A Manual for Creating Atheists

by Peter Boghossian

Question 1: Is it possible that some people misconstrue reality? Most students will say “yes” or nod their heads. For those few who say “no,” or who look unsure, I ask, “If Fred thinks that two plus two is eighteen, and Sue thinks it’s forty-one, and if they both conceive of the operator in the same way, has someone misconstrued reality?” Not a single student will say “no.” Question 2: Do some people misconstrue reality? Question two moves from the possibility of misconstruing reality, to the fact that some individuals actually do misconstrue reality. It’s important at this stage that you do not provide examples—instead let students provide their own. Sadly, I had to figure this out on my own, but students relate more to examples given by other students, and much less to those given by the instructor. Fielding examples is usually the most time consuming of all of the stages; I spend about five to seven minutes eliciting and encouraging as many students as possible to contribute to this stage.