The Content and Metaphysical Significance of Atheism
The purpose of this paper is to answer two questions. First, what is atheism? Second, what is the significance of atheism? I contend that atheism should be understood as the absence of theistic belief and that atheism is significant only insofar as it denotes the absence of theistic belief. Atheists may be familiar with theisms and may reject them, but rejection of theisms is not a necessary condition for being an atheist. Absence of theistic belief is the only necessary condition for being an atheist, and that does not require familiarity with or awareness of a single theism. Since absence of theistic belief is the only necessary condition for being an atheist, for us to discover that a person is an atheist tells us nothing of significance about that person save that she does not possess theistic belief of any kind.
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