From: The Baileys (nanotech@cwix.com)
Date: Sun Jan 10 1999 - 07:54:01 MST
Max More wrote:
>>>Technically, by definition you're an atheist. Don't be afraid of the
word.
>>>It simply means "absence of belief in a god or gods".
>>
>>According to my dictionary it means 'one who denies there is a god(s)'
>
>An atheist may deny that there is a god, but this isn't necessary. a-theism
>= lacking theistic belief. If you lack a belief, it doesn't necessarily
>follow that you deny the existence of the thing involved in that belief.
Theodore Drange has an excellent essay where he "unweaves" atheism and
agnosticism. Some "flavors" of atheism are as dogmatic as theism. Drange's
essay entitled "Atheism, Agnosticism, and Noncognitivism" can be found at
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theodore_drange/definition.html
Drange defines the different viewpoints on the question of God (or any other
god) in relation to the proposition "God exists". For example:
"An atheist is someone who allows that the sentence [i.e., "God exists"]
expresses a proposition and who classifies the proposition as false or
probably false.
A theist is someone who allows that the sentence expresses a proposition and
who classifies the proposition as true or probably true.
An agnostic is someone who allows that the sentence expresses a proposition
and who grants that he/she knows what the proposition is, but who is
noncomittal about its truth or falsity on the grounds of insufficient
evidence.
A noncognitivist is someone who declares that the sentence does not express
any proposition at all."
Doug Bailey
doug.bailey@ey.com
nanotech@cwix.com
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