Is Atheism (et al) a Worldview?

[SalixIncendium]

It was suggested and refuted in another thread that atheism is a worldview. Is it? Is theism? Agnosticism? Apatheism? Ignoticism? Transtheism?

Or are they a part of what constitutes a worldview?

Explain your reasoning.

 

[HonestJoe]

No. If anyone believes they can describe their entire worldview with a single word, they've not given it anything like enough thought.

 

[Nakosis]

It was suggested and refuted in another thread that atheism is a worldview. Is it? Is theism? Agnosticism? Apatheism? Ignoticism? Transtheism?

Or are they a part of what constitutes a worldview?

Explain your reasoning.

Atheism is not robust enough to be a worldview.
It can be part of a worldview but by itself simply states a lack of belief.

A world view requires an ontology, a basis of morality and a set of basic beliefs, not just the lack of a single one.

Atheism answers no questions about reality except that an individual lacks a belief in any God.

How can that be called a worldview?

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

Food for thought: Christian worldview - Wikipedia

 

[We Never Know]

It was suggested and refuted in another thread that atheism is a worldview. Is it? Is theism? Agnosticism? Apatheism? Ignoticism? Transtheism?

Or are they a part of what constitutes a worldview?

Explain your reasoning.

Isn't a worldview a set of beliefs and/or assumptions through which people see the world around them?

Atheist don't have a belief in a god. They lack belief.
Atheists don't have a belief or assume in science. They accept/follow the evidence.

But it depends on your search. Some say no, some say yes.

"Atheism is not a worldview. It is an answer to the question of whether a person believes in a god or not. Atheists rarely claim certainty. Typically, rather than arguing that the existence of a god or gods is impossible, it is their view that it is highly improbable. They see no good or persuasive reason to believe.

What is and isn’t a non-religious worldview?

‘The English word ‘worldview’ is a translation of the German weltanschauung, which literally means a view of the world. A worldview is a person’s way of understanding, experiencing and responding to the world. It can be described as a philosophy of life or an approach to life. This includes how...

understandinghumanism.org.uk

"That’s why atheism is a worldview. Atheists make choices based on the view that God does not exist"

Atheism is a Worldview

Atheism, whether a belief in no god or a non-belief in god, has the same consequential influence on moral decision-making. Atheism, whether a belief in god or a non-belief in god, has the same influence on worldview—it keeps the choices to a local level. And that’s the problem. That’s why atheism is

wisedisciple.org

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

It was suggested and refuted in another thread that atheism is a worldview. Is it?

No. It's the general label that covers all worldviews that don't include any gods.

Is theism?

No. It's the general lanel that covers all worldviews that include one or more gods.

Agnosticism? Apatheism? Ignoticism? Transtheism?

I'd say these are elements of worldviews.

Or are they a part of what constitutes a worldview?

Explain your reasoning.

One way of looking at it that I find useful: "X is a worldview" implies "if two people agree on X and nothing else, they still have the same worldview."

 

[Quintessence]

It depends.

What's the substance behind the label? What is it pointing to by the speaker?

The word-thing itself doesn't tell us much.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

It depends.

What's the substance behind the label? What is it pointing to by the speaker?

The word-thing itself doesn't tell us much.

The term "atheist" points away from something rather than to something.

In this respect, it's similar to terms like "foreign" and "civilian."

 

[Echogem222]

It was suggested and refuted in another thread that atheism is a worldview. Is it? Is theism? Agnosticism? Apatheism? Ignoticism? Transtheism?

Or are they a part of what constitutes a worldview?

Explain your reasoning.

Atheism is simply the absence of belief in God, Gods, etc. but to have such an absence of such beliefs requires a cause, which means some type of worldview, which rarely means a religion. Theism is simply the belief in God, Gods, etc. but to have such beliefs requires a cause, which means some type of worldview, which tends to be a religion of some sort.

 

[Stevicus]

It was suggested and refuted in another thread that atheism is a worldview. Is it? Is theism? Agnosticism? Apatheism? Ignoticism? Transtheism?

Or are they a part of what constitutes a worldview?

Explain your reasoning.

Just out of curiosity, how was it refuted in the other thread that atheism is a worldview?

It could be a worldview, although an individual's worldview might encompass many aspects of existence, so I'm not sure if atheism, just by itself, could be considered a complete worldview. Maybe someone could argue along those lines. If someone proposed that the world would be better off if we only focused on our material/physical existence and discarded any and all thinking about the supernatural, then that might be considered an atheistic worldview.

 

[LuisDantas]

It was suggested and refuted in another thread that atheism is a worldview. Is it? Is theism? Agnosticism? Apatheism? Ignoticism? Transtheism?

Or are they a part of what constitutes a worldview?

Explain your reasoning.

Atheism is no worldview and can never be. It is reasonable that some worldview or another may at times be called atheistic or even typical of atheism, but I think that is a lot more circunstantial (and vague) than some assume.

Atheism itself has very little meaning or consequence. But it may be lent significance or at least the superficial appearance of significance when it is present and makes a difference when, for instance, confronting superstition, negationism or dogma.

But it is hard to even imagine atheism as a core, decisive element of any worldview. At most it will be an impediment to adopting a theocentric one.

 

[John53]

I wish I understood the question.

 

[Augustus]

It was suggested and refuted in another thread that atheism is a worldview. Is it?

In a general sense it is not a worldview, just an attitude/belief regarding a specific proposition.

In theory, we could use it in a specific context to point to a worldview as language is very flexible and we frequently use words to convey more than their narrow, denotative dictionary meaning.

Some folk like to insist that the label tells us literally nothing about a person beyond one's disbelief in god(s). This is true in a sense, but also a bit misleading.

In a vacuum, the label "atheist" tells us nothing beyond one's disbelief in god(s), but when used in a real-world context it often communicates a fair deal more than that (at least tentatively or probabilistically).

 

[ADigitalArtist]

Calling atheism a worldview is reductive to me. Worldviews, like religions or philosophies or political parties, are a collection of tenets and ideologies, not one single tenet. Atheism can certainly be part of a worldview, but I wouldn't consider it one on its own.

I suppose if you really try hard to make atheism your entire personality that might change my answer. Like someone who responds when asked what is their political philosophy and they just say 'FREEDOM!' Shallow, but apparently sufficient.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Atheism is simply the absence of belief in God, Gods, etc. but to have such an absence of such beliefs requires a cause, which means some type of worldview, which rarely means a religion. Theism is simply the belief in God, Gods, etc. but to have such beliefs requires a cause, which means some type of worldview, which tends to be a religion of some sort.

Atheism as a term, is only there because of theistics. Thats the cause.

It was never a worldview to begin with because the term itself was never around until somebody one day proposed the existence of supernatural deities and the like.

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[Echogem222]

Atheism as a term, is only there because of theistics. Thats the cause.

It was never a worldview to begin with because the term itself was never around until somebody one day proposed the existence of supernatural deities and the like.

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Did you not read what I actually said??

 

[siti]

I wish I understood the question.

Me too! I couldn't get my head around the phrase "atheism (et al)" - I assume it means "and the other things mentioned in the OP" - namely,

theism? Agnosticism? Apatheism? Ignoticism? Transtheism?

Well, if we go back to the originator of the term "theism", Ralph Cudworth, he defined the idea thus: "[they are] strictly and properly called Theists, who affirm, that a perfectly conscious understanding being, or mind, existing of itself from eternity, was the cause of all other things" - to me that very clearly is a worldview because any and all other knowledge and perceptions of the world that a "theist" may come up against are interpreted in terms of that idea. I.e. for a theist, the idea of theism explains both the existence and the continuing 'evolution' of 'the world' and therefore it is a 'worldview'.

However, atheism - which basically means that such a "being or mind" or "beings" or "minds" are not necessary to explain the world and probably (or definitely depending on how strong you like your atheism) don't exist at all. That's not a worldview because it explains nothing at all except itself (if you see what I mean)...though I can't help but wonder at how come such a simple and self-explanatory term generates so much debate regarding its own definition.

Ag/ignosticism either don't know or can't know whether there's a deity or not and apatheism couldn't care less...so none of these can be worldviews because they don't hold any explanation of any facts about the world except that some possible facts are unknown or unknowable.

And I have no idea what "transtheism" is so I have no idea whether it is a worldview.

There are others - deism - the idea there is/was a creator who takes no further part in the unfolding of reality after the moment of creation is probably a partial "worldview" in that it explains the existence of the world but not so much about what subsequently happens in it.

Pantheism/pandeism and panentheism seem to me to be (at least partial) worldviews because they have it that the entire world is equal to or part of deity and therefore any facts or perceptions about the world would be interpreted as such. But I could be wrong about that - there are probably as many versions of pantheism (etc) as there are pantheists (etc) so some might be more of a worldview than others I guess.

So atheism - no, not a worldview - et al - some yes, some no, some maybe or partial...more or less..."you pays your money and you takes your choice".

 

[RestlessSoul]

Either God is everything, or He is nothing. Either perspective must surely inform every aspect of a person’s view, of the world.

 

[John53]

Either God is everything, or He is nothing. Either perspective must surely inform every aspect of a person’s view, of the world.

I started off a Christian then became an atheist. My world view didn't change that I'm aware of. It did however change when I got lymphoma.

 

[Heyo]

It was suggested and refuted in another thread that atheism is a worldview. Is it? Is theism? Agnosticism? Apatheism? Ignoticism? Transtheism?

Or are they a part of what constitutes a worldview?

Explain your reasoning.

Atheism is a philosophy, atheism isn't. There is still the philosophical meaning of Atheism, most prominently propagated by Friedrich Nietzsche, but also other thinkers of the Enlightenment.
Modern (or "new") atheists tend to deny that Atheism once was a position and the word had more than a single meaning.
The same goes for Agnosticism.
I don't know if apatheism, ignosticism or transtheism ever were connected to a philosophy.