How does one "half-believe" in something? Even faith is contingent on -full- beliefs of some kind. Either way, if someone believes in the concept of gods (in some form or another), they're not atheists.
It's just a line from a show that I found interesting, I don't exactly agree with it myself. If someone half believes, it's still a form of belief, and that would probably categorize them as being agnostic.
I don't think people are capable of "half belief" in gods (or anything else, for that matter). They can believe or disbelieve in certain aspects of a larger system of belief but in terms of individual beliefs, one either believes in something or they don't.
Surely just having the ability to conceive of a higher authority as a possiblility would constitute a half belief. Having a pure notion of something without the faith to give you the conviction of it's existence. Any theory or fantasy relies on the same commitment to neither side, that the truth could be one way or another. If one simply believes or not then what point is there in the constant questioning of ourselves and the world around us, and where would mankind be if we didn't hold half beliefs. We wouldn't explore or experiment,we wouldn't dare to love and hope to change because our beliefs or lack of them would hold us where we stood in life. When you look back and see lives lived by acceptance or denial, there was no progress no force to adapt and everything stayed as it was and always had been, man is evolution and evolution is uncertainty.
"Surely just having the ability to conceive of a higher authority as a possiblility would constitute a half belief."
I can imagine a pink monkey driving a cement truck around Jupiter. I must "half believe" in that idea, right? No, I don't.
If we're talking about a belief system (multiple beliefs, not just one), you can believe in certain aspects of that system, while dismissing others, figuratively speaking that could be called "partial belief" or having "weak belief" or "weak faith", what have you. But that's in regards to a whole system of beliefs, not a single belief.
If you're talking about a single belief, you either believe it or you don't.
"Any theory or fantasy relies on the same commitment to neither side, that the truth could be one way or another."
Not knowing something (an unknown) is not equal to"half believing" in it e.g. I don't "half believe" in everything I don't know. Theory is a linear process, a process which is contingent on knowns, not unknowns. It's what we know that allows us to make theories, to fantasize, to hope, etc., not "half beliefs" or unknowns.
“Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
@enigma - The show you were watching, was it "Shameless"? I'm looking forward to the Showtime remake of the British series.
An agnostic is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god. They are not half-believers or riding the fence, they simply do not believe in anything without physical proof.
In either case, I dig this picture, was it referenced or created?
drawn in 38 min
drawn in 17 min
drawn in 5 min
drawn in 16 min
How does one "half-believe" in something? Even faith is contingent on -full- beliefs of some kind. Either way, if someone believes in the concept of gods (in some form or another), they're not atheists.
I can imagine a pink monkey driving a cement truck around Jupiter. I must "half believe" in that idea, right? No, I don't.
If we're talking about a belief system (multiple beliefs, not just one), you can believe in certain aspects of that system, while dismissing others, figuratively speaking that could be called "partial belief" or having "weak belief" or "weak faith", what have you. But that's in regards to a whole system of beliefs, not a single belief.
If you're talking about a single belief, you either believe it or you don't.
"Any theory or fantasy relies on the same commitment to neither side, that the truth could be one way or another."
Not knowing something (an unknown) is not equal to"half believing" in it e.g. I don't "half believe" in everything I don't know. Theory is a linear process, a process which is contingent on knowns, not unknowns. It's what we know that allows us to make theories, to fantasize, to hope, etc., not "half beliefs" or unknowns.
@enigma - The show you were watching, was it "Shameless"? I'm looking forward to the Showtime remake of the British series.
An agnostic is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god. They are not half-believers or riding the fence, they simply do not believe in anything without physical proof.
In either case, I dig this picture, was it referenced or created?
Also, the drawing was mostly referenced, then tweaked a little.