Negative atheism, also called weak atheism and soft atheism, is any type of atheism where a person does not believe in the existence of any deities but does not necessarily explicitly assert that there are none. Positive atheism, also called strong atheism and hard atheism, is the form of atheism that additionally asserts that no deities exist. Sometimes positive atheism goes by the term ''gnostic atheism'' to contrast with

agnostic atheism Agnostic atheism is a philosophical position that encompasses both atheism and agnosticism. Agnostic atheists are atheistic because they do not hold a belief in the existence of any deity, and are agnostic because they claim that the existence of ...

, which is more correlated with weak atheism, and to stand opposite ''

Gnostic Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized pe ...

theism Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of a supreme being or deities. In common parlance, or when contrasted with '' deism'', the term often describes the classical conception of God that is found in monotheism (also referred ...

'' on simple charts mapping different

belief systems A belief is an attitude that something is the case, or that some proposition is true. In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief" to refer to attitudes about the world which can be either true or false. To believe something is to take ...

. The terms "negative atheism" and "positive atheism" were used by

Antony Flew Antony Garrard Newton Flew (; 11 February 1923 – 8 April 2010) was a British philosopher. Belonging to the analytic and evidentialist schools of thought, Flew worked on the philosophy of religion. During the course of his career he taught a ...

in 1976 and have appeared in

George H. Smith George Hamilton Smith (February 10, 1949 – April 8, 2022) was an American author, editor, educator, and speaker, known for his writings on atheism and libertarianism. Biography Smith grew up mostly in Tucson, Arizona, and attended the Unive ...

'sAtheism, Ayn Rand, and Other Heresies - an excerpt
George H. Smith; 1990 and Michael Martin's writings since 1990.

Scope of application

Because of flexibility in the term ''god'', it is possible that a person could be a positive/strong atheist in terms of certain conceptions of God, while remaining a negative/weak atheist in terms of others. For example, the God of

classical theism Classical theism is a form of theism in which God is characterized as the absolutely metaphysically ultimate being, in contrast to other conceptions such as pantheism, panentheism, polytheism, deism and process theism. Classical theism is a f ...

is often considered to be a personal supreme being who is

omnipotent Omnipotence is the quality of having unlimited power. Monotheistic religions generally attribute omnipotence only to the deity of their faith. In the monotheistic religious philosophy of Abrahamic religions, omnipotence is often listed as one ...

omniscient Omniscience () is the capacity to know everything. In Hinduism, Sikhism and the Abrahamic religions, this is an attribute of God. In Jainism, omniscience is an attribute that any individual can eventually attain. In Buddhism, there are diffe ...

omnipresent Omnipresence or ubiquity is the property of being present anywhere and everywhere. The term omnipresence is most often used in a religious context as an attribute of a deity or supreme being, while the term ubiquity is generally used to descri ...

, and

omnibenevolent Omnibenevolence (from Latin ''omni-'' meaning "all", ''bene-'' meaning "good" and ''volens'' meaning "willing") is defined by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as "unlimited or infinite benevolence". Some philosophers have argued that it is impos ...

, caring about humans and human affairs. One might be a positive atheist for such a deity, while being a negative atheist with respect to a

deistic Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin ''deus'', meaning "god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge, and asserts that empirical reason and observation of t ...

conception of God by rejecting belief in such a deity but not explicitly asserting it to be false. Positive and negative atheism are frequently used by the philosopher

as synonyms of the less-well-known categories of

implicit and explicit atheism Implicit atheism and explicit atheism are types of atheism. In George H. Smith's ''Atheism: The Case Against God'', "implicit atheism" is defined as "the absence of theistic belief without a conscious rejection of it", while "explicit atheism" ...

, also relating to whether an individual holds a specific view that gods do not exist. "''Positive''" atheists explicitly assert that it is false that any deities exist. "''Negative''" atheists assert they do not believe any deities exist, but do not necessarily explicitly assert it is ''true'' that no deity exists. Those who do not believe any deities exist, but do not assert such non-belief, are included among ''implicit atheists''. Among "implicit" atheists are thus included the following: children and adults who have never heard of deities; people who have heard of deities but have never given the idea any considerable thought; and those agnostics who suspend belief about deities, but do not reject such belief. All ''implicit'' atheists are included in the ''negative/weak'' categorization. Under the negative atheism classification, agnostics are atheists. The validity of this categorization is disputed, however, and a few prominent atheists such as Richard Dawkins avoid it. In '' The God Delusion'', Dawkins describes people for whom the probability of the existence of God is between "very high" and "very low" as "agnostic" and reserves the term "strong atheist" for those who claim to know there is no God. He categorizes himself as a "

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

atheist" but ''not'' a "strong atheist" on this scale. Within negative atheism, philosopher Anthony Kenny further distinguishes between

agnostics Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

, who find the claim "God exists" uncertain, and theological noncognitivists, who consider all talk of gods to be meaningless.

Alternative meanings

Jacques Maritain used the negative/positive phrases as early as 1949, but with a different meaning and in the context of a strictly

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

apologist Apologetics (from Greek , "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and ...

Goparaju Ramachandra Rao Goparaju Ramachandra Rao (nickname: Gora) (15 November 1902 – 26 July 1975) was an Indian social reformer, atheist activist and a participant in the Indian independence movement. He authored many books on atheism and proposed atheism as self-c ...

(1902–1975), better known by his

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

Gora, was an Indian social reformer, anti-caste activist, and atheist. He proposed a philosophy he called "positive atheism", which treated atheism as a way of life in his 1972 book, ''Positive Atheism''. Similarly, the Atheist Community of Austin (ACA) uses the term ''positive atheism'' in the sense of putting a positive face to atheism and dispelling the false and negative image of atheism portrayed by religious people, especially in places of worship. ''Positive Atheism Magazine'' "sees atheism as being a positive, healthy outlook -- much healthier than any theistic approach to life."What is Positive Atheism?
Positive Atheism Magazine; November, 1998 Agnostics are not always merely implicit atheists. For instance,

Philip Pullman Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. His books include the fantasy trilogy '' His Dark Materials'' and '' The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ'', a fictionalised biography of Jesus. In 2008, ''T ...

, the English author of the ''

His Dark Materials ''His Dark Materials'' is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of '' Northern Lights'' (1995; published as ''The Golden Compass'' in North America), '' The Subtle Knife'' (1997), and '' The Amber Spyglass'' (2000). It follo ...

'' fantasy trilogy, which has atheism as a major theme, is an explicit atheist,"As an atheist I'm rather on difficult ground here, but presumably this is what a Christian believes.
The Dark Materials debate: life, God, the universe...
(interview of Pullman by Rowan Williams), Telegraph.co.uk, March 17, 2004 (Accessed November 12, 2007). but also describes himself as technically an agnostic.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weak And Strong Atheism Atheism Philosophy of religion es:Ateísmo débil

Scope of application

Alternative meanings

See also

References