We Are All Born Atheist

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The_Last_Ride

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#301 The_Last_Ride
Member since 2004 • 76371 Posts
yeah i agree with that statement
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LJS9502_basic

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#302 LJS9502_basic
Member since 2003 • 180198 Posts

[QUOTE="bloodling"]

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

Definitions of atheism also vary in the degree of consideration a person must put to the idea of gods to be considered an atheist. Atheism has sometimes been defined to include the simple absence of belief that any deities exist. This broad definition would include newborns and other people who have not been exposed to theistic ideas.

BluRayHiDef

Keyword: sometimes. As in, sometimes not. I don't include newborns in my definition of an atheist personally, and it disregards the definition of atheist for the most part, since the global definition is not the lack of belief, but rather the disbelief.

This is an Appeal To Authority Fallacy. You're arguing that the global definition is the true definition because it is commonly used by most people. I'm arguing that the intrinsic definition, as can be inferred from the word's etymology is the true definition: Without Belief in God(s).

You never answered my question as to whether you find atheists put any thought into their decision. Since babies do not.....and you correlated that to atheism.

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bloodling

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#303 bloodling
Member since 2006 • 5822 Posts

[QUOTE="bloodling"]

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

Definitions of atheism also vary in the degree of consideration a person must put to the idea of gods to be considered an atheist. Atheism has sometimes been defined to include the simple absence of belief that any deities exist. This broad definition would include newborns and other people who have not been exposed to theistic ideas.

BluRayHiDef

Keyword: sometimes. As in, sometimes not. I don't include newborns in my definition of an atheist personally, and it disregards the definition of atheist for the most part, since the global definition is not the lack of belief, but rather the disbelief.

This is an Appeal To Authority Fallacy. You're arguing that the global definition is the true definition because it is commonly used by most people. I'm arguing that the intrinsic definition, as can be inferred from the word's etymology is the true definition: Without Belief in God(s).

That's not what I'm saying at all. The number of people thinking like me has no relevance to the definition. I'm saying that it contradicts my definition of an atheist. You can include newborns in your definition and still be right, I guess, but that's not what atheism is to me (and to a lot of people, not that it matters anyway).

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BluRayHiDef

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#304 BluRayHiDef
Member since 2009 • 10839 Posts

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

[QUOTE="bloodling"]

Keyword: sometimes. As in, sometimes not. I don't include newborns in my definition of an atheist personally, and it disregards the definition of atheist for the most part, since the global definition is not the lack of belief, but rather the disbelief.

LJS9502_basic

This is an Appeal To Authority Fallacy. You're arguing that the global definition is the true definition because it is commonly used by most people. I'm arguing that the intrinsic definition, as can be inferred from the word's etymology is the true definition: Without Belief in God(s).

You never answered my question as to whether you find atheists put any thought into their decision. Since babies do not.....and you correlated that to atheism.

No, they do not. One does not need to do anything in order to be without something. Lacking is effortless.

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theone86

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#305 theone86
Member since 2003 • 22669 Posts

[QUOTE="theone86"]

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"]Which is why I answered I'd consider myself agnostic since that was your example dude. Now you are arguing it? Bolded for you.

LJS9502_basic

That's my point, an agnostic is not a skeptic. An agnostic is someone who believes that metaphysical matters cannot be proven. The person in my example believes that metaphysical matters CAN be proven and accepts the possibility of the existence of god, but requires more convincing. That's not a rejection of the belief in god (atheist), nor is it a rejection of the ability to prove the existence of god, it is simply skepticism.

Depends on how one self identifies as agnostic. I've heard people call themselves agnostic because they had not firm belief either way. Or because they were skeptical but could not prove or disprove either option.

That's a mistake on their part, that's technically not agnosticism, at least not the first part. I'm not sure what that's called, but it's different from agnosticism. The second option would be agnosticism if they came to the conclusion that their failure indicates a universal inability to prove or disprove the existence of god, but if they are just undecided then that's what they are, not agnostic.

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_R34LiTY_

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#306 _R34LiTY_
Member since 2008 • 3331 Posts

i was born neutral, i guess...

my mother baptized me when i was a few months old and I followed her lead for a bit before thinking for myself about religious doctrine and everything that encompasses it. Eventually I drifted away from the practice with it's usual belief/outlook on the Abrahamic or anthropomorphized diety that people call Yaweh/Allah etc and through research have been able to better understand this consciousness/energy that people vehemently WANT to call god and put a face to it and associated it to one particular sex.

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BluRayHiDef

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#307 BluRayHiDef
Member since 2009 • 10839 Posts

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

[QUOTE="bloodling"]

Keyword: sometimes. As in, sometimes not. I don't include newborns in my definition of an atheist personally, and it disregards the definition of atheist for the most part, since the global definition is not the lack of belief, but rather the disbelief.

bloodling

This is an Appeal To Authority Fallacy. You're arguing that the global definition is the true definition because it is commonly used by most people. I'm arguing that the intrinsic definition, as can be inferred from the word's etymology is the true definition: Without Belief in God(s).

That's not what I'm saying at all. The number of people thinking like me has no relevance to the definition. I'm saying that it contradicts my definition of an atheist. You can include newborns in your definition and still be right, I guess, but that's not what atheism is to me (and to a lot of people, not that it matters anyway).

Well, your definition contradicts the intrinsic definition: Without belief in gods.

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EMOEVOLUTION

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#308 EMOEVOLUTION
Member since 2008 • 8998 Posts
Atheism is not a default condition. a real atheist doesn't even need to define their atheism. It's not something they would have to contemplate. I am neither an Atheist, Theist, or an agnostic. YET, people will still attempt to define what I believe. Why? I'm not sure. Social control. Maybe.
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bloodling

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#309 bloodling
Member since 2006 • 5822 Posts

Well, your definition contradicts the intrinsic definition: Without belief in gods.

BluRayHiDef

That's not the first and foremost definition of atheism, which is disbelief in dieties.

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LJS9502_basic

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#310 LJS9502_basic
Member since 2003 • 180198 Posts

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"]

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

This is an Appeal To Authority Fallacy. You're arguing that the global definition is the true definition because it is commonly used by most people. I'm arguing that the intrinsic definition, as can be inferred from the word's etymology is the true definition: Without Belief in God(s).

BluRayHiDef

You never answered my question as to whether you find atheists put any thought into their decision. Since babies do not.....and you correlated that to atheism.

No, they do not. One does not need to do anything in order to be without something. Lacking is effortless.

Uh no. To lack something one has to be privvy to the opposite. Otherwise...they are neither one nor the other.
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BluRayHiDef

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#311 BluRayHiDef
Member since 2009 • 10839 Posts

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

Well, your definition contradicts the intrinsic definition: Without belief in gods.

bloodling

That's not the first and foremost definition of atheism, which is disbelief in dieties.

That is the intrinsic definition, based on the etymology of the word. Do you know what etymology means? Did you read the OP? Let me break the word down for you:

Atheism >>A >> Theism >>A: Without, Theism: Belief in gods. This is the most basic definition. There is no arguing against this. Any other definition is due to social colloquialisms which are not intrinsically implied by the word itself.

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theone86

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#312 theone86
Member since 2003 • 22669 Posts

[QUOTE="bloodling"]

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

Definitions of atheism also vary in the degree of consideration a person must put to the idea of gods to be considered an atheist. Atheism has sometimes been defined to include the simple absence of belief that any deities exist. This broad definition would include newborns and other people who have not been exposed to theistic ideas.

BluRayHiDef

Keyword: sometimes. As in, sometimes not. I don't include newborns in my definition of an atheist personally, and it disregards the definition of atheist for the most part, since the global definition is not the lack of belief, but rather the disbelief.

This is an Appeal To Authority Fallacy. You're arguing that the global definition is the true definition because it is commonly used by most people. I'm arguing that the intrinsic definition, as can be inferred from the word's etymology is the true definition: Without Belief in God(s). The intrinsic definition trumps the definition imposed onto it by most people. Something is true because it is true, not because of the number of people who say it is.

That's a fallcious argument, look up the etymology of just about any word and you'll see that its meaning has changed over the centuries. If we took every word to mean its literal meaning derived from the root then most of our words would mean something completely different than they do now. Inferred meaning is very important to language, just take this difference from French to English. If you translated I have a headache from French to English literally it would come out as I have bad in the head, but obviously we take the general meaning as opposed to the literal meaning. Similarly, if you take certain English sayings and transpose them verbatim into another language they make no sense. Similarly, taking roots of atheism which is derived from another language and using them literally is fallacious, those roots were selected to imply a certain meaning that is not necessarily in line with the literal meaning.

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BluRayHiDef

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#313 BluRayHiDef
Member since 2009 • 10839 Posts

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"]You never answered my question as to whether you find atheists put any thought into their decision. Since babies do not.....and you correlated that to atheism.

LJS9502_basic

No, they do not. One does not need to do anything in order to be without something. Lacking is effortless.

Uh no. To lack something one has to be privvy to the opposite. Otherwise...they are neither one nor the other.

I will make no further attempts to explain this. I'm "wrong". You "win".

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BuryMe

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#314 BuryMe
Member since 2004 • 22017 Posts

[QUOTE="ihateaynrand"][QUOTE="GazaAli"]

I truly don't get this attitude. You as an atheist believe in that TNT explodes, water vaporates, alcohol makes you feel funny, and God does not exist.

Not believing in anything is called being crazy I think.

GazaAli

By one definition of atheism, sure - but another (perfectly reasonable) definition is that atheism is a lack of a belief in God, and it's that definition which TC is using in this thread. I as an atheist believe that TNT explodes, water evaporates, alcohol makes you feel funny, and that God may or may not exist. As such, I neither believe he exists nor believe that he doesn't. I can't be sure either way.

Isn't that called being agnostic? if I got it right.

Agnoticism and etheism (or theism for that matter) are not mutualy exclusive.

Atheism and theism are about belief in god. Agnosticism is about the knowability of God

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theone86

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#315 theone86
Member since 2003 • 22669 Posts

[QUOTE="bloodling"]

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

Well, your definition contradicts the intrinsic definition: Without belief in gods.

BluRayHiDef

That's not the first and foremost definition of atheism, which is disbelief in dieties.

That is the intrinsic definition, based on the etymology of the word. Do you know what etymology means? Did you read the OP? Let me break the word down for you:

Atheism >>A >> Theism >>A: Without, Theism: Belief in gods. This is the most basic definition. There is no arguing against this. Any other definition is due to social colloquialisms which are not intrinsically implied by the word itself.

Are you arguing that there is no difference between someone who rejects a belief in god and someone who does not have a belief in god? That is utterly ridiculous, there's a difference of cognitive capacity and the formation of a cogent argument for a certain belief system.

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jimmyjammer69

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#316 jimmyjammer69
Member since 2008 • 12239 Posts

[QUOTE="jimmyjammer69"]

[QUOTE="theone86"]

But that is all up to interpretation. There is such a wide range of beliefs under the banner of Christianity, can you give me one defining idea other than Christ as the savior that binds them all?

theone86

You say that as if "Christ is saviour" was one minor belief. Believing Christ is son of God entails believing that Christ taught the right way to live, which in turn makes the bible a comprehensive guide to life. Sure, within the religion there are numerous disagreements, but you will find an overall rough set of maxims involving the ten commandments, sin, ressurrection etc. I say rough set because like the definition of "chair" you won't find a single determining factor in every chair but that's far from making it a meaningless term.

No, it's not a minor belief, it's THE central belief. Even with the ten commandments there are disagreements, some Christians believe that because it is in the Old Testament it's not really a hard and fast set of rules.

The chair thing, a chair has a single, distinguishing characteristic, that is it is something you sit on (rejection of a belief in god similarly defines atheism as a belief). From there you will find different types of chairs (armchairs, dinner chairs, lawn chairs, etc.), and similarly you will find different types of atheists (agnostic atheists, nihilistic atheists, etc.), but they all adhere to the one defining factor (rejection of a belief in god).

So if I make a chair out of matchsticks, I haven't made a chair, just because I never intended anyone to sit on it? Anyway, that's not a feature of the chair but the intention of its maker. We could do the same for "sport", "art" and countless others. This is exactly my point though, we don't define things by their properties alone but by their usefulness. "Atheist" is meaningful because it's useful, not because it's a system of common beliefs.
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BluRayHiDef

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#317 BluRayHiDef
Member since 2009 • 10839 Posts

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

[QUOTE="bloodling"]

Keyword: sometimes. As in, sometimes not. I don't include newborns in my definition of an atheist personally, and it disregards the definition of atheist for the most part, since the global definition is not the lack of belief, but rather the disbelief.

theone86

This is an Appeal To Authority Fallacy. You're arguing that the global definition is the true definition because it is commonly used by most people. I'm arguing that the intrinsic definition, as can be inferred from the word's etymology is the true definition: Without Belief in God(s). The intrinsic definition trumps the definition imposed onto it by most people. Something is true because it is true, not because of the number of people who say it is.

That's a fallcious argument, look up the etymology of just about any word and you'll see that its meaning has changed over the centuries. If we took every word to mean its literal meaning derived from the root then most of our words would mean something completely different than they do now. Inferred meaning is very important to language, just take this difference from French to English. If you translated I have a headache from French to English literally it would come out as I have bad in the head, but obviously we take the general meaning as opposed to the literal meaning. Similarly, if you take certain English sayings and transpose them verbatim into another language they make no sense. Similarly, taking roots of atheism which is derived from another language and using them literally is fallacious, those roots were selected to imply a certain meaning that is not necessarily in line with the literal meaning.

Bullocks. The intrinsic definition always trumps the colloquial definition, especially when you're dealing with words which pertain to philosophy.

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theone86

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#318 theone86
Member since 2003 • 22669 Posts

[QUOTE="GazaAli"]

[QUOTE="ihateaynrand"]By one definition of atheism, sure - but another (perfectly reasonable) definition is that atheism is a lack of a belief in God, and it's that definition which TC is using in this thread. I as an atheist believe that TNT explodes, water evaporates, alcohol makes you feel funny, and that God may or may not exist. As such, I neither believe he exists nor believe that he doesn't. I can't be sure either way.BuryMe

Isn't that called being agnostic? if I got it right.

Agnoticism and etheism (or theism for that matter) are not mutualy exclusive.

Atheism and theism are about belief in god. Agnosticism is about the knowability of God

And what he described is not agnosticism, it is a form of skepticism, although his last sentence makes him agnostic.

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EMOEVOLUTION

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#319 EMOEVOLUTION
Member since 2008 • 8998 Posts

[QUOTE="bloodling"]

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

Well, your definition contradicts the intrinsic definition: Without belief in gods.

BluRayHiDef

That's not the first and foremost definition of atheism, which is disbelief in dieties.

That is the intrinsic definition, based on the etymology of the word. Do you know what etymology means? Did you read the OP? Let me break the word down for you:

Atheism >>A >> Theism >>A: Without, Theism: Belief in gods. This is the most basic definition. There is no arguing against this. Any other definition is due to social colloquialisms which are not intrinsically implied by the word itself.

You know what your problem is? you think words represent reality. they really don't. It's just communication. The idea itself is not what is real.
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Teenaged

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#320 Teenaged
Member since 2007 • 31764 Posts

[QUOTE="bloodling"]

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

Definitions of atheism also vary in the degree of consideration a person must put to the idea of gods to be considered an atheist. Atheism has sometimes been defined to include the simple absence of belief that any deities exist. This broad definition would include newborns and other people who have not been exposed to theistic ideas.

BluRayHiDef

Keyword: sometimes. As in, sometimes not. I don't include newborns in my definition of an atheist personally, and it disregards the definition of atheist for the most part, since the global definition is not the lack of belief, but rather the disbelief.

This is an Appeal To Authority Fallacy. You're arguing that the global definition is the true definition because it is commonly used by most people. I'm arguing that the intrinsic definition, as can be inferred from the word's etymology is the true definition: Without Belief in God(s). The intrinsic definition trumps the definition imposed onto it by most people. Something is true because it is true, not because of the number of people who say it is.

I think you're talking about appeal to numbers.

In the case of language though, the majority, the speakers of a language indirectly but decisevely, define their words.

A word is part of a languages vocabulary with definition x or y because the majority of natural speakers use the word with the x or y definition (with small deviations depending on contexts usually).

As it is, its hard for anyone to say which is the true definition. It depends on many things - for instance what the context of the conversation is.

The certain thing though is that you havent proven how the meaning inferred by etymology is the true one.

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bloodling

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#321 bloodling
Member since 2006 • 5822 Posts

That is the intrinsic definition, based on the etymology of the word. Do you know what etymology means? Did you read the OP? Let me break the word down for you:

Atheism >>A >> Theism >>A: Without, Theism: Belief in gods. This is the most basic definition. There is no arguing against this. Any other definition is due to social colloquialisms which are not intrinsically implied by the word itself.

BluRayHiDef

I don't believe ethymology takes the cake over the dictionnary, but I have to admit you're 100% right if that's what we're arguing about (ethymology). What would be the word to say disbelief, then?

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BluRayHiDef

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#322 BluRayHiDef
Member since 2009 • 10839 Posts

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

[QUOTE="bloodling"]

That's not the first and foremost definition of atheism, which is disbelief in dieties.

theone86

That is the intrinsic definition, based on the etymology of the word. Do you know what etymology means? Did you read the OP? Let me break the word down for you:

Atheism >>A >> Theism >>A: Without, Theism: Belief in gods. This is the most basic definition. There is no arguing against this. Any other definition is due to social colloquialisms which are not intrinsically implied by the word itself.

Are you arguing that there is no difference between someone who rejects a belief in god and someone who does not have a belief in god? That is utterly ridiculous, there's a difference of cognitive capacity and the formation of a cogent argument for a certain belief system.

No, I am not. A rejection of a belief in god necessitates a lack of the belief. However, a lack of a belief does not necessitate a rejection. A lack is the basis of a rejection, but the converse of this is not true.

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theone86

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#323 theone86
Member since 2003 • 22669 Posts

[QUOTE="theone86"]

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

This is an Appeal To Authority Fallacy. You're arguing that the global definition is the true definition because it is commonly used by most people. I'm arguing that the intrinsic definition, as can be inferred from the word's etymology is the true definition: Without Belief in God(s). The intrinsic definition trumps the definition imposed onto it by most people. Something is true because it is true, not because of the number of people who say it is.

BluRayHiDef

That's a fallcious argument, look up the etymology of just about any word and you'll see that its meaning has changed over the centuries. If we took every word to mean its literal meaning derived from the root then most of our words would mean something completely different than they do now. Inferred meaning is very important to language, just take this difference from French to English. If you translated I have a headache from French to English literally it would come out as I have bad in the head, but obviously we take the general meaning as opposed to the literal meaning. Similarly, if you take certain English sayings and transpose them verbatim into another language they make no sense. Similarly, taking roots of atheism which is derived from another language and using them literally is fallacious, those roots were selected to imply a certain meaning that is not necessarily in line with the literal meaning.

Bullocks. The intrinsic definition always trumps the colloquial definition, especially when you're dealing with words which pertain to philosophy.

Bullocks to you, the use of the roots which make up atheism were never intended to be taken literally. Furthermore, you have refuted nothing I said above that the majority of the words that we use differ from their original and literal definitions.

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LJS9502_basic

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#324 LJS9502_basic
Member since 2003 • 180198 Posts

That's a mistake on their part, that's technically not agnosticism, at least not the first part. I'm not sure what that's called, but it's different from agnosticism. The second option would be agnosticism if they came to the conclusion that their failure indicates a universal inability to prove or disprove the existence of god, but if they are just undecided then that's what they are, not agnostic.

theone86

Technically they can call themselves agnositic...

" a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as god, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable...."

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BluRayHiDef

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#325 BluRayHiDef
Member since 2009 • 10839 Posts

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

That is the intrinsic definition, based on the etymology of the word. Do you know what etymology means? Did you read the OP? Let me break the word down for you:

Atheism >>A >> Theism >>A: Without, Theism: Belief in gods. This is the most basic definition. There is no arguing against this. Any other definition is due to social colloquialisms which are not intrinsically implied by the word itself.

bloodling

I don't believe ethymology takes the cake over the dictionnary, but I have to admit you're 100% right if that's what we're arguing about (ethymology). What would be the word to say disbelief, then?

Just that, disbelief. Atheism is not necessarily a positive refutation of belief in god. This is a misconception.

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Teenaged

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#326 Teenaged
Member since 2007 • 31764 Posts

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

That is the intrinsic definition, based on the etymology of the word. Do you know what etymology means? Did you read the OP? Let me break the word down for you:

Atheism >>A >> Theism >>A: Without, Theism: Belief in gods. This is the most basic definition. There is no arguing against this. Any other definition is due to social colloquialisms which are not intrinsically implied by the word itself.

bloodling

I don't believe ethymology takes the cake over the dictionnary, but I have to admit you're 100% right if that's what we're arguing about (ethymology). What would be the word to say disbelief, then?

It doesnt.

If it did then "smartypants" is a pair of trousers that are smart, "ladykiller" is a person who kills ladies (those are cases of non-literalism as a factor of semantic opacity) and "discount" means simply "abstract" (the verb).

And god know how many other words there are with misleading etymologies.

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BuryMe

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#327 BuryMe
Member since 2004 • 22017 Posts

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

[QUOTE="Espada12"]

Theism is not a belief, it is a lack of belief in the lack of belief of a GOD. See I can play semantics tooo!!

Espada12

Now, you're just being foolish. Smoking cigarettes is a habit. Not smoking cigarettes is NOT a habit. Hence, not believing in god is not a belief. If you deny this, then there's no point in continuing.

Those aren't remotely the same thing.

A lack of belief in a GOD = believing there is no God, it's the same damn thing with different wording. If you deny this then there's no point in continuing.

All this look like is atheist trying to cop-out of having a belief system.

NO.

Laking belief in God is not the same thing as saying god doesn't exist.

Lacking belief in god is not a religion, nor is it a belief. saying "God doe not exist" is a belief. One is a claim (the latter) and the other isn't.

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theone86

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#328 theone86
Member since 2003 • 22669 Posts

[QUOTE="theone86"]

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

That is the intrinsic definition, based on the etymology of the word. Do you know what etymology means? Did you read the OP? Let me break the word down for you:

Atheism >>A >> Theism >>A: Without, Theism: Belief in gods. This is the most basic definition. There is no arguing against this. Any other definition is due to social colloquialisms which are not intrinsically implied by the word itself.

BluRayHiDef

Are you arguing that there is no difference between someone who rejects a belief in god and someone who does not have a belief in god? That is utterly ridiculous, there's a difference of cognitive capacity and the formation of a cogent argument for a certain belief system.

No, I am not. A rejection of a belief in god necessitates a lack of the belief. However, a lack of a belief does not necessitate a rejection. A lack is the basis of a rejection, but the converse of this is not true.

THat's exactly what I'm saying, and because a lack of belief does not necessitate rejection it cannot be lumped under the same label as a rejection of a belief.

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LJS9502_basic

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#329 LJS9502_basic
Member since 2003 • 180198 Posts

[QUOTE="bloodling"]

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

That is the intrinsic definition, based on the etymology of the word. Do you know what etymology means? Did you read the OP? Let me break the word down for you:

Atheism >>A >> Theism >>A: Without, Theism: Belief in gods. This is the most basic definition. There is no arguing against this. Any other definition is due to social colloquialisms which are not intrinsically implied by the word itself.

BluRayHiDef

I don't believe ethymology takes the cake over the dictionnary, but I have to admit you're 100% right if that's what we're arguing about (ethymology). What would be the word to say disbelief, then?

Just that, disbelief. Atheism is not necessarily a positive refutation of belief in god. This is a misconception.

Yet the word came about because the ideology of a god existed.
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BluRayHiDef

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#330 BluRayHiDef
Member since 2009 • 10839 Posts

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

[QUOTE="theone86"]

Are you arguing that there is no difference between someone who rejects a belief in god and someone who does not have a belief in god? That is utterly ridiculous, there's a difference of cognitive capacity and the formation of a cogent argument for a certain belief system.

theone86

No, I am not. A rejection of a belief in god necessitates a lack of the belief. However, a lack of a belief does not necessitate a rejection. A lack is the basis of a rejection, but the converse of this is not true.

THat's exactly what I'm saying, and because a lack of belief does not necessitate rejection it cannot be lumped under the same label as a rejection of a belief.

I never said it did.

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theone86

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#331 theone86
Member since 2003 • 22669 Posts

[QUOTE="theone86"]

That's a mistake on their part, that's technically not agnosticism, at least not the first part. I'm not sure what that's called, but it's different from agnosticism. The second option would be agnosticism if they came to the conclusion that their failure indicates a universal inability to prove or disprove the existence of god, but if they are just undecided then that's what they are, not agnostic.

LJS9502_basic

Technically they can call themselves agnositic...

" a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as god, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable...."

Right, unkowable, but just because an individual doesn't know if god exists does not mean they think the existence of god is unkowable.

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_R34LiTY_

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#332 _R34LiTY_
Member since 2008 • 3331 Posts

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"][QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

No, they do not. One does not need to do anything in order to be without something. Lacking is effortless.

BluRayHiDef

Uh no. To lack something one has to be privvy to the opposite. Otherwise...they are neither one nor the other.

I will make no further attempts to explain this. I'm "wrong". You "win".

lol why you let him troll you like that anyways?? should've just said that in the first place when he started his semantical spin

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theone86

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#333 theone86
Member since 2003 • 22669 Posts

[QUOTE="bloodling"]

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

That is the intrinsic definition, based on the etymology of the word. Do you know what etymology means? Did you read the OP? Let me break the word down for you:

Atheism >>A >> Theism >>A: Without, Theism: Belief in gods. This is the most basic definition. There is no arguing against this. Any other definition is due to social colloquialisms which are not intrinsically implied by the word itself.

BluRayHiDef

I don't believe ethymology takes the cake over the dictionnary, but I have to admit you're 100% right if that's what we're arguing about (ethymology). What would be the word to say disbelief, then?

Just that, disbelief. Atheism is not necessarily a positive refutation of belief in god. This is a misconception.

What is the opposite of theism then?

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jimmyjammer69

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#334 jimmyjammer69
Member since 2008 • 12239 Posts

[QUOTE="bloodling"]

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

That is the intrinsic definition, based on the etymology of the word. Do you know what etymology means? Did you read the OP? Let me break the word down for you:

Atheism >>A >> Theism >>A: Without, Theism: Belief in gods. This is the most basic definition. There is no arguing against this. Any other definition is due to social colloquialisms which are not intrinsically implied by the word itself.

Teenaged

I don't believe ethymology takes the cake over the dictionnary, but I have to admit you're 100% right if that's what we're arguing about (ethymology). What would be the word to say disbelief, then?

It doesnt.

If it did then "smartypants" is a pair of trousers that are smart, "ladykiller" is a person who kills ladies (those are cases of non-literalism as a factor of semantic opacity) and "discount" means simply "abstract" (the verb).

And god know how many other words there are with misleading etymologies.

But both those examples are obviously metaphorical - as you say, non-literal.
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bloodling

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#335 bloodling
Member since 2006 • 5822 Posts

[QUOTE="bloodling"]

I don't believe ethymology takes the cake over the dictionnary, but I have to admit you're 100% right if that's what we're arguing about (ethymology). What would be the word to say disbelief, then?

BluRayHiDef

Just that, disbelief. Atheism is not necessarily a positive refutation of belief in god. This is a misconception.

The disbelief would be called "atheonism" from what I've googled, but it was commonly accepted as atheism. One word, two definitions. I guess we're both right.

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theone86

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#336 theone86
Member since 2003 • 22669 Posts

[QUOTE="theone86"]

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

No, I am not. A rejection of a belief in god necessitates a lack of the belief. However, a lack of a belief does not necessitate a rejection. A lack is the basis of a rejection, but the converse of this is not true.

BluRayHiDef

THat's exactly what I'm saying, and because a lack of belief does not necessitate rejection it cannot be lumped under the same label as a rejection of a belief.

I never said it did.

That's exactly what you're saying, you're saying that a rejection of a belief and a lack of belief are both considered atheism, I'm saying they're not.

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BluRayHiDef

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#337 BluRayHiDef
Member since 2009 • 10839 Posts

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

[QUOTE="bloodling"]

I don't believe ethymology takes the cake over the dictionnary, but I have to admit you're 100% right if that's what we're arguing about (ethymology). What would be the word to say disbelief, then?

LJS9502_basic

Just that, disbelief. Atheism is not necessarily a positive refutation of belief in god. This is a misconception.

Yet the word came about because the ideology of a god existed.

That doesn't change its meaning. If someone posited that there's an invisible creature standing on my left shoulder, I'd re-affirm the default position regarding that matter: A lack of belief in it. Yes, I'd be consciously against it, but I'd still be in accord with the default position; I'd be defending it. I didn't believe in an invisible creature prior to being told about it, nor do I believe in one afterwards. I was without belief and I remain without it and will defend that position if need be.

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jimmyjammer69

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#338 jimmyjammer69
Member since 2008 • 12239 Posts

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

[QUOTE="theone86"]

THat's exactly what I'm saying, and because a lack of belief does not necessitate rejection it cannot be lumped under the same label as a rejection of a belief.

theone86

I never said it did.

That's exactly what you're saying, you're saying that a rejection of a belief and a lack of belief are both considered atheism, I'm saying they're not.

But no source agrees with you.
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LJS9502_basic

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#339 LJS9502_basic
Member since 2003 • 180198 Posts

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"] Uh no. To lack something one has to be privvy to the opposite. Otherwise...they are neither one nor the other._R34LiTY_

I will make no further attempts to explain this. I'm "wrong". You "win".

lol why you let him troll you like that anyways?? should've just said that in the first place when he started his semantical spin

Au contriare....BluRay started us down the semantics argument.

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Teenaged

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#340 Teenaged
Member since 2007 • 31764 Posts

[QUOTE="Teenaged"]

[QUOTE="bloodling"]

I don't believe ethymology takes the cake over the dictionnary, but I have to admit you're 100% right if that's what we're arguing about (ethymology). What would be the word to say disbelief, then?

jimmyjammer69

It doesnt.

If it did then "smartypants" is a pair of trousers that are smart, "ladykiller" is a person who kills ladies (those are cases of non-literalism as a factor of semantic opacity) and "discount" means simply "abstract" (the verb).

And god know how many other words there are with misleading etymologies.

But both those examples are obviously metaphorical - as you say, non-literal.

But I did give an example which isnt obvious.

"Discount".

And I have another in the blog of mine I linked in the first pages where I elaborately explain why inferring meaning from etymology can be very misleading.

It is a fact that there are words whose morphology corresponds to their meaning (semantically compositional words) and words whose morphology doesnt correspond to their meaning 100% (semantically opaque words).

The reasons of opacity can be: non-literalism, complexity of the meaning which cant be adequately represented by the form, the evolution of meaning (roots that change their meaning or even have different meaning -probably still related- when part of different words), loan-words (atheism has a prefix which is greek for instance, although I dont if that causes problem in this case) - English has a ton of them etc.

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LJS9502_basic

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#341 LJS9502_basic
Member since 2003 • 180198 Posts

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"][QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

Just that, disbelief. Atheism is not necessarily a positive refutation of belief in god. This is a misconception.

BluRayHiDef

Yet the word came about because the ideology of a god existed.

That doesn't change its meaning. If someone posited that there's an invisible creature standing on my left shoulder, I'd re-affirm the default position regarding that matter: A lack of belief in it. Yes, I'd be consciously against it, but I'd still be in accord with the default position; I'd be defending it. I didn't believe in an invisible creature prior to being told about it, nor do I believe in one afterwards. I was without belief and I remain without it and will defend that position if need be.

But you still have to have the one to have the other...
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Link334

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#342 Link334
Member since 2007 • 6082 Posts
Don't really agree.
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theone86

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#343 theone86
Member since 2003 • 22669 Posts

[QUOTE="Teenaged"]

[QUOTE="bloodling"]

I don't believe ethymology takes the cake over the dictionnary, but I have to admit you're 100% right if that's what we're arguing about (ethymology). What would be the word to say disbelief, then?

jimmyjammer69

It doesnt.

If it did then "smartypants" is a pair of trousers that are smart, "ladykiller" is a person who kills ladies (those are cases of non-literalism as a factor of semantic opacity) and "discount" means simply "abstract" (the verb).

And god know how many other words there are with misleading etymologies.

But both those examples are obviously metaphorical - as you say, non-literal.

Elite originally meant chosen, now it means especially skilled. The definition of murder has changed significantly before only pertaining to certain types of unlawful killing and now referring to all types of unlawful killing. Sycophant used to mean an informant, now it means an abject flatterer. There are literally millions of examples of words that are not taken literally.

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Teenaged

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#344 Teenaged
Member since 2007 • 31764 Posts

[QUOTE="jimmyjammer69"][QUOTE="Teenaged"]It doesnt.

If it did then "smartypants" is a pair of trousers that are smart, "ladykiller" is a person who kills ladies (those are cases of non-literalism as a factor of semantic opacity) and "discount" means simply "abstract" (the verb).

And god know how many other words there are with misleading etymologies.

theone86

But both those examples are obviously metaphorical - as you say, non-literal.

Elite originally meant chosen, now it means especially skilled. The definition of murder has changed significantly before only pertaining to certain types of unlawful killing and now referring to all types of unlawful killing. Sycophant used to mean an informant, now it means an abject flatterer. There are literally millions of examples of words that are not taken literally.

Thank you for the examples. :D

I cant easily find them in English.

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BluRayHiDef

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#345 BluRayHiDef
Member since 2009 • 10839 Posts

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"]Yet the word came about because the ideology of a god existed.LJS9502_basic

That doesn't change its meaning. If someone posited that there's an invisible creature standing on my left shoulder, I'd re-affirm the default position regarding that matter: A lack of belief in it. Yes, I'd be consciously against it, but I'd still be in accord with the default position; I'd be defending it. I didn't believe in an invisible creature prior to being told about it, nor do I believe in one afterwards. I was without belief and I remain without it and will defend that position if need be.

But you still have to have the one to have the other...

Yes, which proves my point. This is what I said in the OP. I said that we're all atheist by default; we aren't required to be consciously aware of the concept of god in order to be without it. However, we can consciously reject the idea (but we don't have to). If we do choose to consciously reject the idea, all we'd be doing is defending the default position in which we are without belief in god. Hence, one definition of atheism defends the other.

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theone86

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#346 theone86
Member since 2003 • 22669 Posts

[QUOTE="theone86"]

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

I never said it did.

jimmyjammer69

That's exactly what you're saying, you're saying that a rejection of a belief and a lack of belief are both considered atheism, I'm saying they're not.

But no source agrees with you.

From Oxford:

Disbelief in, or denial of, the existence of a God.

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LJS9502_basic

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#347 LJS9502_basic
Member since 2003 • 180198 Posts

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"][QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

That doesn't change its meaning. If someone posited that there's an invisible creature standing on my left shoulder, I'd re-affirm the default position regarding that matter: A lack of belief in it. Yes, I'd be consciously against it, but I'd still be in accord with the default position; I'd be defending it. I didn't believe in an invisible creature prior to being told about it, nor do I believe in one afterwards. I was without belief and I remain without it and will defend that position if need be.

BluRayHiDef

But you still have to have the one to have the other...

Yes, which proves my point. This is what I said in the OP. I said that we're all atheist by default; we aren't required to be consciously aware of the concept of god in order to be without it. However, we can consciously reject the idea (but we don't have to). If we do choose to consciously reject the idea, all we'd be doing is defending the default position in which we are without belief in god. Hence, one definition of atheism defends the other.

No it doesn't...since an infant is incapable of having either....

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jimmyjammer69

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#348 jimmyjammer69
Member since 2008 • 12239 Posts

[QUOTE="jimmyjammer69"][QUOTE="Teenaged"]It doesnt.

If it did then "smartypants" is a pair of trousers that are smart, "ladykiller" is a person who kills ladies (those are cases of non-literalism as a factor of semantic opacity) and "discount" means simply "abstract" (the verb).

And god know how many other words there are with misleading etymologies.

Teenaged

But both those examples are obviously metaphorical - as you say, non-literal.

But I did give an example which isnt obvious.

"Discount".

And I have another in the blog of mine I linked in the first pages where I elaborately explain why inferring meaning from etymology can be very misleading.

It is a fact that there are words whose morphology corresponds to their meaning (semantically compositional words) and words whose morphology doesnt correspond to their meaning 100% (semantically opaque words).

The reasons of opacity can be: non-literalism, complexity of the meaning which cant be adequately represented by the form, the evolution of meaning (roots that change their meaning or even have different meaning -probably still related- when part of different words), loan-words (atheism has a prefix which is greek for instance, although I dont if that causes problem in this case) etc.

You did, and I completely missed that. Still, there is a function expressed by the word which connects godless tribesmen and godless westerners. Why deny the word that meaning?
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jimmyjammer69

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#349 jimmyjammer69
Member since 2008 • 12239 Posts

[QUOTE="jimmyjammer69"][QUOTE="theone86"]

That's exactly what you're saying, you're saying that a rejection of a belief and a lack of belief are both considered atheism, I'm saying they're not.

theone86

But no source agrees with you.

From Oxford:

Disbelief in, or denial of, the existence of a God.

From Webster's: without a god; the belief that there is no god.
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BluRayHiDef

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#350 BluRayHiDef
Member since 2009 • 10839 Posts

[QUOTE="BluRayHiDef"]

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"] But you still have to have the one to have the other...LJS9502_basic

Yes, which proves my point. This is what I said in the OP. I said that we're all atheist by default; we aren't required to be consciously aware of the concept of god in order to be without it. However, we can consciously reject the idea (but we don't have to). If we do choose to consciously reject the idea, all we'd be doing is defending the default position in which we are without belief in god. Hence, one definition of atheism defends the other.

No it doesn't...since an infant is incapable of having either....

Yes it does. An infant is without belief in god since they know nothing about the concept. What's so hard to understand about this? If you know nothing about the concept of god, you lack the knowledge of god and subsequently, you lack the belief in god. Hence, you are without belief. To be without means to be lacking. I won't bother to explain this again. It's a waste of time.