From: Max More (max@maxmore.com)
Date: Sat Jan 09 1999 - 20:48:54 MST
At 11:59 AM 1/9/99 +0000, you wrote:
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Dick.Gray@bull.com <Dick.Gray@bull.com>
>
>>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.
Someone who has never heard of the idea of a "god" would be an atheist. An
atheist could also be someone who sees no reason to believe (lack of
evidence), but doesn't necessarily think that they have sufficient grounds
for denying the belief.
>>You're also technically correct in not referring to yourself as an
>>agnostic, since agnosticism is a position regarding the possibility of
>>knowledge: specifically that knowledge about a given topic is unattainable
>>in principle. This, I assume, is not your opinion.
>
>Again, according to my dictionary, an agnostic is one who holds no opinion
>on the existence or lack thereof of god(s).
>
>ie a-gnostic = without knowledge.
Dictionaries are often poor at clarifying these theoretical matters, and
usually give several different definitions. I don't dispute that many
people may use the terms this way and so these definitions are in the
dictionary. But they are poor definitions.
As you note, an agnostic is one without knowledge. Now, logically, that
does *not* imply one who holds no opinion on the existence of a god. Many
people have beliefs and opinions without knowledge. Believing on the basis
of faith is an example. Most religious beliefs are really religious
agnostics -- they believe, but they lack knowledge. (Very very few
believers really believe because of some empirical or logical argument. I
know this not only from general experience, but from having taught numerous
classes in Philosophy of Religion. The rare individual who genuinely
believes there is god because of some argument such as the Cosmological or
Design argument, is not an agnostic, since they can claim to have grounds
for knowledge. I would claim that their arguments are defective, but at
least they would be using reason, not faith, and so can claim to know.)
Agnostics come in weak and strong forms. A weak agnostic says they do not
know if there is a god. Perhaps they haven't reached a conclusion yet, or
they are interested in thinking about it. A strong agnostic claims that
they *cannot* know, since if there is a god, it would be outside the realm
of empirical experience.
Max
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Max More, Ph.D.
<max@maxmore.com> or <more@extropy.org>
http://www.maxmore.com
Philosophical issues of technology
President, Extropy Institute:
exi-info@extropy.org, http://www.extropy.org
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