51060

一个很不错的词频统计程序,目前只支持英文,中文的本人正在修改中.改好后上传给大家分享

From: mathew <[e-mail]>

Subject: Alt.Atheism FAQ: Introduction to Atheism
Summary: Please read this file before posting to alt.atheism
Keywords: FAQ, atheism
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 1993 12:22:45 GMT
Expires: Thu, 6 May 1993 12:22:45 GMT

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Archive-name: atheism/introduction
Alt-atheism-archive-name: introduction
Last-modified: 5 April 1993
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                          An Introduction to Atheism
                       by mathew <[e-mail]>

This article attempts to provide a general introduction to atheism.  Whilst I
have tried to be as neutral as possible regarding contentious issues, you
should always remember that this document represents only one viewpoint.  I
would encourage you to read widely and draw your own conclusions; some
relevant books are listed in a companion article.

To provide a sense of cohesion and progression, I have presented this article
as an imaginary conversation between an atheist and a theist.  All the
questions asked by the imaginary theist are questions which have been cropped
up repeatedly on alt.atheism since the newsgroup was created.  Some other
frequently asked questions are answered in a companion article.

Please note that this article is arguably slanted towards answering questions
posed from a Christian viewpoint.  This is because the FAQ files reflect
questions which have actually been asked, and it is predominantly Christians
who proselytize on alt.atheism.

So when I talk of religion, I am talking primarily about religions such as
Christianity, Judaism and Islam, which involve some sort of superhuman divine
being.  Much of the discussion will apply to other religions, but some of it
may not.

"What is atheism?"

Atheism is characterized by an absence of belief in the existence of God.
Some atheists go further, and believe that God does not exist.  The former is
often referred to as the "weak atheist" position, and the latter as "strong
atheism".

It is important to note the difference between these two positions.  "Weak
atheism" is simple scepticism; disbelief in the existence of God.  "Strong
atheism" is a positive belief that God does not exist.  Please do not
fall into the trap of assuming that all atheists are "strong atheists".

Some atheists believe in the non-existence of all Gods; others limit their
atheism to specific Gods, such as the Christian God, rather than making
flat-out denials.

"But isn't disbelieving in God the same thing as believing he doesn't exist?"

Definitely not.  Disbelief in a proposition means that one does not believe
it to be true.  Not believing that something is true is not equivalent to
believing that it is false; one may simply have no idea whether it is true or
not.  Which brings us to agnosticism.

"What is agnosticism then?"

The term 'agnosticism' was coined by Professor Huxley at a meeting of the
Metaphysical Society in 1876.  He defined an agnostic as someone who
disclaimed ("strong") atheism and believed that the ultimate origin of things
must be some cause unknown and unknowable.

Thus an agnostic is someone who believes that we do not and cannot know for
sure whether God exists.

Words are slippery things, and language is inexact.  Beware of assuming that
you can work out someone's philosophical point of view simply from the fact
that she calls herself an atheist or an agnostic.  For example, many people
use agnosticism to mean "weak atheism", and use the word "atheism" only when
referring to "strong atheism".

Beware also that because the word "atheist" has so many shades of meaning, it
is very difficult to generalize about atheists.  About all you can say for
sure is that atheists don't believe in God.  For example, it certainly isn't
the case that all atheists believe that science is the best way to find out
about the universe.

"So what is the philosophical justification or basis for atheism?"

There are many philosophical justifications for atheism.  To find out why a
particular person chooses to be an atheist, it's best to ask her.

Many atheists feel that the idea of God as presented by the major religions
is essentially self-contradictory, and that it is logically impossible that
such a God could exist.  Others are atheists through scepticism, because they
see no evidence that God exists.

"But isn't it impossible to prove the non-existence of something?"

There are many counter-examples to such a statement.  For example, it is
quite simple to prove that there does not exist a prime number larger than
all other prime numbers.  Of course, this deals with well-defined objects
obeying well-defined rules.  Whether Gods or universes are similarly
well-defined is a matter for debate.

However, assuming for the moment that the existence of a God is not provably
impossible, there are still subtle reasons for assuming the non-existence of
God.  If we assume that something does not exist, it is always possible to
show that this assumption is invalid by finding a single counter-example.

If on the other hand we assume that something does exist, and if the thing in
question is not provably impossible, showing that the assumption is invalid
may require an exhaustive search of all possible places where such a thing
might be found, to show that it isn't there.  Such an exhaustive search is
often impractical or impossible.  There is no such problem with largest
primes, because we can prove that they don't exist.

Therefore it is generally accepted that we must assume things do not exist
unless we have evidence that they do.  Even theists follow this rule most of
the time; they don't believe in unicorns, even though they can't conclusively
prove that no unicorns exist anywhere.

To assume that God exists is to make an assumption which probably cannot be
tested.  We cannot make an exhaustive search of everywhere God might be to
prove that he doesn't exist anywhere.  So the sceptical atheist assumes by
default that God does not exist, since that is an assumption we can test.

Those who profess strong atheism usually do not claim that no sort of God
exists; instead, they generally restrict their claims so as to cover
varieties of God described by followers of various religions.  So whilst it
may be impossible to prove conclusively that no God exists, it may be
possible to prove that (say) a God as described by a particular religious
book does not exist.  It may even be possible to prove that no God described
by any present-day religion exists.

In practice, believing that no God described by any religion exists is very
close to believing that no God exists.  However, it is sufficiently different
that counter-arguments based on the impossibility of disproving every kind of
God are not really applicable.

"But what if God is essentially non-detectable?"

If God interacts with our universe in any way, the effects of his interaction
must be measurable.  Hence his interaction with our universe must be
detectable.

If God is essentially non-detectable, it must therefore be the case that he
does not interact with our universe in any way.  Many atheists would argue
that if God does not interact with our universe at all, it is of no
importance whether he exists or not.

If the Bible is to be believed, God was easily detectable by the Israelites.
Surely he should still be detectable today?

Note that I am not demanding that God interact in a scientifically
verifiable, physical way.  It must surely be possible to perceive some
effect caused by his presence, though; otherwise, how can I distinguish him
from all the other things that don't exist?

"OK, you may think there's a philosophical justification for atheism, but
 isn't it still a religious belief?"

One of the most common pastimes in philosophical discussion is "the
redefinition game".  The cynical view of this game is as follows:

Person A begins by making a contentious statement.  When person B points out
that it can't be true, person A gradually re-defines the words he used in the
statement until he arrives at something person B is prepared to accept.  He
then records the statement, along with the fact that person B has agreed to
it, and continues.  Eventually A uses the statement as an "agreed fact", but
uses his original definitions of all the words in it rather than the obscure
redefinitions originally needed to get B to agree to it.  Rather than be seen
to be apparently inconsistent, B will tend to play along.

The point of this digression is that the answer to the question "Isn't
atheism a religious belief?" depends crucially upon what is meant by
"religious".  "Religion" is generally characterized by belief in a superhuman
controlling power -- especially in some sort of God -- and by faith and
worship.

[ It's worth pointing out in passing that some varieties of Buddhism are not
  "religion" according to such a definition. ]

Atheism is certainly not a belief in any sort of superhuman power, nor is it
categorized by worship in any meaningful sense.  Widening the definition of
"religious" to encompass atheism tends to result in many other aspects of
human behaviour suddenly becoming classed as "religious" as well -- such as
science, politics, and watching TV.

"OK, so it's not a religion.  But surely belief in atheism (or science) is
 still just an act of faith, like religion is?"

Firstly, it's not entirely clear that sceptical atheism is something one
actually believes in.

Secondly, it is necessary to adopt a number of core beliefs or assumptions to
make some sort of sense out of the sensory data we experience.  Most atheists
try to adopt as few core beliefs as possible; and even those are subject to
questioning if experience throws them into doubt.

Science has a number of core assumptions.  For example, it is generally
assumed that the laws of physics are the same for all observers.  These are
the sort of core assumptions atheists make.  If such basic ideas are called
"acts of faith", then almost everything we know must be said to be based on
acts of faith, and the term loses its meaning.

Faith is more often used to refer to complete, certain belief in something.
According to such a definition, atheism and science are certainly not acts of
faith.  Of course, individual atheists or scientists can be as dogmatic as
religious followers when claiming that something is "certain".  This is not a
general tendency, however; there are many atheists who would be reluctant to
state with certainty that the universe exists.

Faith is also used to refer to belief without supporting evidence or proof.