atheism

Culture

2022

We explain what atheism is, the types of atheism and its relationship with agnosticism. Also, practical and theoretical atheism.

Atheism was more valued thanks to free thinking and scientific skepticism.

What is atheism?

Atheism is the criticism or denial of all kinds of beliefs metaphysics, mystical or spiritual, that is, it is the negation of the existence of a God or divinities. It is considered the thought contrary to theism, as its name implies.

Those who adhere to atheism are known as atheists. This term that comes from the ancient Greek (to-, "without"; theos, "God"), and was used in his time in a derogatory way to refer to the peoples who did not revere the pantheon of Greek Gods.

Later, it was also used with an almost dangerous connotation by Christianity. In fact, during the medieval atheists were viewed as sinners, heretics, and untrustworthy. However, the term was greatly redefined with the appearance of free thought and skepticism scientific.

Thus it was possible that many thinkers of the Illustration The eighteenth century advertised themselves as atheists. Even the French Revolution In 1789 it was considered the bearer of an "unprecedented atheism", because it opposed what until then was considered the natural order of things: the absolutist monarchy.

There are many arguments for and against atheism, and many ways of understanding and exercising it as well. Being an atheist is not always the same as being non-religious, nor is being an atheist the same as being an agnostic.

In any case, atheists represent 2.3% of the population worldwide (2007 data) and mostly concentrated in Asia eastern: China (47%) and Japan (31%), as well as in Europe Western (14% on average).

Types of atheism

There are different ways of classifying and thinking about atheism, since there is no one institution official or central ordering or configuring this type of belief. Some authors propose to think about it based on opposing categories, such as:

  • Positive and negative atheism. Also known as strong and weak atheism, they were proposed by philosophers such as the British Antony Flew (1923-2010) or the American Michael Martin (1932-2015), depending on the degree of vehemence with which the absence of God is assumed. Thus, we have:
    • Positive atheism. He is the one who assumes an active and convinced stance regarding the absence of God, assuming as a truth the proposition that "God does not exist."
    • Negative atheism. The most common form of atheism does not consist so much in the belief or conviction that God does not exist, as in disbelief or disbelief in the possible existence of a God.
  • Implicit atheism and explicit atheism. This other distinction was proposed by the American educator George H. Smith, and is based on the position of the individual in front of his own belief. Thus, we have:
    • Implicit atheism. When the individual lacks theistic beliefs completely, without professing an open and conscious rejection of them. That is, in their mental order there is no concern about the existence of God, because his absence is naturally assumed.
    • Explicit atheism. When the individual has had the opportunity to think and reflect on the existence of God in a conscious and deliberate way, and has ended up assuming his absence as the most reasonable or true criterion.

Atheism, agnosticism, and agnostic atheism

We must not confuse the concepts of atheism, that is, the denial of the existence of God, with that of agnosticism, which is something quite different.

Agnostics do not immediately deny the existence of God and the divine, but they understand it as a matter alien to the experience of the human. That is, they maintain that it is not knowable or understandable by the humanity, but it is on a different and inaccessible plane, and therefore should not worry us.

However, there is also a variant of thought that constitutes a synthesis of the above, known as agnostic atheism or atheist agnosticism. This synthesis serves to oppose theistic agnosticism, which claims to have no way to prove the existence of God, but believes in it.

Thus, agnostic atheism starts from the impossibility of proving the existence of God, and, using that as an argument, assures its nonexistence.

Practical atheism and theoretical atheism

Another distinction between the aspects of atheism is the one that raises the existence of a practical or pragmatic atheism, and another theoretical one, which differ in:

  • Practical atheism. This is the name given to a form of atheism that is implicit in acting, that is, it is not so much a formal statement or part of a debate philosophicalRather, it is present in a way of living life that does not take into account the possible existence of a God at all.
  • Theoretical atheism. Contrary to the previous one, it is not a way of acting, but a way of thinking, that is, of reasoning and debating. In this way, it raises ontological arguments about the existence of God or gods, and fights theistic arguments on a discursive, reflective and knowledge plane.
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