Today I was skimming Jack David Eller’s essay “What is Atheism?” when I came across a passage that I felt compelled to comment on. In this passage Eller is explaining how, in his view, atheists don’t hold the belief that God doesn’t exist. Instead, they simply lack belief that God does exist. He writes: “However, […]
definition
“We do not know what a Jew is. We know only men.” Hospitality by example
Jared Miller asks: “Hey Randal Do you think it is possible to have a definitive understanding of Hospitality or is it sublime and platonic like Justice and can only be known through examples?” As with so many concepts, the basic idea of hospitality is readily conveyed in a dictionary definition. For example: hospitality: noun. The […]
Peter Boghossian’s Manual for Wasting Paper (Part 6): Defining Agnosticism
Thus far we have seen Peter Boghossian to be utterly inept at defining basic terms: “deepity”, “faith” and “atheism”, he’s flubbed ’em all. So it is little surprise that his incompetence continues when he attempts to define “agnosticism”. Before we consider Boghossian’s proposed definition, and the problems with it, let’s consult a few philosophical dictionaries to […]
What does it mean to be an atheist today? (Part 2)
Our second popular definition of atheism is an ostensive definition. (That is, it seeks definition by pointing out token examples of the entity to be defined.) For example, while you may be unable to provide the necessary and sufficient conditions for being human, you can go the round about way to definition by pointing out […]
What does it mean to be an atheist today? (Part 1)
In “One man’s theist is another man’s atheist,” I pointed out that the word “atheist”, or a denial of the existence of God, is always relative to a particular understanding of God. That’s how, as I noted, early Christians and Roman pagans could simultaneously call each other “atheists” because each was assuming that any person […]
Homo religiosus: human beings are all religious and why it matters
Last week Robert Gressis objected to my challenge to Ralph Jones to define what he meant by “religion”. Robert started by quoting me: “If you think this thing called ‘religion itself’ is such a problem, then I assume you can give a succinct (emphasis on succinct) and clear definition of what it is you mean […]
If he’s angry at religion, then what exactly is he angry at?
I hear comments like this quite often: “He’s angry at religion.” The statement raises a rather glaring question: if he’s angry at religion then what exactly is he angry at? And that requires us to define “religion”. Here’s one dictionary definition of religion: “a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe”. Is […]
