mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) (07/25/85)
In article <487@cmu-cs-k.ARPA> tim@cmu-cs-k.ARPA (Tim Maroney) writes: >Several people have taken issue with my statements about skepticism, >journalism, and atheism. With all due respect, I feel that these objections >stem from a lack of comprehension of skepticism. Atheism is a valid >skeptical position, not a dogmatic one. Or perhaps I should say that it can >be: certainly there are dogmatic atheists around. >A true skeptic is skeptical even about his or her own beliefs. She or he >never places a 100% certainty on anything, and does not believe in absolute >truth or falsehood. To say "There is no God" for a true skeptic is >equivalent to saying "I think there is probably no God." You see, a >skeptical position demands that ALL statements be treated as false until >they are proven to be true; and even then, only a provisional judgment of >truth is rendered. This says nothing about the statement's absolute truth >or falsehood, poorly-defined concepts that should be treated with skepticism >in any case. It should be clear that these sorts of positions can also occur with belief in deities. >Agnosticism is redundant for a true skeptic. If it isn't clear now why this >is, then it never will be. I think this would depend on the exact form of the agnostic belief. If you are agnostic in the sense that you believe it to be unclear whether or not there are deities, then I accept the statement. Two other beliefs commonly classified as agnostic, however, do not allow this generalization. For instance, one could hold the belief that it is impossible to tell whether or not there are deities (and therefore it is incorrect to claim that they probably do not exist). This sort of belief can be skeptically qualified, yet it is distinct from any atheistic position, skeptical or not. One can also simply not be interested in the question. It's hard to see how atheism or anything else for that matter can lay claim to representing this position. Charley Wingate umcp-cs!mangoe "Better get used to those bars, kid."