I often hear my fellow atheists say things like ‘You can’t prove a negative!’ in a debate. This is often in response to either a theist trying to shift the burden of proof, or a misunderstanding of epistemic justification (aka burden of rationality or burden of proof on a belief position). I often respond to…
So what is this ‘Normative’ thing all about anyway?
Language is descriptive. It is defined through use. People might describe their use of words in slightly different ways, be that through regional differences, common usages, or indeed there might be contextually correct usages of words. So what is this Normative thing all about then? When we speak about ‘Normative’ usage of words we largely…
The Faith of Science
Introduction The sun will rise tomorrow. This seems to be an uncontroversial statement. The sun came up today, and the sun came up yesterday, and the day before that. Just as it has for millions of days before that. Gravity held today, just as it has held since the formation of the universe. This is,…
More on Beliefs and Justifications
Introduction One of our authors, Davidian, here at Answers in Reason recently published an excellent article discussing the burden of proof on beliefs. The response to this article by many atheists and sceptics on Twitter was interesting to say the least. It received an awful lot of pushback, with many arguing that Davidian did not…
Bad Atheist Arguments – Vol:4 – Contradictory Claims and Statements
Continuing our miniseries of Bad Atheist Arguments on our quest for self-improvement I bring you a number of contradictory claims and statements I have seen many of my fellow atheists making, and indeed have possibly made myself in the past. Contents Words are Defined by Usage and ContextFaith, Atheism, Belief ONLY mean…Morality Is SubjectiveExcept I…
A Response to YouTuber Kristopher Mann
Introduction Note: Some edits have been made to clarify a few things. Edits will be noted. Before I begin my actual argument, I will fill in some background detail about what brought this article about. As well as this site and our podcast, we also run both a Facebook page and a Facebook group. Not…
Bad Atheist Arguments – Vol: 03 – Philosophy and Fallacies
The 3rd in the Bad Atheist Arguments series is now here. Having covered the ‘Bible and Evidence‘ in volume 1, and ‘Beliefs and Propositional Logic‘ in volume 2, I felt it time to address philosophy, fallacies, and general errors in our reasoning. Whilst there are a number of common theistic fallacies, we atheists forget sometimes…
Words are funny things!
Words are a funny thing. They are necessary for advanced communication, but those very same words are the cause of miscommunication. We can have entire conversations with each other, and sound like we’re talking to other, but actually be having two different conversations. Often times people are so busy trying to ‘dispatch’ their ‘opponent’, and…
Coherent and Consistent Beliefs
A wander through the many Facebook groups, YouTube videos, and Twitter tweeters with atheism as their central subject matter will see many atheists and sceptics making the claim of being rational. One could also look at the ‘memeosphere’ centred around atheism and scepticism to see images making claims like ‘I am a sceptic/atheist because I…
Do we Atheists have a Burden of Proof? – Conflated and Misunderstood Terms: Vol 7
“The burden is on the claimant!”, “I only lack belief so I have no burden”, “I don’t hold a belief as that is a claim” and other phrases are touted by many fellow atheists on the internet. Is this correct, or are we missing some of the picture? This article hopes to discuss What is…
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