Why Atheism

[Mark]

Atheism is a term that is inextricably linked to theism. That being said, is the importance of the concept of atheism inextricably linked to concept of theism? That is, if theism is directly and necessarily related to faith, is atheism directly and necessarily related to rational analysis?

[Tyler]

No. Atheism is the absence of belief in a god or gods, and that's all. It makes no further claim about a person's state of mind.

[Mark]

Hi Tyler:
I suppose I need to clarify myself. Without theism, there would be no atheism. Given that, can atheism "stand on its own", or is it dependent upon theism (theism makes the proposition and thus is responsible for warranting it) and hence disappears with the disappearance of theism? If atheism is dependent, is rational analysis its basis? if not, what is?

[Tyler]

Without theism, by definition there would be no such thing as atheism, although that's a speculative philosophical proposition that can never exist in reality.

So atheism gets its identity from theism. But atheism is not inherently rational -- that's a separate question. This is why the definition I gave is so short. Lack of belief in the supernatural does not imply rational thought.

Even so, among atheists, at least in the United States, one is likely to find a far higher proportion of rational thinkers (in the sense of being scientifically minded) than in the general population. One needs to take care, however, to be aware of the distinction between atheists and "rational thinkers." They are separate concepts.