- Thread starter
- #81
Scored a point? It’s not a game. Just the nature of atheism. Atheists can only confirm their beliefs by criticizing the beliefs of others. They have no other options.Yes, atheism isn’t critical theory. The practice of atheism will never go beyond the practice of critical theory.I don't believe it is possible for atheism to ever be anything more than critical theory because there is no affirmative case for atheism. The only argument of atheism is to argue against religion and to criticize religion.
So my question is... Is it possible for atheism to ever be anything more than critical theory?
Atheism isn’t a “critical” theory, whatever it is you mean by that; only because atheism isn’t a theory. You’re right in saying that there is no affirmative case for atheism.
Atheism is a rejection of the affirmative case for a god or gods. It’s the null hypothesis. Atheism is just scepticism of the claims made for a god or gods. It’s just being unconvinced. It’s simply not having a belief.
That’s it - nothing more.
It isn’t materialism, though many atheists do subscribe to materialism. It isn’t philosophical naturalism, though many atheists do subscribe to that as well. It isn’t what believers call “scientism”, though some atheists do think the scientific method is the best way to ascertain truth - lower case t.
If you want to know what an atheist believes or doesn’t, beyond whether or not a god or gods exist, you have to ask them.
Some are communists while others wholeheartedly believe in laissez-faire capitalism. Some believe in ghosts, psychic powers, chakras, and telepathy. Some think anything explained using the supernatural as the explanation is baseless superstition and lazy thinking. Some hate LGBTQ people and are racists, others want to promote tolerance. Some are hardcore traditional conservatives, others are freewheeling liberals. Some want an authoritarian government while others are anarchists. Some want to rid the world of religion while others respect and admire religion.
To try to categorize atheists and atheism beyond the god question is to make a bold but foolhardy assumption. I suggest you don’t as you will probably be wrong in that assumption.
It seems as though you believe you’ve scored some point against atheism using the term “critical theory”, but I’m afraid you haven’t. Atheism isn’t a practice, it’s a rejection of a practice.
I have to agree with you that there is no affirmative case for atheism. The point of your OP is that atheism has no positive argument for itself and all arguments for it are actually critiques of another position. That is true because one cannot prove a negative.
But that fact isn’t a mark against atheism anymore than it is against any other belief. For example, I don’t believe in big foot. Does that mean I am in a weaker position than one who does believe in big foot? I am not a practitioner of Islam - I don’t believe in Allah or the claims made by Muslims or their prophet Muhammed. Does that work against me in someway? No.
Until the claims of a religion or belief convince me of the veracity of those claims, I remain unconvinced. Simple as that.