Possibilianism vs agnosticism? Possiblianism is a philosophy which rejects both the idiosyncratic claims of traditional theism and the positions of certainty in atheism in favor of a middle, exploratory ground. I wonder who has heard of it and what your thoughts are? Here are some links to get you going.
The problem with agnosticism is that they claim that there is no proof whether god exists or not, and the chances are 50/50. There might or might not be $1 million under my pillow when I return home, however, the proposition does not have a 50/50 probability. The presence of a god is an unprovable proposition, but the chances of there being one are vanishingly small. To pretend otherwise is disengenuous.
Sounds like more word salad.
No certainty in atheism. When there is evidence for god I will believe in god.
Not before.
The hubble telescope says it all. 7 trillion galaxies and a thing runs it all. suuuuure
Does "possibilianism", like theism, atheism and agnosticism, require the belief that "God" and "Allah" are possibly meaningful words that can be used meaningfully in a sentence? I am a theological noncognitivist and am unable to believe that "God" and "Allah" are meaningful words. That's because I am unable to conjure up any mental image of anything they could refer to. If you or anybody else on here claims to be able to have a mental concept for "God" and "Allah", then I request that you please describe such concept to me so that I can have it too. Thanks.
As @atheist said, possibilian should not be confused with probabilian. Just because something is remotely possible does not give it veracity.
The personal Gods of Christianity or Islamic faith can be strictly be ruled out by scientiffic evidence. Impersonal gods of the Hindu, Buddhist, or Chineese regional religions cannot.
@kcuhcortsa I don't know how to believe that the row of words "The personal Gods of Christianity or Islamic faith" have any mental referent. That's because I do not know how to have any mental concept of anything which that row of words could refer to. If you claim to be able to have a mental concept of something which that row of words could refer to, then please describe that mental concept to me so that I might be able to have it too. Otherwise it only seems to reason that "The personal Gods of Christianity or Islamic faith" is just a sequence of 8 words with no meaning. I don't believe that Christians and Muslims worship anything named "God" or "Allah", they just think they do and speak as though they do. But they can't if they haven't defined any god at all. It sure looks to me like they haven't defined any god at all. So they just think they worship a god, but they don't.
@EdwinMcCravy I came across the term personal God from readings of Joseph Campbell, a religious scholar of comparative religions. A personal God is one who supposedly listens to and occasionally answers prayers. For Christians, Muslims, and Jewish believers, their vision of God fits that definition. Half of the world, however, believe in impersonal gods. In these belief systems, the gods are a manifestation of nature, not the creator or external entity that imposes his will on nature. Thus, s pre-Columbian American Indian, for example, my pray for a good hunt, but he does not expect anything explicitly to happen.
A group has been formed called Atheists vs Agnostics "Atheist vs Agnostic", specifically to discuss meanings and definitions.
I disagree with the idea that “atheism” involves any certainty at all. You atheism only defines what you believe, not what you know. Gnosticism deals with what knowledge you have.
I thought atheism involved more what you don't believe. Like "I don't believe in god", But then again you could look at it like "I believe there is no god" and then you have a definition of what you believe. There are so many ways to look at something.
Atheism is a position of 'without god' based upon evidence & probability. It is what one thinks & not what one believes.
Atheism requires the certainty that "God" and "Allah" are meaningful words that stand for an imaginary thing. I lack that belief. Why are you certain of it?
It's an even weaker version of Agnosticism than typical, I see no benefit or value to it.
Sounds like "non-comitt-alism" to me. I don't mean that as a criticism either. I'm fine with that. I think it's good always to have an open mind about things and not take fixed positions. For me, agnostic seems to fit best.
When it comes to the Universe an open mind seems to be a reasonable position.
I hope so
"Universe" is just a word some word coiner long ago invented and gave the rule that we will say that anything that exists is to be labeled as "part of the universe". Remember that humans long ago made up all words, and made up usage rules for them. The words didn't drop down from the sky.