Quote:
Originally Posted by renderator  Quote:
Originally Posted by marmalade Atheism is about believing that God doesn't exist. | It's strong atheism. But there is also weak atheism, which means the absence of belief in any deity. Not advancing the hypothesis of God, as there is no reason to. |
In my first post, I was using atheism in its more common meaning. I'm aware of weak atheism and its the label that most closely approximates my position. I don't advance the hypothesis of God not because of reasons related to knowledge and belief. I'm simply unsure that theism is the most useful description of my non-rational experiences. The term "God" is either too general or too simplistic as most people use it, but I have no personal issues with the term.
Quote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by marmalade Agnosticism is about not knowing whether God exists. | The same question: do you think that Macaroni Monster and fairies can exist? You also can't disprove their existance.
|
Such things are outside of my experience and apparently outside of the experience of everyone one else I've ever met. As far as I know, no one is seriously claiming to believe or to know of the existence of them. If I were personally to experience a Macaroni Monster or a fairy, then it would be a different matter.
Quote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by marmalade Even many theists claim that God can't be rationally known because many theists consider belief to be the central or only way of experiencing God. By this definition that God can never fully be known(in the rational sense), everyone is agnostic. The hypothesis of God is unproveable because its
unfalsifiable. | But the reality around you is also unfalsifiable, you can get only the reflection of it with your sense bodies. You cannot prove that the reality is not just a Matrix, the product of your imagination. So you have to be even more believer than theists are.
|
I agree. I can't absolutely prove anything nor even prove the clear probability of one perspective over another. I tend to doubt everything including reality, but I do trust the combined efforts of my intuition and rational mind. I don't need to claim knowledge nor ignorance. I don't need to claim belief nor disbelief. Life is what it is, and I try my best to simply accept it as it is. Nonetheless, I do have strong suspicions about many things that come close to a sense of knowing or believing.
Nothing is sacred to me not even mundane reality. This isn't a practical way of living, but its who I am. I have a high tolerance for cognitive dissonance. It doesn't necessarily bother me whether or not reality is a matrix, or at least not any more disturbing than the possibility that I'm merely a physical organism controlled by biological instincts and reflexes. I see life as an infinite pattern of possibilities and potentials. Sometimes I find this an inspiring attitude and sometimes quite depressing.