Drawing a distinction between science and philosophy [View all]

[Binkie The Clown]

I hope this doesn't start a debate about "what it means to be an atheist", but I would like to say a few things about my own beliefs regarding science and philosophy.

First and foremost, I keep those two disciplines entirely separate from one another. A scientific hypothesis needs to be testable and falsifiable or else it's not "scientific". On the other hand, a philosophical speculation does not need to be testable or falsifiable. A speculation should, however, lead to logically supportable implications. (Note "logically" not "factually".) Philosophical speculations are "pre-scientific". In some cases, a speculation, if pursued far enough, might lead to implications which are testable and falsifiable, at which time it gets promoted from philosophy to science.

I have mentioned in this forum, and in the religion forum, that I am an atheist. I have no beliefs regarding any god, gods, or goddesses. I do not believe in an afterlife. I do not believe in reincarnation. I do not believe in an eternal soul.

On the other hand, I am perfectly willing to entertain those notions as philosophical speculations. I might wonder, for example, about the stories of "near death experiencers", and whether they lend any credence to an afterlife. I consider such speculations, but without believing them. I can consider the possibility of an eternal soul as some form of abstract consciousness/information expressed in ways other than material form. I don't believe in such things, but I'm not averse to thinking about them and discussing them.

So if, and when I discuss such things in this or other forums, keep in mind that I do not believe them, and I do not treat them as scientific hypotheses. But nor do I believe them to be false. Until some testable, falsifiable implication can be logically deduced for such philosophical speculations, I treat them as philosophical speculations. As such, I do not condemn, dismiss, or belittle them. I have no proof that they are false.

I do believe that it is perfectly rational to say that I do not believe in any kind of god, yet recognize that I might be wrong. I do not believe in any kind of afterlife, but I am more than willing to consider arguments that I am wrong. There is a big difference between "I do not believe in X." and "I do believe that X is not true."

I do not believe that god does not exist, nor do I believe that he/she/it does exist. That, I think, is the difference between an Atheist and an ANTItheist.