What is Atheism?

[Jesster]

"Better" is a highly subjective term. You might want to add more detail to that.

[Mister Agenda]

 Bingo you nailed it.  You have absolute zero to sell.  Zero understanding, zero philosophy,  zero cognitive reasoning, and zero logic.  Compare that to Eastern Atheism and Theism who do have better schools of thought.  The West both in atheism and theism (Abrahamic religions) suck

Well, I'm the prospective buyer in this scenario, so all I have to do is evaluate your spiel and decide if your product is as wonderful as you claim. Does it really work? Is it dependable? Is it worth the price? Are there better products available? This philosophy of evaluating proposals and testing them against reality may not be profound in your eyes, but it has given us the technology we're using to communicate.

[Nonpareil]

But my point was not about technology, it was about theism and atheism in the West vs East.  In philosophy of theism or atheism the East is far better than the West.

Tiger, I hate to break it to you, but you don't actually understand atheism, whether eastern or western.

There are atheists in the west who believe in souls. There are atheists in the east who don't. In neither case is their stance on the existence of the soul mandated by their atheism, because atheism is not a religion or other kind of establishment. It is literally nothing but the lack of belief in gods. It has nothing whatsoever to say on any other subject. It does not "corrupt the open thoughts", or anything else, because atheism is not a school of thought or method for examining the world. It is a conclusion, not an assumption.

What you actually seem to take issue with is skepticism and rationality, not atheism. These are the things that most commonly lead to atheism, as well as the conclusion that souls and similar things are not real. But these things don't "corrupt" thought, either. They are methods for determining what is true and what is not. It just happens that things like the soul do not exist, and so they are discarded.

I'm sorry you don't like that, but the facts don't care whether or not you like them.

[Mister Agenda]

Not only the West that has contributed to technology.

It's not a Western thing, it's a scientific method thing. It works no matter where you're from.

[Jesster]

False, there are no atheists in the West that believe in souls.

False. Have you met my roommate?

[Cyberman]

How did you get my passport photo?

[Amarok]

1. You missed my point about technology (and yes philosophies influence this)

2. There are western atheists who believe in souls

[Nonpareil]

False, there are no atheists in the West that believe in souls.

I know several personally who would disagree with you.

As I said, you do not actually understand atheism.

It totally goes against Western Atheism thought.

"Western Atheism thought" is a nonsense phrase. Atheism, western or eastern, is not a school of thought. It is nothing but a lack of belief in gods, and has no other necessary connotations.

There really is no cohesion or a formal school of thought in West for atheism like in the East.

...Which actually supports the idea that there are atheists in the west who believe in souls, yes.

You simply do not know Eastern philosophy.  How much Eastern philosophy have you studied regarding both theistic schools and atheistic schools ? Mostly likely zero.  Are you even from that region?  Probably not.  Have you ever studied under a teacher from Eastern school whether theistic or atheistic? Most likely no.

Wrong on all counts.

Well. Except for being born there. But other than that, I can practically guarantee that I have studied more than you have - not that it's particularly relevant, because your statements are bogglingly shallow and wrong even on the face of it.

Your strange fascination with "Eastern" schools of thought is really nothing more than classic Orientalist fixation on eastern mysticism and philosophy as being somehow "special" simply because it is different. There is nothing special about the east. It is simply another culture. It is no more inherently valid or invalid than this one. The very fact that you think that all the various philosophical and religious traditions of Asia can be lumped together under the word "Eastern" demonstrates how shallow your understanding actually is.

All of that aside, you are still flatly wrong about what atheism is and what it entails - as much for eastern atheism as for western.

[Nonpareil]

Knowing a few atheists who believe in a soul are not really atheists

Literally the only "requirement" to be an atheist is to lack belief in gods.

Atheism is not a formal school of thought. It is not a branch of philosophy unto itself. It is literally nothing but a lack of belief in gods, no matter where you are in the world. Whether or not you believe in souls, ghosts, psychic powers, magic, or anything else is entirely irrelevant.

You do not understand atheism.

If so sure of yourself, where have you studied and/or what have you studied in Eastern philosophy?

It is irrelevant to the discussion at hand, and you have yet to give me sufficient reason to care about your opinion of my credentials.

[Jesster]

This is starting to turn into a chess game with a pigeon.