Bust Nak wrote: ↑Tue Aug 16, 2022 1:38 pm
But I stand by the general idea I proposed. There are a lot of commonalities between the 'no' and 'unsure' and lots of difference between both of them and the 'yes.' Such that it would be useful to group the 'no' with the 'unsure' even if it means we lose a bit of fidelity.
But would you also agree that this depends on the context of the discussion?
If we're discussing religious demographic patterns, for example, then I would agree with you that there is utility in grouping atheists, agnostics, and even non-religious theists together under a category like "Nones," as Pew does. That makes sense.
But, on the other hand, in a college philosophy class where the distinction between atheism and agnosticism (historically understood) are meaningful, it would seem disadvantageous to collapse those two positions under one term, which is why philosophers generally don't do that.
If you agree with that, then would you also agree that, on a forum like this one, where the question of God's existence is regularly debated and the distinction between various stances on that question are meaningful, it would be disadvantageous to collapse two different positions under a single term?