Philosophy of Atheism

[PickleBoy]

Thats right, read it and weep! Ho yah! I'm taking a class next semester called "The Philosophy of Atheism". Who's excited? I am! Woo hoo! I just hope its about what I think its about and not... Other things. Also... I have a feeling we'll be reading a lot of Richard Dawkins (especially since he was mentioned on the flier!). xd Hardo Gay, hooooooo!  

[Dathu]

Well, that's bullshit! My school has nothing like that! We have a ton fo religious classes: Western religion, Asian religions, religions of the world, history of religion, but nothing that is dirrected at Atheism. Not that I really believe there is a mandatory philosophy that acompanies Atheism, but it'd still be an interesting 50 mins. I just hope it's not full of zealots only looking to sharpen their propaganda tools. ninja  

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

s**t damn, if only my school had a class like that! razz My college is full of conservative Christian bigots who would throw about ten thousand tantrums if they saw a class like that being offered. They'd throw even more if they somehow ended up IN the class. XD  

[-GS-Sailor Nemesis]

What's there to learn? Atheism is the simple non-belief in a god. That's really it. There's no philosophy behind it.  

[caustic 0_0]

That sounds like it would be a good class, depending on the professor. xD We've had some speakers and events about atheism and other topics (Like creationism) but no classes.
Apparently we have a class about death though. :0  

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

-GS-Sailor Nemesis

What's there to learn? Atheism is the simple non-belief in a god. That's really it. There's no philosophy behind it.

Sure there is - otherwise books about atheism wouldn't exist. Everyone has a reason for believing or not believing in gods, and the philosophy of atheism is just exploring the reasons why not.  

[Pet Of Cinix]

-GS-Sailor Nemesis

What's there to learn? Atheism is the simple non-belief in a god. That's really it. There's no philosophy behind it.

Well, I don't think that you would learn in the text-book type of manner, but I think that the whole class would discuss why they are atheist. They might also do some "role-reversal" and try to argue as best as they can agaist atheism. I actually think that the "role-reversal" would be a good way to find out your real religion (if your agnostic). Also, it could build up your own arguments FOR atheism, since your finding some holes in your reasoning when your looking up an argument for theism!  

[PickleBoy]

Dathu

Well, that's bullshit! My school has nothing like that! We have a ton fo religious classes: Western religion, Asian religions, religions of the world, history of religion, but nothing that is dirrected at Atheism. Not that I really believe there is a mandatory philosophy that acompanies Atheism, but it'd still be an interesting 50 mins. I just hope it's not full of zealots only looking to sharpen their propaganda tools. ninja

I know! I was just walking down the hallway the other day and there was a small piece of paper with a big red atheism symbol and I looked over and I was all "WOO HOO!" Cause usually its all theism classes where I am as well. I really hope this class works out.

GS Sailor... Just because your jealous... razz  

[hagane danbira]

Daffodil the Destroyer

-GS-Sailor Nemesis

What's there to learn? Atheism is the simple non-belief in a god. That's really it. There's no philosophy behind it.

Sure there is - otherwise books about atheism wouldn't exist. Everyone has a reason for believing or not believing in gods, and the philosophy of atheism is just exploring the reasons why not.

Technically you're both right. The main staple that holds the group known as "Atheists" together is the belief in the nonexistence of god/s. However, much in the same way that there are hundreds of different variations on Protestantism, there are nearly infinite variations of Atheism. This is partially due to the fact that the ONE staple that holds the book of atheists together is the belief in the nonexistence of god/s. This means that there must be at least as many forms of atheism, as there are forms of monotheism, polytheism, etc, more so due to the lack of a single list of things that are considered good and evil.  

[WritelySo]

hagane danbira

Technically you're both right. The main staple that holds the group known as "Atheists" together is the belief in the nonexistence of god/s.

Not belief in non-existence, but rather absence of belief in existence.  

[hagane danbira]

WritelySo

hagane danbira

Technically you're both right. The main staple that holds the group known as "Atheists" together is the belief in the nonexistence of god/s.

Not belief in non-existence, but rather absence of belief in existence.

Absense in the belief in the existence of God is another word for agnostim.
Theism is the belief in the existence of a god or gods. Atheism is the belief that there is/are no god/s.  

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

hagane danbira

WritelySo

hagane danbira

Technically you're both right. The main staple that holds the group known as "Atheists" together is the belief in the nonexistence of god/s.

Not belief in non-existence, but rather absence of belief in existence.

Absense in the belief in the existence of God is another word for agnostim.
Theism is the belief in the existence of a god or gods. Atheism is the belief that there is/are no god/s.

Incorrect, sir.

Agnosticism is the stance that it is impossible to definitively know whether gods exist or not. One can be an agnostic theist or an agnostic atheist.

Atheism itself is the lack of belief in gods. "Hard" or "strong" atheism is the lack of belief in gods, coupled with the belief that they do not exist.

To prove my point, here's a short rundown of the parts of these words.

Agnosticism: "a" is a prefix meaning "without," and "gnosticism" comes from the Greek word "gnosis," meaning "knowledge." Literally, the word "agnosticism" means "without knowledge."

Atheism: The same prefix of "a" exists, and "theism" comes from the Greek word "theos" or "theoi," meaning "god" or "gods." Literally, it means "without gods." Atheism in itself doesn't imply a presence of belief: it is a negative belief, or the absence of belief. The belief that gods do not exist is a positive belief which applies to strong atheism.  

[Erutangis]

PickleBoy

Thats right, read it and weep! Ho yah! I'm taking a class next semester called "The Philosophy of Atheism". Who's excited? I am! Woo hoo! I just hope its about what I think its about and not... Other things. Also... I have a feeling we'll be reading a lot of Richard Dawkins (especially since he was mentioned on the flier!). xd Hardo Gay, hooooooo!

I'm half expecting it to turn out to be a class where a crazed fundie rails against "the religion of atheism" and talks about how (s)he "doesn't have enough faith to be an atheist".  

[hagane danbira]

Daffodil the Destroyer

hagane danbira

WritelySo

hagane danbira

Technically you're both right. The main staple that holds the group known as "Atheists" together is the belief in the nonexistence of god/s.

Not belief in non-existence, but rather absence of belief in existence.

Absense in the belief in the existence of God is another word for agnostim.
Theism is the belief in the existence of a god or gods. Atheism is the belief that there is/are no god/s.

Incorrect, sir.

Agnosticism is the stance that it is impossible to definitively know whether gods exist or not. One can be an agnostic theist or an agnostic atheist.

Atheism itself is the lack of belief in gods. "Hard" or "strong" atheism is the lack of belief in gods, coupled with the belief that they do not exist.

To prove my point, here's a short rundown of the parts of these words.

Agnosticism: "a" is a prefix meaning "without," and "gnosticism" comes from the Greek word "gnosis," meaning "knowledge." Literally, the word "agnosticism" means "without knowledge."

Atheism: The same prefix of "a" exists, and "theism" comes from the Greek word "theos" or "theoi," meaning "god" or "gods." Literally, it means "without gods." Atheism in itself doesn't imply a presence of belief: it is a negative belief, or the absence of belief. The belief that gods do not exist is a positive belief which applies to strong atheism.

But, that would make your so-called "soft atheism" another word for not theistic. In other words, "soft atheism" would include "hard atheism," agnostism, Buddhism (technically Buddha isn't a God), pantheism, and anything else that isn't mono/polytheism. I don’t know about you, but to me, that seems like a really long list. Besides, you said it yourself: atheism translates to “belief in no god”, and that was its original intent. An atheist was someone who believed that there was no god. Warping that original idea in order to make it easier for me to use makes me feel like a Fundamentalist Christian.  

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

No, I never said atheism means "belief in no god." Read again; I said it means "without gods." More clearly put, it means "no belief in god."

Semantics of the word "atheism" are argued over by far too many atheists. I am going to take the time to type out a long excerpt from a book which I think explains the situation much more eloquently than I can do myself, so please take the time to read it.

Atheism: The Case Against God. Author: George H. Smith (emphasis original to the author)

The prefix "a" means "without," so the term "a-theism" literally means "without theism," or without belief in a god or gods. Atheism, therefore, is the absence of theistic belief. One who does not believe in the existence of a god or supernatural being is properly designated as an atheist.

Atheism is sometimes defined as "the belief that there is no God of any kind," or the claim that a god cannot exist. While these are categories of atheism, they do not exhaust the meaning of atheism - and they are somewhat misleading with respect to the basic nature of atheism. Atheism, in its basic form, is not a belief: it is the absence of belief. An atheist is not primarily a person who believes that a god does not exist; rather, he does not believe in the existence of a god.

As here defined, the term "atheism" has a wider scope than the meanings usually attached to it. The two most common usages are described by Paul Edwards as follows:

First, there is the familiar sense in which a person is
an atheist if he maintains that there is no God, where
this is taken to mean that "God exists" expresses a
false proposition. Secondly, there is also a broader
sense in which a person is an atheist if he rejects
belief in God, regardless of whether his rejection is
based on the view that belief in God is false.

Both of these meanings are important kinds of atheism, but neither does justice to atheism in its widest sense. "Atheism" is a privative term, a term of negation, indicating the opposite of theism. If we use the phrase "belief-in-god" as a substitute for theism, we see that its negation is "no-belief-in-god"-or, in other words, "a-theism." This is simply another way of stating "without theism" or the absence of belief in god.

"Theism" and "atheism" are descriptive terms: they specify the presence or absence of a belief in god. If a person is designated as a theist, this tells us that he believes in a god, not why he believes. If a person is designated as an atheist, this tells us that he does not believe in a god, not why he does not believe.

Also, strictly speaking, Buddhists are atheists, aside from certain sects. Buddhism itself is an atheistic religion, and it is not the only one.