Posted by thor (63.249.67.160) on March 05, 2002 at 01:17:34:
In Reply to: Re: Question of the Week posted by Jim on March 01, 2002 at 11:25:18:
no, i don't think the intelligent atheist can be held to a higher standard of certainty just because he is more certain than the agnostic.
The atheist realizes that lack of evidence is evidence. If an archeologist digs at the site of a supposed city and finds no remains, that is evidence that there was no city. Similarly, one might say that the universe could just be a computer simulation. But we only have evidence of this universe, so that is evidence that this universe is not within something else. This seeming certainty is of course held in check by new evidence. that is, if there were evidence of god, an intelligent atheist would be forced to entertain it.
My point is that all beliefs are held within a theoretical limit of certainty and that atheism (or rather empiricism) reaches but does not cross this boundary. regardless, the agnostic, by refusing to accept the non-evidence of god, is making an incorrect conclusion rather than none at all.
-thor