Home Messages Index
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Author IndexDate IndexThread Index

Re: "Thinks" and "Believes in"

  • Subject: Re: "Thinks" and "Believes in"
  • From: Christopher A. Lee <calee@optonline.net>
  • Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 10:56:35 -0400
  • Newsgroups: uk.philosophy.atheism
  • Organization: Optimum Online
  • References: <d96lnl$1kgc$1@godfrey.mcc.ac.uk> <11bg87un8pos015@news.supernews.com>
  • Xref: news.mcc.ac.uk uk.philosophy.atheism:47807
On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 07:15:27 -0700, Jeffrey Goldberg
<nobody@goldmark.org> wrote:

>Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> Why are we accustomed to saying "he/she believes in God"? This
>> indirectly implies the existence of God -- one God, in fact.
>
>I have been engaged in long term arguments with some of my fellow 
>atheists about this.  But I still entirely fail to comprehend their (and 
>your) claim.
>
>If we say
>
>   (1) He believes in Santa Claus.
>
>or
>
>   (2) She believes that the Earth is flat.
>
>does that indirectly imply that the Earth is flat or that Santa Claus is 
>real?

Hardly. But the first has the implic assumption that Santa Claus
exists to "believe in".

They equivocate between "believe" and "believe in", without even
noticing.

The asssumption is that it exists. "Believe in" means they trust that
it will be there when they need it, given that assumption.

>I really would appreciate some help with this.  But note that I will be 
>on the road for the next week and don't know how frequently I'll be able 
>to participate in the discussion.
>
>Cheers,
>
>-j


[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Author IndexDate IndexThread Index