Opposition Semantics for Atheism, Agnostics and theism

Definition of terms and explanation of concepts

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Opposition Semantics for Atheism, Agnostics and theism

Post #1

Post by Furrowed Brow »

In a recent thread The Negation in 'Do Not Believe' Statements iamtaka asks about the negation of belief from a linguistic standpoint. His particular concern is how do we distinguish weak atheism from strong atheism within natural language. My intent is to describe weak and strong atheism with an epistemic logic. The point to this exercise is provide the most coherent answer to how weak atheism differs from strong atheism. The approach is to try and fit the oppositions inherent in the terms atheism, agnosticism and theism to a Boolean logic; when this is done we get a binary code for religious belief. If someone asks how weak atheism stands to strong atheism the answer is found in this code. If they go to the effort to unpack the semantics that gives the code its meaning they will hopefully be able to clearly understand the difference.

AXIOM: There are two possible states of affairs: 1/ God does not exist 2/ God exists.
[mrow]God Doesn't Exist[mcol]God Exists [row][center] Not precarious | Precarious[/center][col] Precarious| Not precarious
In this semantic system there are also two ways of describing a belief. We would like to say a belief is Certain or Uncertain, but the term "uncertain" suggests equivocation. This we wish to avoid. A precarious belief is also uncertain in the sense it might be toppled, but not uncertain in the sense the believer is unsure what they believe. If a belief about a state of affairs is precarious or not precarious, and a state of affairs exists or does not exist, that gives us four possible belief states to describe. This we can do with a yes-no semantics, which we are able to directly replace with a Boolean logic of 1 and 0. The four possibilities means we have 16 valued logic. However this logic remains Boolean (i.e. it is an extension of standard logic). In this extended logic AND (conjunction) is the product (x) of two or more Boolean strings, whilst OR (disjunction) is the sum (+) of two or more strings. I'll give three examples which I hope will be sufficient for a basic understanding of how to combine the code.

[It is also worth noting how I switched the order of precarious and not precarious when considering the opposite state of affairs. This is not necessary but I think it makes for neater looking set of oppositions. This way a strong theist is furthest away from a strong atheist, and an agnostic holds the middle ground].
[mrow]Yes/No Semantics[mcol][mcol][mcol]Boolean[mcol]Examples [row][center] Yes = Y[/center][col] Y = 1[col] [col] 1 x 0 = 0[col]0011 x 0010 = 0010 [row][center] No = N[/center][col] N = 0[col] [col] 1 + 1 = 1[col]0010 + 0011 = 0011 [row][col] [col] [col]1 x 0 = 0[col]0010 + 0001 = 0011
There are now 16 possible outcomes of which only 14 values describe a meaningful belief state. Of these I'll name eight. The eight values named in blue describe the oppositional logic of theism, atheism and agnosticism
[mrow]God Doesn't Exist[mcol]God Exists[mcol]Boolean [mcol]Epistemic Interpretation [mcol] Theology [row][center]N | N[/center][col][center]N | Y[/center][col][center]0001[/center][col]Not doubt it is the case God exists [color=brown]= discount it is not the case God exists[/color][col][center][color=blue][b][i]Strong[/i] Theist[/b][/color][/center] [row][center]N | N[/center][col][center]Y | N[/center][col][center]0010[/center][col]Uneasy it is the case God exists [color=brown]= not settled it is not the case God exists[/color][col][center][color=blue][b][i]Weak[/i] Theist[/b][/color][/center] [row][center]N | N[/center][col][center]Y | Y[/center][col][center]0011[/center][col]Believe it is the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b]Theist[/b][/color][/center] [row][center]Y | N[/center][col][center]N | N[/center][col][center]1000[/center][col]Not doubt it is not the case God exists [color=brown]= discount it is the case God exists[/color][col][center][color=blue][b][i]Strong[/i] Atheist[/b][/color][/center] [row][center]N | Y[/center][col][center]N | N[/center][col][center]0100[/center][col]Uneasy it is the not the case God exists = [color=brown]not Settled it is the case God exists [/color][col][center][color=blue][b][i]Weak[/i] Atheist[/b][/color][/center] [row][center]Y | Y[/center][col][center]N | N[/center][col][center]1100[/center][col]Believe it is not the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b]Atheist[/b][/color][/center] [row] [center]N | Y[/center][col][center]Y | N[/center][col][center]0110[/center][col]Doubt it is the case God exists [u]and[/u] doubt it is not the case God exists[col][center] [color=blue][b]Agnostic[/b][/color][/center] [row][center]Y | N[/center][col][center]N | Y[/center][col][center]1001[/center][col]Not doubt it is the not the case God exists [u]or[/u] not doubt it is the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b]Not Agnostic[/b][/color][/center] [row][center]N | Y[/center][col][center]N | Y[/center][col][center]0101[/center][col]Mindful it is the case God exists*[col][center][color=blue][b][/b][/color][/center] [row][center]Y | N[/center][col][center]Y | N[/center][col][center]1010[/center][col]Not Mindful it is the case God's exists**[col][center][color=blue][b][/b][/color][/center] [row][center]Y | Y[/center][col][center]Y | N[/center][col][center]1110[/center][col]Doubt it is the case God exists [color=brown]= not discounted it is not the case God exists[/color][col] [row][center]Y | Y[/center][col][center]Y | N[/center][col][center]0111[/center][col]Doubt it is not the case God exists [color=brown]= not discounted it is the case God exists[/color][col] [row][center]Y | Y[/center][col][center]N | Y[/center][col][center]1101[/center][col]Believe it is not the case God exists or no doubt it is the case God exists[col] [row][center]Y | N[/center][col][center]Y | Y[/center][col][center]1011[/center][col]Believe it is the case God exists [u]or[/u] not doubt it is not the case God exists[col] [row][center]N | N[/center][col][center]N | N[/center][col][center]0000[/center][col]Contradiction / Incoherent belief[col] [row][center]Y | Y[/center][col][center]Y | Y[/center][col][center]1111[/center][col]Tautology / makes sense but the beleief is not meaningful i.e. it does not express a meaningful idea[col]
The Boolean strings of 1s and 0s record the oppositions and implication that characterise this logic. For example if someone is a theist or a weak atheist, this means they doubt it is not the case God exists (0100 + 0011 = 0111). It is a contradiction to say they are a theist and a weak atheist (0011 x 0100 = 0000).

(*)(**)The interpretation of 0101 as Mindful and 1010 as Not Mindful I am not fully convinced of, and may continue to change the interpretations of these two values. I'd gladly entertain any better ideas if anyone has one. I think the rest of the values stack up pretty well.....well they make sense to me. :whistle:

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Post #2

Post by Divine Insight »

Please, let's not forget that all of these terms are extremely dependent upon what a person even means by the term "God".

For example, based on the table above I am both an atheist and a theist.

In other words:

With respect to the God portrayed and described by any of the Abrahamic religions I am, without a doubt a Strong Atheist

However, when it comes to other mystical paradigms of God, such as the ideas conveyed by say, Taoism, then I am a Theist

And even in this latter case it can be broken down even further depending on what we would like to focus on.

For example if we focus on 'gut feelings', intuition, or a general innate feeling of whether or not we intuitively believe in a God, I could even upgrade my feelings about the existence of mystical God to Strong Theist. From an entirely intuitive perspective I'm absolutely convinced that there does indeed exist a higher spiritual or mystical nature to reality (call that "God" for lack of a better term)

However, if we're going to address my intellectual knowledge of whether or not there is a mystical or spiritual essence to reality, I instantly confess to being Agnostic.

In spite of the table offered in the OP, I use the term agnostic to simply mean what it means etymologically (a - gnostic) simply meaning without sufficient knowledge to answer the question.

I do not possess sufficient knowledge to say with absolute certainty whether life is spiritual in nature or not. I do seem to have sufficient evidence that life is indeed mystical where mystical simply means that it's a mystery. I don't see how anything could have come to be in the first place, so the mere fact that anything exists at all will forever be a mystery to me, and in that sense I do have "evidence" and reasons to believe that life is mystical (but that doesn't prove that its spiritual).

But still, my point in this thread is that these terms are relative to what is being focused on.

I am a:

Strong Atheist - with respect to all of the Abrahamic myths.

Theist - with respect to the philosophy of Taoism in general.

Strong Theist - with respect to Taoism from an intuitive level.

Agnostic - with respect to Taoism from a purely intellectual level.

So these terms aren't absolutes. They are totally dependent upon, and relative to, how a person might think of "God" or a spiritual essence of reality.
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Post #3

Post by Furrowed Brow »

Divine Insight wrote:With respect to the God portrayed and described by any of the Abrahamic religions I am, without a doubt a Strong Atheist
Thank heavens.
Divine Insight wrote:I am a:

Strong Atheist - with respect to all of the Abrahamic myths.

Theist - with respect to the philosophy of Taoism in general.

Strong Theist - with respect to Taoism from an intuitive level.

Agnostic - with respect to Taoism from a purely intellectual level.

So these terms aren't absolutes. They are totally dependent upon, and relative to, how a person might think of "God" or a spiritual essence of reality.
Well yes I agree. The point to a semantics like the one attempted in the OP is not to pigeon hole a belief, but to expose the "oppositional geometry" that obtains. In other words where you think you are a strong theist the table shows that you have no doubts about that kind of God. The code also shows how your strong theism stands to other kinds of beliefs regarding the definition of God you have in mind. It is a set of coordinates if you like.

If you then have doubts about some other definition, the logical oppositions expose how that belief stands to opposing beliefs about that particular notion of God.

This is not a calculus for working out what belief one has under all definitions, but what oppositions obtain under all definitions. Each of us is free to switch and swap as we choose. The list simply marks out a basic set of options that includes a distinct definition of weak and strong atheism.

By the way. Where you are agnostic because you lack information, from a logical point of view that is the same as saying you have room to doubt either way. And where you are a strong atheist the semantic shows you cannot also claim to be a weak atheist regarding the same point (definition of God) without contradicting yourself. You can however manage to be both an agnostic and a theist without contradiction yourself.

If however you wish to deny the axiom you are then attempting to think with a non standard logic, and you would get a different set of coordinates.

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Post #4

Post by Divine Insight »

Furrowed Brow wrote: If however you wish to deny the axiom you are then attempting to think with a non standard logic, and you would get a different set of coordinates.
This is true. This is why I only claim to be a Theist in general toward Taoism. When I say that I'm a "Strong Theist" intuitively, that is entirely based on how I intuitively feel about it (with total disregard for any need for logical evidence to support it).

However, even on an intuitive level I confess that there are extreme difficulties in "keeping the faith" of my intuitive inclinations.

The obvious intellectual fact that cannot be denied is that the world is, in general, dog-eat-dog and nature herself can be the most cruel agent in the universe.

I confess that this one simple fact sure does seem to support justification for total Strong Atheism toward any belief in any spiritual nature of reality.

And I confess that this does bother me significantly. It may very well be that I'm just a hopeless romantic who doesn't want to face reality (at least on an intuitive level).

My excuse (all good little theists always have excuses), is that the Taoists have promised that there's a rational reason for the dog-eat-dog nature of the world. So I accept their baloney just to keep my intuition in tact. :lol:

I think it's logical to also recognize the equivalency of the terms "Strong Theist" and "Hopeless Romantic".

I have no problem confessing that I'm a "Hopeless Romantic". Or at least a Hopeless Romantic Wannbe. O:)

But at the same time, I confess that a natural dog-eat-dog world is pretty discouraging. That single observation is the greatest hazard for a hopeless romantic.

If all animals were vegetarians and only humans killed each other it would be far easier to believe in fairytales.

But unfortunately such is not the case. :(
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Post #5

Post by Furrowed Brow »

Divine Insight’s complaint that the oppositional semantic provided in the OP should not be taken as absolute and their attempt to express their own motivations shows the original system is a long way from expressing all the logical possibilities. This worry motivates me to extend the system. The extended semantics that follows is more thorough going, and offers greater expressiveness. I am hoping this goes some way to assuage the kinds of concerns aired by Divine Insight.

In the original version of this semantics a belief is described as either precarious or not precarious. We used a simple binary semantics to express the point. Thus the 2-tuple 11 when interpreted is read as “the belief is precarious or the belief is not precarious�. The adjective “precarious� conveys a form of uncertainty that still preserves the belief in the way “uncertain� or “doubtful� do not; if it did not it would be an unsuitable.

To be able to extend the system additional technical framework is required. First a quick point about as to terminology. Each Boolean 1 or 0 in a string e.g. 1111, we call a partition of a belief. When a suitable adjective is found to interpret a partition this adjective expresses a characteristic of belief.

For a wider vocabulary we seek a wider range of terms and their negations that like “precarious� also unequivocally preserve belief; however, the selection of suitable terms suitable are not abundant.

However one suitable set of four terms is: {inspired, heedless, anxious, measured}. There are two basic points to make if we assign each term a 4-tuple Boolean strings:
1000 = Inspired, 0100 = Heedless, 0010 = Anxious, 0001 = Measured.
  • A) The Boolean strings make it clear how each term must be a contrary term. This is easy to check for yourself by working through the following exhaustive lists of paired terms. A belief cannot be both Measured and Anxious (0001 x 0010 = 0000), it cannot be Measured and Heedless (0001 x 0100 = 0000); neither may a belief be Measured and Inspired (0001 x 1000 = 0000). Likewise a belief cannot be both Anxious and Heedless (0010 x 0100 = 0000), or, Anxious and Inspired (0010 x 1000 = 0000). Lastly a belief cannot be both heedless and inspired (0100 x 1000 = 0000).

    B) The negation of a partition term must be definable by the remaining terms. For example a belief might be not inspired (0111), and not inspired is here definable as “heedless (0100) or anxious (0010) or measured (0001)�. I leave it to the reader to work through the remaining combinations to satisfy themselves this set of four are suitably inter definable.
Furnished with this new extended semantics we can build a larger more expressive system that distinguishes more belief states than could be expressed than with the original semantics provided in the OP.

[center]EXTENSION OF OPPOSITION SEMANTICS FOR ATHEISM AND THEISM
[mrow]God Doesn't Exist[mcol]God Exists [row]Measured | Intuitive | Inspired | Anxious[/center][col]Anxious | Inspired | Intuitive | Measured
[mrow][mcol]God Doesn't Exist[mcol]God Exists[mcol]Boolean [mcol]Epistemic Interpretation [mcol] Theology [row]01[col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]N | N | N | Y[/center][col][center]0000 0001[/center][col]Measured belief it is the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Rational[/i] Theist[/b][/color][/center] [row]02[col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]N | N | Y | N[/center][col][center]0000 0010[/center][col]Intuitive belief it is the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Intuitive[/i] Theist[/b][/color][/center] [row]03[col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]N | Y | N | N[/center][col][center]0000 0100[/center][col]Inspired belief it is the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Inspired[/i] Theist[/b][/color][/center] [row]04[col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]Y | N | N | N[/center][col][center]0000 1000[/center][col]Anxious it is the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Weak[/i] Theist[/b][/color][/center] [row]05[col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]Y | Y | Y | N[/center][col][center]0000 1110[/center][col]Umeasured belief it is the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Irrational[/i] Theist[/b][/color][/center] [row]06[col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]N | Y | Y | Y[/center][col][center]0000 0111[/center][col]Unanxious belief it is the case God exists [color=brown]= no doubt it is the case[/color][col][center][color=blue][b][i]Strong[/i] Theist[/b][/color][/center] [row]07[col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]Y | Y | Y | Y[/center][col][center][color=darkred][b]0000 1111[/b][/color][/center][col]Believe it is the case God exists[col][center][color=darkred][b]THEIST[/b][/color][/center] [row]08[col][center]Y | N | N | N[/center][col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]1000 0000[/center][col]Measured belief it is not the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Rational[/i] Atheist[/b][/color][/center] [row]09[col][center]N | Y | N | N[/center][col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]0100 0000[/center][col]Intuitive belief it is not the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Intuitive[/i] Atheist[/b][/color][/center] [row]10[col][center]N | N | Y | N[/center][col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]0010 0000[/center][col]Inspired belief it is not the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Inspired[/i] Atheist[/b][/color][/center] [row]11[col][center]N | Y | N | N[/center][col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]0001 0000[/center][col]Anxious belief it is not the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Weak[/i] Atheist[/b][/color][/center] [row]12[col][center]N | Y | Y | Y[/center][col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]0111 0000[/center][col]Unmeasured belief it is not the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Irrational[/i] Atheist[/b][/color][/center] [row]13[col][center]Y | Y | Y | N[/center][col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]1110 0000[/center][col]Unanxious belief it is not the case God exists [color=brown]= No doubts it is not the case[/color][col][center][color=blue][b][i]Strong[/i] Atheist[/b][/color][/center] [row]14[col][center]Y | Y | Y | Y[/center][col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center][color=darkred][b]1111 0000[/b][/color][/center][col]Believe it is not the case God exists[col][center][color=darkred][b]ATHEIST[/b][/color][/center] [row]15[col][center]N | N | N | Y[/center][col][center]Y | N | N | N[/center][col][center]0001 1000[/center][col]Not a strong theist and not a strong atheist[col][center][color=blue][b]Agnostic[/b][/color][/center] [row]16[col][center]N | N | N | Y[/center][col][center]Y | Y | Y | Y[/center][col][center]0001 1111[/center][col][color=brown]Doubt it is not the case God exists[/color][col][center][color=blue][b]Not [i]Strong[/i] Atheist[/b][/color][/center] [row]17[col][center]Y | Y | Y | Y[/center][col][center]Y | N | N | N[/center][col][center]1111 1000[/center][col][color=brown]Doubt it is the case God exists[/color][col][center][color=blue][b]Not [i]Strong[/i] Theist[/b][/color][/center]

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Post #6

Post by Furrowed Brow »

Oops. Tried out a coupe of alternative terms on that last post and did not edit out the one I reject. Basically strike out [strike]heedless[/strike] in favour of Intuitive. there were also some additional typos. I noticed this too late to be able to edit the last post. Here is the last post corrected

Divine Insight’s complaint that the oppositional semantic provided in the OP should not be taken as absolute and their attempt to express their own motivations shows the original system is a long way from expressing all the logical possibilities. This worry motivates me to extend the system. The extended semantics that follows is more thorough going, and offers greater expressiveness. I am hoping this goes some way to assuage the kinds of concerns aired by Divine Insight.

In the original version of this semantics a belief is described as either precarious or not precarious. We used a simple binary semantics to express the point. Thus the 2-tuple 11 when interpreted is read as “the belief is precarious or the belief is not precarious�. The adjective “precarious� conveys a form of uncertainty that still preserves the belief in the way “uncertain� or “doubtful� do not; if it did not it would be an unsuitable.

To be able to extend the system additional technical framework is required. First a quick point about as to terminology. Each Boolean 1 or 0 in a string e.g. 1111, we call a partition of a belief. When a suitable adjective is found to interpret a partition this adjective expresses a characteristic of belief.

For a wider vocabulary we seek a wider range of terms and their negations that like “precarious� also unequivocally preserve belief; however, the selection of suitable terms suitable are not abundant.

However one suitable set of four terms is: {inspired, intuitve, anxious, measured}. There are two basic points to make if we assign each term a 4-tuple Boolean strings:
1000 = Anxious, 0100 = Inspired, 0010 = Intuitive, 0001 = Measured.
  • A) The Boolean strings make it clear how each term must be a contrary term. This is easy to check for yourself by working through the following exhaustive lists of paired terms. A belief cannot be both Measured and Intuitive (0001 x 0010 = 0000), it cannot be Measured and Inspired (1000 x 0100 = 0000); neither may a belief be Measured and Anxious (0001 x 1000 = 0000). Likewise a belief cannot be both Intuitive and Inspired (0010 x 0100 = 0000), or, Intuitive and Anxious (0010 x 1000 = 0000). Lastly a belief cannot be both Inspired and Anxious (0100 x 1000 = 0000).

    B) The negation of a partition term must be definable by the remaining terms. For example a belief might be not Anxious (0111), and not Anxious is here definable as “Inspired (0100) or Intuitive (0010) or measured (0001)�. I leave it to the reader to work through the remaining combinations to satisfy themselves this set of four are suitably inter definable.
Furnished with this new extended semantics we can build a larger more expressive system that distinguishes more belief states than could be expressed than with the original semantics provided in the OP.

[center]EXTENSION OF OPPOSITION SEMANTICS FOR ATHEISM AND THEISM
[mrow]God Doesn't Exist[mcol]God Exists [row]Measured | Intuitive | Inspired | Anxious[/center][col]Anxious | Inspired | Intuitive | Measured
[mrow][mcol]God Doesn't Exist[mcol]God Exists[mcol]Boolean [mcol]Epistemic Interpretation [mcol] Theology [row]01[col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]N | N | N | Y[/center][col][center]0000 0001[/center][col]Measured belief it is the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Rational[/i] Theist[/b][/color][/center] [row]02[col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]N | N | Y | N[/center][col][center]0000 0010[/center][col]Intuitive belief it is the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Intuitive[/i] Theist[/b][/color][/center] [row]03[col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]N | Y | N | N[/center][col][center]0000 0100[/center][col]Inspired belief it is the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Inspired[/i] Theist[/b][/color][/center] [row]04[col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]Y | N | N | N[/center][col][center]0000 1000[/center][col]Anxious it is the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Weak[/i] Theist[/b][/color][/center] [row]05[col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]Y | Y | Y | N[/center][col][center]0000 1110[/center][col]Umeasured belief it is the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Irrational[/i] Theist[/b][/color][/center] [row]06[col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]N | Y | Y | Y[/center][col][center]0000 0111[/center][col]Unanxious belief it is the case God exists [color=brown]= no doubt it is the case[/color][col][center][color=blue][b][i]Strong[/i] Theist[/b][/color][/center] [row]07[col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]Y | Y | Y | Y[/center][col][center][color=darkred][b]0000 1111[/b][/color][/center][col]Believe it is the case God exists[col][center][color=darkred][b]THEIST[/b][/color][/center] [row]08[col][center]Y | N | N | N[/center][col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]1000 0000[/center][col]Measured belief it is not the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Rational[/i] Atheist[/b][/color][/center] [row]09[col][center]N | Y | N | N[/center][col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]0100 0000[/center][col]Intuitive belief it is not the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Intuitive[/i] Atheist[/b][/color][/center] [row]10[col][center]N | N | Y | N[/center][col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]0010 0000[/center][col]Inspired belief it is not the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Inspired[/i] Atheist[/b][/color][/center] [row]11[col][center]N | Y | N | N[/center][col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]0001 0000[/center][col]Anxious belief it is not the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Weak[/i] Atheist[/b][/color][/center] [row]12[col][center]N | Y | Y | Y[/center][col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]0111 0000[/center][col]Unmeasured belief it is not the case God exists[col][center][color=blue][b][i]Irrational[/i] Atheist[/b][/color][/center] [row]13[col][center]Y | Y | Y | N[/center][col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center]1110 0000[/center][col]Unanxious belief it is not the case God exists [color=brown]= No doubts it is not the case[/color][col][center][color=blue][b][i]Strong[/i] Atheist[/b][/color][/center] [row]14[col][center]Y | Y | Y | Y[/center][col][center]N | N | N | N[/center][col][center][color=darkred][b]1111 0000[/b][/color][/center][col]Believe it is not the case God exists[col][center][color=darkred][b]ATHEIST[/b][/color][/center] [row]15[col][center]N | N | N | Y[/center][col][center]Y | N | N | N[/center][col][center]0001 1000[/center][col]Not a strong theist and not a strong atheist[col][center][color=blue][b]Agnostic[/b][/color][/center] [row]16[col][center]N | N | N | Y[/center][col][center]Y | Y | Y | Y[/center][col][center]0001 1111[/center][col][color=brown]Doubt it is not the case God exists[/color][col][center][color=blue][b]Not [i]Strong[/i] Atheist[/b][/color][/center] [row]17[col][center]Y | Y | Y | Y[/center][col][center]Y | N | N | N[/center][col][center]1111 1000[/center][col][color=brown]Doubt it is the case God exists[/color][col][center][color=blue][b]Not [i]Strong[/i] Theist[/b][/color][/center]
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wiploc
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Re: Opposition Semantics for Atheism, Agnostics and theism

Post #7

Post by wiploc »

[Replying to Furrowed Brow]
My intent is to describe weak and strong atheism ...
Theists believe that gods exist.
Strong atheists believe that gods do not exist.
Weak atheists include everyone who is neither a theist nor a strong atheist.

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