 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by wiploc - February 2, 2015 at 2:10 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by YGninja - February 2, 2015 at 4:05 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by wiploc - February 2, 2015 at 4:11 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by YGninja - February 3, 2015 at 12:04 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Creed of Heresy - February 3, 2015 at 1:21 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by YGninja - February 3, 2015 at 11:18 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Creed of Heresy - February 5, 2015 at 7:19 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Pizza - February 5, 2015 at 9:16 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Creed of Heresy - February 5, 2015 at 5:49 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by IATIA - February 5, 2015 at 10:25 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by YGninja - February 5, 2015 at 10:40 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - February 4, 2015 at 1:41 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - January 30, 2015 at 8:55 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by YGninja - January 30, 2015 at 9:12 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by AFTT47 - January 30, 2015 at 10:11 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by YGninja - January 31, 2015 at 11:53 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by IATIA - January 31, 2015 at 12:21 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by YGninja - January 31, 2015 at 12:25 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by IATIA - January 31, 2015 at 12:29 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - January 31, 2015 at 2:12 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by IATIA - January 31, 2015 at 12:28 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Whateverist - January 30, 2015 at 11:20 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - January 31, 2015 at 2:03 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Norman Humann - January 31, 2015 at 2:06 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - January 31, 2015 at 7:02 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - January 31, 2015 at 12:04 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by YGninja - January 31, 2015 at 12:10 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - January 31, 2015 at 12:11 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by YGninja - January 31, 2015 at 12:14 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by YGninja - January 31, 2015 at 12:29 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - January 31, 2015 at 12:17 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by YGninja - January 31, 2015 at 12:23 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Norman Humann - January 31, 2015 at 12:18 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - January 31, 2015 at 12:19 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - January 31, 2015 at 12:23 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by AFTT47 - January 31, 2015 at 12:23 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - January 31, 2015 at 12:24 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Norman Humann - January 31, 2015 at 12:29 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Aoi Magi - January 31, 2015 at 3:14 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - February 1, 2015 at 4:17 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by AFTT47 - February 1, 2015 at 11:48 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - February 2, 2015 at 4:37 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - February 2, 2015 at 7:01 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by wiploc - February 2, 2015 at 7:49 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - February 2, 2015 at 7:04 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Dystopia - February 2, 2015 at 10:51 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - February 2, 2015 at 12:08 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by ManMachine - February 2, 2015 at 11:11 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Whateverist - February 2, 2015 at 12:46 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by AFTT47 - February 2, 2015 at 1:35 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Whateverist - February 2, 2015 at 8:17 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by AFTT47 - February 2, 2015 at 9:24 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Whateverist - February 2, 2015 at 11:17 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by ManMachine - February 2, 2015 at 7:35 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Pizza - February 2, 2015 at 9:09 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by ManMachine - February 2, 2015 at 11:46 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Pizza - February 3, 2015 at 1:02 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by wiploc - February 3, 2015 at 1:08 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Pizza - February 3, 2015 at 1:12 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - February 2, 2015 at 1:15 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - February 2, 2015 at 2:18 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by veoli - February 2, 2015 at 7:22 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by AFTT47 - February 3, 2015 at 12:10 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Fidel_Castronaut - February 3, 2015 at 1:33 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Creed of Heresy - February 3, 2015 at 3:09 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Fidel_Castronaut - February 3, 2015 at 4:34 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Creed of Heresy - February 3, 2015 at 8:31 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - February 3, 2015 at 8:44 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Creed of Heresy - February 3, 2015 at 9:02 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - February 3, 2015 at 11:57 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Whateverist - February 4, 2015 at 1:04 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - February 4, 2015 at 5:25 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Cato - February 6, 2015 at 1:04 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Whateverist - February 3, 2015 at 9:09 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Creed of Heresy - February 3, 2015 at 9:16 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Pizza - February 3, 2015 at 11:57 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Pizza - February 5, 2015 at 8:52 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - February 5, 2015 at 9:10 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Neo-Scholastic - February 5, 2015 at 9:49 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by AFTT47 - February 5, 2015 at 9:59 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - February 5, 2015 at 10:20 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by AFTT47 - February 5, 2015 at 11:46 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by wiploc - February 6, 2015 at 12:12 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by AFTT47 - February 6, 2015 at 12:32 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Tonus - February 6, 2015 at 8:20 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - February 6, 2015 at 9:37 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - February 6, 2015 at 2:40 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Fidel_Castronaut - February 6, 2015 at 6:01 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - February 6, 2015 at 7:38 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - February 6, 2015 at 8:28 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Creed of Heresy - February 9, 2015 at 3:38 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by YGninja - February 10, 2015 at 10:29 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - February 11, 2015 at 1:25 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Grandizer - February 11, 2015 at 2:11 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - February 9, 2015 at 2:35 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Creed of Heresy - February 9, 2015 at 8:19 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - February 10, 2015 at 2:27 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Whateverist - February 10, 2015 at 7:43 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by bennyboy - February 10, 2015 at 2:00 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by psychoslice - February 10, 2015 at 2:27 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by FlyingSpaghettiMonster - February 10, 2015 at 4:18 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - February 11, 2015 at 2:19 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Cyberman - February 11, 2015 at 3:08 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - February 11, 2015 at 3:16 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Whateverist - February 11, 2015 at 11:51 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - February 11, 2015 at 12:05 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Whateverist - February 11, 2015 at 12:09 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - February 11, 2015 at 12:12 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by dyresand - February 11, 2015 at 12:16 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Cyberman - February 11, 2015 at 2:20 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Creed of Heresy - February 14, 2015 at 6:05 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - February 14, 2015 at 6:52 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Creed of Heresy - February 15, 2015 at 12:41 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Thumpalumpacus - February 15, 2015 at 4:31 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - February 15, 2015 at 6:42 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Mr.wizard - February 15, 2015 at 10:09 am
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Pizza - February 15, 2015 at 2:50 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Whateverist - February 15, 2015 at 2:58 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by wiploc - February 15, 2015 at 3:17 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Outtahere - February 15, 2015 at 3:29 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by emilynghiem - February 16, 2015 at 12:30 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Whateverist - February 16, 2015 at 12:45 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by emilynghiem - February 16, 2015 at 3:08 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by robvalue - February 16, 2015 at 12:56 pm
RE: Agnostic: a pointless term? - by Whateverist - February 16, 2015 at 3:24 pm

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