Oversimplification might be easier, but it can give poor
results.
Atheism is a belief system that believes there is no #deity
of any kind.
This is only partially true. What you describe is
gnostic atheism: roughly "I know that there are no gods, so I don't
believe in them." There is also agnostic atheism, roughly "I don't know
whether there are any, so I don't believe in any of the purported gods."
It's also the case that agnostic atheism is not a belief system. It's been
pointed out that it can only be called a belief system if not collecting stamps
is to be called a hobby.
Agnosticism has no belief about that one
way or another.
Gnosis is more about (purported) knowledge
than it is about belief: gnosis and belief are orthogonal.
Consequently, there are also gnostic and agnostic theisms. A gnostic theist is
the usual "I know there is a god/are gods, so I believe." An agnostic
theist is, for example, one who takes the 'safer to believe than not' choice of
Pascal's Wager:
"I don't know whether there are any gods, but it seems better to believe,
so I will."
There's also the distinction between the strong and weak
agnosticism: the weak agnostic says "I don't know", making no statement on
knowability; the strong agnostic says "nobody can know." ---
--Bill.
NAL: question the answers, especially mine. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
|
