Can You Hold Contradictory Beliefs?
In one of the recent Atheist Experience shows, they had a caller who claimed to be both a theist and an atheist. Russell wrote a very detailed and thoughtful article on the AE Blog where he disagreed with Matt Dillahunty’s claim that you cannot possibly hold both of those beliefs because they are mutually-contradictory. I’ve also run into a number of theists lately who have attempted to say similar things and no amount of reasoning would convince them of the fallacious nature of their claims.
While I completely see where Russell is coming from and respect it, I must agree with Matt. It may be entirely possible that the caller was using their own incorrect definitions of “theist” and “atheist, words do have meanings and when you decide to use particular words as descriptive, we have to use the words for what they actually mean, not what the individual wants them to mean.
A theist is someone who believes in a god or gods. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they belong to any particular religion, although that is often the case.
An atheist, on the other hand, is someone who is not a theist. That’s what the prefix ‘a’ means. As such, that means they do not believe in a god or gods. It does not necessarily mean they disbelieve in the existence of such things, although this is sometimes the case.
Therefore, taking these two directly opposite words and trying to apply them to a single individual is logically impossible. It’s like trying to claim to be both tall and short, young and old, dead and alive, asleep and awake. It really cannot be done without altering what you mean by the statement in question. Sure, you can say that you are taller than that person and shorter than this one, but that’s not the same as saying you’re both tall and short. Had the caller specified that he was theist with regard to this god and atheist with regard to another, that wouldn’t have been a problem but that isn’t what was said. Words have meanings for a reason.
Some terms are polar opposites and cannot be applied at the same time. A brick cannot both be heavy and light. A book cannot both be long and short. An athelete cannot both be fast and slow. No one, no matter how much they might wish it were the case, can be both theist and atheist at the same time, at least not without defining the specific characteristics of their theism and atheism. If you don’t do the latter, you can’t have the former.
And for those who argue that isn’t what the caller meant to say, the only way I can respond is that he should have said what he meant. How else is anyone going to understand you? Isn’t that what debate and discussion is all about, mutual understanding? Perhaps these theists need to work a little harder at being understood.
No Comments Yet to “Can You Hold Contradictory Beliefs?”
Bitchscriptions
Revolt Basic theme by NenadK. | Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS).