Questions tagged [atheism]
Atheism is (in a broad sense) a skeptic attitude towards the belief in deities. In a narrower sense, atheism rejects the existence of deities at all.
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Are there any positive arguments for atheism not rooted in self interest
I have watched many debates on the question of God's existence, and I have noticed that the monotheist is asked to prove God's existence and they have arguments for God's existence and arguments ...
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Is there a version of the divine-hiddenness problem based specifically on the cognitive side of schizophrenia treatment?
Although to my knowledge mystical psychosis "by itself" is not a DSM listing, it is similar to symptoms of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, symptoms like delusions of reference and grandeur ...
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How does a necessary being fully explain contingent beings?
X contingent <=> there is W s.t. W -> S, where "->" is derivation, not material implication
X necessary <=> X not contingent
Theists claim, without further clarification, ...
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Can one assert a mysterious, naturalistic explanation to undercut all god arguments?
I had been pondering this for a while and was wondering if there is any literature on the idea of undercutting all possible god hypotheses through the following trick (instead of simply saying that ...
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Is atheism a belief system? [duplicate]
I do not believe in God. This is not a belief. I have seen the assertion that atheism is a belief system, but no evidence. Is this an unsubstantiated assertion by theists, or is there any ...
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Do atheists bear the burden of proof in showing why/how the reasons presented by theists are unconvincing?
In conversations and debates between atheists and theists, is it enough for the atheist to assert that they are skeptical of theism without providing justification, or does the atheist bear the burden ...
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On the claim that science is an offspring of Christian thought?
The claim that science is an offspring of Christian thought is often made in Christian-atheist debates. Theists argue that Christianity provided the necessary foundation for science to develop, such ...
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Is the fermi paradox a rational motivator for theism?
I don't necessarily think that advanced alien life is any more likely than God (maybe not the details of the Bible etc., and I am unfamiliar with the ins and outs of it, but am no creationist etc.). ...
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Is the answer to whether math is discovered or invented related to theism?
I'm not asking whether mathematics is discovered or invented, rather whether being theist implies/strengthens/related to the view that it is discovered, and vice versa.
For example I came across an ...
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How are the words "atheist", "non-religious" and "rational thinker" perceived differently in the U.S.?
Disclaimer: my question is not technically about philosophical concepts but rather about their perception in American culture.
I listened to a couple of interviews with Neil deGrasse Tyson, an ...
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Isn't there a very obvious flaw in the Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit?
I have read the Wikipedia article on the Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit, first published by Richard Dawkins, and it seems to me that there is a very obvious problem with the argument that isn't mentioned ...
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Theism and atheism as 'brute facts'?
Can we be presented with the absence of God as a brute fact, one with no need of explanation or analysis etc.? How does this compare with what theism alleges to report?
This wasn't meant to be an ...
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Is a prediction better than an ad/post hoc hypothesis apriori?
Suppose John wins the lottery. Eric, after he wins, claims that he rigged the lottery for John to win. Now imagine an alternative scenario where Eric predicts that John will win and that he claims to ...
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Is there such a thing as an argument from unconstrained possibilities against God?
If God doesn’t exist, and all that exists are natural laws in a brute sense, it seems that the number of possible configurations of the world are tiny compared to the number of possible configurations ...
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Should our confidence in god decrease the longer we go without finding clear cut evidence of Him?
Every mystery we ever had to solve that was solved in some way was explained through natural causes. This includes the diversification of life, thunder, etc.
On the one hand, the large amount of time ...
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Is it rational for an atheist to be certain that god does not exist?
An atheist is a person who lacks a belief in god, or more traditionally, denies god’s existence. Either way, let’s assume two things: a) that this god sends you to hell if you’re wrong and b) that ...
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"We will never have the answers to everything, and God could be an answer to something, so a God may exist" as an argument against anti-theism?
"We will never have the answers to every question and every unexplained occurrence, and a God may be involved in the explanation to the unexplained answer(s), so we cannot completely assert its ...
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Justifying God's existence by our existence
I have a friend that claims to be theist because they exist and it's extremely unlikely for them (and the Universe, their experience of life, etc.) to exist. They say that it would be simpler (for ...
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Atheists who follow the teachings of Jesus [closed]
I'm an atheist who believes in much (not all) of the teachings of Jesus. Are there other Atheist/philosophers who discuss the teachings of Jesus from an atheistic perspective?
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How can we prove that the supernatural or paranormal doesn't exist?
Agnostic theists and atheists believe themselves to be hopelessly ignorant concerning the existence of the supernatural or paranormal. To them, gnostic atheism isn't adequately supported by evidence, ...
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Does Nietzsche's statement “God is dead” imply that morality ceases to exist?
I’ve always been a little confused about this. If God is dead then somehow humans lose all their morals and any human actions are permitted, right?. This doesn’t quite make a whole lot of sense to me. ...
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Has any philosopher accounted for a cause of the universe? [closed]
Science has shown that the universe had a beginning, and we know it exists. Within religion, a universe that had a beginning is explained by a Cause in sacred scriptures, in general in the form of ...
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What did Dostoyevski mean with his character saying "Without God and the afterlife, all things are allowed"?
Is Dostoyevski making a socially consequential statement--or warning--about a society that turns its back on God? If so, did Russia, his homeland, pay any attention to him?
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Is there a term that indicates disbelief in human "soul" or "spirit"?
Most Atheists, I think, would deny the existence of a human "soul" in the Cartesian sense.
However, the defining characteristic of Atheism is disbelief in God or gods. As per Wikipedia:
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What do atheists (atheistic philosophers) think about the Spirit of Law? [closed]
I thought that spirit is something belongs to the god's nature or to God. How I should to understand the existence of the Spirit of Law? Are the laws the documents, rules and instructions written on ...
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Dawkins on God: What are the strongest counters to his argument?
But the candidate solutions to the riddle of improbability are not, as is falsely implied, design and chance. They are design and natural selection. Chance is not a solution, given the high levels of ...
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Does the argument from evil presuppose moral realism?
The Argument from Evil is a class of arguments which purport that the existence of evil is incompatible with the existence of God.
But this presupposes what evil means. And usually, the proponents of ...
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Does the notion of creation-from-nothingness presuppose the notion of existence-as-a-predicate?
Presupposition of the question. The question, "Does X exist?" is either trivial or empty. On the one hand, as Hume said one time, it seems as if in thinking of something, I always think of ...
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If we can't fully know a designer/supernatural being's intentions, how can we ever have enough evidence to suggest His/Her existence?
There is a common argument by atheists that we simply can't know God's intentions and is considered a weak point in the design argument. See Elliott Sober's paper on this subject for example: https://...
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Can we assign likelihoods to God’s actions?
A rebuttal to the design argument for God by Elliott Sober (see https://appearedtoblogly.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/sober-elliot-22the-design-argument22.pdf) is that we simply cannot know what God ...
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What is a person who believes in a creator but does not accept that organized religion describes the creator's attributes?
I hope this is the right stack exchange: there is no "religion" only "christianity" that I can see.
It seems very reasonable to me that many scientists accept that the creation of ...
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Was Spinoza an atheist?
As I start to read Spinoza scholars, I am getting the impression that most believe that Spinoza was an atheist. I can see their point. If God is not conscious, not aware of individuals, and God's ...
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Why should a theist care about what happens to the world after his/her death?
Consider someone who believes in any kind of reincarnation or perfect punishment after death, a theist. That is, all she/he does in this life is done in light of complying with her/his God(s) wishes.
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Why should an atheist care about what happens to the world after his/her death?
Consider someone who doesn't believe in any kind of reincarnation or perfect punishment after death, an atheist. That is, nothing in the world can impact him/her after his/her death, because, as he/...
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Will Artificial Intelligence doubt Atheism? [closed]
Artificial intelligence will know/see/talk with its maker. What acceptable answer will we give when it asks: “If I came into reality through you, into whose reality did you come?”
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Are there secular, mind-independent morals and values?
A mind-independent morality is one that applies to all species. It is not dependent on humanity, consciousness and opinions. Ignorance and lack of awareness would not affect the immorality of an ...
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What are the arguments against agnosticism and for gnostic atheism?
Agnosticism does not discount the possibility of god, soul, afterlife, etc, because "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"
What are the arguments against that position?
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What are the best rebuttals for this argument against God's existence?
I would like to preface this question with two pieces of information so as to minimalize confusion.
First, I am in no way a Theist myself, as I have put in nowhere near enough time, research, or ...
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What are some theories attacking postmodernism preserving objective truth and morality without assuming a God?
From my simplified understanding postmodernism claims ?:
there is no objective truth, only interpretation
there is no objective morality, morality usually represent the interest of the powers that be
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Could the existence of God be just a matter of perspective?
For most of my life, I was an atheist because the idea of God just seemed illogical and I felt a complete inability to believe what religious people would say considering the lack of evidence and huge ...
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A distinction between two types of atheism
What does the word "atheism" actually mean? Does it mean, simply, "lack of a belief in God or gods"? By that definition, babies would be atheists, not to mention cats, trees, and ...
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Why do people think infinite regress is possible? [duplicate]
There has to be a beginning, or there is nothing, if there is no origin of regression, there would be no nothing there now. and now I will tackle “why can’t the universe be uncaused?” Because we ...
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How do we explain the brain's ability of thinking about non-materialistic concepts? [closed]
Question edited to avoid distraction
If a physical event from a materialistic point of view cannot be good or evil, and the brain is just made of matter, does this mean the concept of good/evil came/...
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Objection to Pascal's Wager (I don't see this argument being made)
I've always felt the following is the most direct obvious objection to Pascal's wager, yet I see no philosophers making it. I'm curious why.
Taken from here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%...
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Non-theism is neither Theism nor Atheism?
Here is my understanding of the subject
Theism
Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of a Supreme Being or deities.
Theism
Non theism
Nontheism has generally been used to ...
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What is the "scientific" purpose of existence?
I am interested in reading anything that tries to tackle scientific views on existence. There are plenty of great works that discuss human meaning and purpose. However, I am more interested in ...
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Dharmakirti's argument from immutibility for atheism
God is immutable.a immutable thing cannot be the cause of any new effect,as that would imply change in his nature.
how valid is this argument?what if God's immutibility only refer to his substance or ...
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Shouldn't reasoned agnosticism dissolve into atheism concerning most world religions?
Agnosticism is typically understood as maintaining the general premise that there are insufficient rational grounds for either accepting or rejecting claims like "God exists" or "God does not exist".
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An Idealistic account for Causal, Unperceived Objects without the invocation of God?
How would an idealist, without the use of god, make sense of something like a tumor which can go unperceived and sensationless while still causing bodily harm or anything which is unperceived, yet ...
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What is the counter-argument against the argument of design? [closed]
The argument of design has several features, keying on relative complexity and tuning for use, from which one infers a designer. If we find a sand castle on a "simple" beach, which had an unusual ...
