823:"If so many atheists and some of their critics have insisted on the negative definition of atheism, why have some modern philosophers called for a positive definition of atheism β atheism as the outright denial of God's existence? Part of the reason, I suspect, lies in the chasm separating freethinkers and academic philosophers. Most modern philosophers are totally unfamiliar with atheistic literature and so remain oblivious to the tradition of negative atheism contained in that literature. (see Smith (1990, Chapter 3, p. 51β60))
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some particular creed of a religious group. Thus, a child who has received no religious instruction and has never heard about God, is not an atheist β for he is not denying any theistic claims. Similarly in the case of an adult who, if he has withdrawn from the faith of his father without reflection or because of frank indifference to any theological issue, is also not an atheist β for such an adult is not challenging theism and not professing any views on the subject. I propose to examine some
20:
730:"Implicit atheism" is "the absence of theistic belief without a conscious rejection of it". "Absence of theistic belief" encompasses all forms of non-belief in deities. This would categorize as implicit atheists those adults who have never heard of the concept of deities, and those adults who have not given the idea any real consideration. Also included are agnostics who assert they do not believe in any deities (even if they claim not to be atheists), and children. As far back as 1772,
632:
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860:, also known as "negative atheism" and "positive atheism", are usually used by Smith as synonyms of the less well-known "implicit" and "explicit" categories. "Strong explicit" atheists assert that it is false that any deities exist. "Weak explicit" atheists assert they do not believe in deities, and do not assert it is
864:
that deities do not exist. Those who do not believe any deities exist, and do not assert their non-belief are included among implicit atheists. Among weak implicit atheists are included the following: children and adults who have never heard of deities; people who have heard of deities but have never
738:
The man who is unacquainted with theism is an atheist because he does not believe in a god. This category would also include the child with the conceptual capacity to grasp the issues involved, but who is still unaware of those issues. The fact that this child does not believe in god qualifies him as
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I must begin by stating what sense I am attaching to the word "atheism," and how I am construing the theme of this paper. I shall understand by "atheism" a critique and a denial of the major claims of all varieties of theism. atheism is not to be identified with sheer unbelief, or with disbelief in
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the view usually expressed by the statement "I do not believe in the existence of a god or supernatural being" after "the failure of theism to provide sufficient evidence in its favor. Faced with a lack of evidence, this explicit atheist sees no reason whatsoever for believing in a supernatural
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The most significant variety of atheism is explicit atheism of a philosophical nature. This atheism contends that the belief in god is irrational and should therefore be rejected. Since this version of explicit atheism rests on a criticism of theistic beliefs, it is best described as
718:, "implicit atheism" is defined as "the absence of theistic belief without a conscious rejection of it", while "explicit atheism" is "the absence of theistic belief due to a conscious rejection of it". Explicit atheists have considered the idea of
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the view usually expressed by the statement "God does not exist" or "the existence of God is impossible" after "a particular concept of god, such as the God of
Christianity, is judged to be absurd or contradictory";
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said that "All children are born
Atheists; they have no idea of God". Smith is silent on newborn children, but clearly identifies as atheists some children who are unaware of any concept of any deity:
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and have rejected belief that any exist. Implicit atheists, though they do not themselves maintain a belief in a god or gods, have not rejected the notion or have not considered it further.
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So, sometimes in philosophy (Flew, Martin and Nagel notwithstanding), only the explicit "denial of theistic belief" is examined, rather than the broader, implicit subject of atheism.
57:" atheists who lack a belief in God without explicitly denying the concept, includes very young children, those who are unacquainted with the concept or are truly undecided.
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there are for or against God's existence, and no light is thrown on that question by discovering people who hold their beliefs without having good reasons for them.
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taken by some professional philosophers like Nagel on the one hand, compared with the scholarship on traditional negative atheism of freethinkers like
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Everitt (2004) makes the point that professional philosophers are more interested in the grounds for giving or withholding assent to propositions:
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given the idea any considerable thought; and those agnostics who suspend belief about deities, but do not reject such belief.
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the view which "refuses to discuss the existence or nonexistence of a god" because "the concept of a 'god' is unintelligible".
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enquiry into whether there are any good reasons for either belief or unbelief... We are interested in the question of what
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Smith observes that some motivations for explicit atheism are rational and some not. Of the rational motivations, he says:
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Implicit theism in the social science of belief and nonbelief
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1053:. pp. 51β60. Archived from the original on 2008-07-13.
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For the purposes of his paper on "philosophical atheism",
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Basic
Beliefs: The Religious Philosophies of Mankind
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1007:. Retrieved
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976:the original
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1675:Panentheism
1655:New Thought
1600:Esotericism
1565:Agnosticism
1278:Agnosticism
1157:Freethought
885:Ignosticism
875:Agnosticism
793:In Nagel's
787:philosophic
660:WikiProject
583:Freethought
578:Agnosticism
393:Mario Bunge
333:Poor design
189:New Atheism
1759:Categories
1700:Shramanism
1680:Polytheism
1660:Nondualism
1635:Monotheism
1615:Henotheism
1610:Gnosticism
1555:Abrahamism
1269:Antitheism
1192:Secularity
1187:Secularism
1134:Irreligion
1126:Irreligion
1009:2010-05-12
1003:Good Sense
983:2019-12-17
930:References
856:The terms
569:Irreligion
428:Sam Harris
232:Secularism
156:Naturalism
1695:Shamanism
1670:Pantheism
1640:Mysticism
1630:Monolatry
1620:Immanence
1327:Humanists
1322:Agnostics
1301:Apatheism
1244:Criticism
1059:cite book
890:Nontheism
880:Apatheism
817:d'Holbach
453:Karl Marx
313:Nonbelief
286:Free will
254:Arguments
1749:Religion
1665:Pandeism
1590:Dharmism
1560:Acosmism
1317:Atheists
1224:Religion
1000:(1772).
915:Archived
869:See also
636:Category
145:Concepts
105:positive
101:Explicit
97:on right
77:negative
72:Explicit
67:on right
47:negative
42:Implicit
1650:New Age
1595:Dualism
1580:Atheism
1570:Animism
1229:History
1212:Atheism
766:being";
720:deities
708:atheism
624:Outline
201:Society
173:History
137:Atheism
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1735:Portal
1710:Theism
1625:Monism
1310:People
1286:Strong
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499:Books
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1065:link
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