Board index › Topical Discussion › Politics, Philosophy, and Religion

Atheism and Agnosticism's Role in Western Intellectualism

Page 2 of 3 [ 41 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3  Next

Previous topic | Next topic

iamnotaparakeet
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 31 Jul 2007
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 25,091
Location: 0.5 Galactic radius

04 Jun 2010, 10:19 pm

Master_Pedant wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
I see agnostics as generally being more intellectually minded and atheists as generally feeling as though they were.


Where do you put ignostics?


I hadn't heard of that philosophy before. From a cursory glance at, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignosticism , it appears to be another formulation of atheism, somewhat similar to the type of "agnosticism" that Clarence Darrow held. Agnosticism seems to be more open-minded, whereas ignosticism seems to be either a rather close-minded version of agnosticism or a more open-minded version of atheism.



Hector
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 Mar 2008
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,493

04 Jun 2010, 10:23 pm

Agnosticism is merely a form of atheism; those who subscribe to agnosticism do not believe in God, thus they are atheists.



iamnotaparakeet
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 31 Jul 2007
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 25,091
Location: 0.5 Galactic radius

04 Jun 2010, 10:28 pm

Hector wrote:
Agnosticism is merely a form of atheism; those who subscribe to agnosticism do not believe in God, thus they are atheists.


Perhaps so, but the general openness regarding the nature of truth and reality among agnostics is a lot more refreshing than what is from militant atheists.



Hector
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 Mar 2008
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,493

04 Jun 2010, 10:30 pm

It is a matter of the atheists you know rather than atheism on principle.



iamnotaparakeet
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 31 Jul 2007
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 25,091
Location: 0.5 Galactic radius

04 Jun 2010, 10:34 pm

Hector wrote:
It is a matter of the atheists you know rather than atheism on principle.


True enough, though I wouldn't be the first to judge an ideology based upon its proponents, you are correct that they are separate entities.



Awesomelyglorious
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Dec 2005
Gender: Male
Posts: 13,157
Location: Omnipresent

04 Jun 2010, 11:19 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
Perhaps so, but the general openness regarding the nature of truth and reality among agnostics is a lot more refreshing than what is from militant atheists.

I prefer the term STRIDENT. Also, I am plenty intellectually minded and open, as I have found the light of reason.



iamnotaparakeet
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 31 Jul 2007
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 25,091
Location: 0.5 Galactic radius

04 Jun 2010, 11:26 pm

Awesomelyglorious wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
Perhaps so, but the general openness regarding the nature of truth and reality among agnostics is a lot more refreshing than what is from militant atheists.

I prefer the term STRIDENT. Also, I am plenty intellectually minded and open, as I have found the light of reason.


Throw out the "light of reason" rhetoric, but otherwise you and Fuzzy are why I said "generally" about atheists in my first post here, as you guys are the few exceptions I know to the general closed mindedness of those who call themselves atheists. BTW, you forgot to link the word strident to the voting page.



Master_Pedant
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Mar 2009
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,903

04 Jun 2010, 11:29 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
Awesomelyglorious wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
Perhaps so, but the general openness regarding the nature of truth and reality among agnostics is a lot more refreshing than what is from militant atheists.

I prefer the term STRIDENT. Also, I am plenty intellectually minded and open, as I have found the light of reason.


Throw out the "light of reason" rhetoric, but otherwise you and Fuzzy are why I said "generally" about atheists in my first post here, as you guys are the few exceptions I know to the general closed mindedness of those who call themselves atheists. BTW, you forgot to link the word strident to the voting page.


Would you classify yourself as closed-minded?



iamnotaparakeet
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 31 Jul 2007
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 25,091
Location: 0.5 Galactic radius

04 Jun 2010, 11:33 pm

Master_Pedant wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
Awesomelyglorious wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
Perhaps so, but the general openness regarding the nature of truth and reality among agnostics is a lot more refreshing than what is from militant atheists.

I prefer the term STRIDENT. Also, I am plenty intellectually minded and open, as I have found the light of reason.


Throw out the "light of reason" rhetoric, but otherwise you and Fuzzy are why I said "generally" about atheists in my first post here, as you guys are the few exceptions I know to the general closed mindedness of those who call themselves atheists. BTW, you forgot to link the word strident to the voting page.


Would you classify yourself as closed-minded?


Depends on the subject, but in terms of the existence of God, I probably would classify myself as such. I was somewhat more open minded as a teen on the subject, but my doubts were sufficiently answered then and now I suppose I am closed minded.



Awesomelyglorious
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Dec 2005
Gender: Male
Posts: 13,157
Location: Omnipresent

04 Jun 2010, 11:39 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
Throw out the "light of reason" rhetoric, but otherwise you and Fuzzy are why I said "generally" about atheists in my first post here, as you guys are the few exceptions I know to the general closed mindedness of those who call themselves atheists. BTW, you forgot to link the word strident to the voting page.

What about Orwell? He's a young earth atheist.



astaut
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Sep 2009
Age: 35
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,777
Location: Southeast US

05 Jun 2010, 12:57 am

Hector wrote:
Agnosticism is merely a form of atheism; those who subscribe to agnosticism do not believe in God, thus they are atheists.


That's just one definition of agnosticism...another opinion among people who call themselves agnostic is that you can believe or not believe in a deity, but you cannot know whether said deity exists or not.



Hector
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 Mar 2008
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,493

05 Jun 2010, 1:34 am

I stand corrected. Though it appears that he too regarded agnostics as agnostic atheists rather than agnostic theists, otherwise I would have been corrected earlier.



NobelCynic
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Age: 77
Gender: Male
Posts: 600
Location: New Jersey, U.S.A.

05 Jun 2010, 11:24 am

NeantHumain wrote:
I am not trying to imply value judgment here, but rather I am saying at least in the social group that is modern Western intellectuals, atheism, agnosticism, or at least a skepticism to mainstream religion is normative whereas holding a more mainline Christian worldview is marked

I agree with the part I bolded for accepting any religious dogma would be denying your own intellect the opportunity to examine the concept. However the same problem could exist with atheists if they refuse to consider the possibility of the existence anything spiritual because it cannot be perceived by physical instruments which would include human sense organs. I would think that would be every bit as stunting to intellectual growth.


_________________
NobelCynic (on WP)
My given name is Kenneth


ruveyn
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Sep 2008
Age: 89
Gender: Male
Posts: 31,502
Location: New Jersey

05 Jun 2010, 2:22 pm

Hector wrote:
Agnosticism is merely a form of atheism; those who subscribe to agnosticism do not believe in God, thus they are atheists.


Uh, uh.. There is a difference between don't know and don't believe.

Agnosticism is literally "don't know" from its Greek root words.

ruveyn



Hector
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 Mar 2008
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,493

05 Jun 2010, 2:38 pm

I've already been corrected, rest assured.



Asmodeus
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Feb 2009
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,520

05 Jun 2010, 4:15 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
I see agnostics as generally being more intellectually minded and atheists as generally feeling as though they were.

Do I detect a Christian, through his attribution of intellectualism based upon religious belief (or a lack therof)?