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Re: The conflict between Agnostics and Atheists in a knowledge economy



At around 9/3/07 11:57 am, Jim Devine wrote:
>> An  agnostic seems to sit on the fence between the religious concept
>> of god and the atheist who has no god.  <
>
> it's a mistake to generalize: for me (an aggie), the non-existence of
> god is a working hypothesis, while for an atheist, it's a fact.
>

Well, I am an atheist, but I consider the non-existence of god a fact
only in the sense in which I consider the non-existence of mermaids a
fact. It is a contingent but well-supported fact (as with all empirical
facts). I am assuming here some particular interpretation of existence.
There is another aspect to my atheism: I also consider god an
ill-defined hypothesis, if it is a hypothesis at all.

        --ravi



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