Teapot Agnosticism (General)

by whitecraw, Wednesday, February 06, 2008, 20:24 (6133 days ago) @ Mark

That's a useful distinction between the two uses. I'm a bit of a purist and tend to insist on its 'proper' use in denoting the view that one cannot have knowledge of God's existence or otherwise. Belief, of course, is another matter. Clifford would have us believe only what we know, Russell what 'fits' with our understanding and experience, and James whatever is 'good' or useful in the way of belief. Each would claim for his own view that it represents the most 'reasonable' ethic of belief. I've never been sure which is in fact the most reasonable position to take; each has its own strengths and weaknesses. - I agree that someone who is functionally neutral towards the issue of God's existence (which I suspect is today a majority of folk in the West) is for all practical intents and purposes an atheist (someone who lives as if God doesn't exist); though there is still a big difference in attitude between someone who positively disbelieves in the existence of God and someone who simply has no opinion on the matter or who sceptically suspends their belief/disbelief. If belief is an attitude of active assent towards a claim, then atheism as positive disbelief is an attitude of active dissent from the claim that God exists, while atheism as an absence of belief/disbelief is more an attitude of indifference towards that claim, and atheism as a suspension of belief/disbelief is an attitude of scepticism towards that claim. - I'm not sure how intellectually impoverished the view is that indifference and scepticism are attitudes it is possible to assume towards the claim that God exists/doesn't exist. It seems to me that, for many people, the theological question of whether God exists or not isn't a 'live' issue(as James puts it) on which they need to have an opinion one way or the other. Scepticism is a far more difficult attitude to assume; it certainly needs to be cultivated and requires a certain discipline to achieve; but it's hardly unknown. I think it's perfectly possible to maintain through indifference or scepticism attitudes which are alternative to belief and disbelief; to actively assenting to and actively dissenting from a given claim.