For atheists only - do you believe in a soul?

[bocablkr]

Please do not answer unless you are an atheist.

[MaxPower]

If by a soul you mean something that is seperate from your body and continues after you die, no I don't believe in that.

I do love soul music though. One of my favorite Ray Charles songs is I Believe to My Soul.

[bocablkr]

[ QUOTE ]
If by a soul you mean something that is seperate from your body and continues after you die, no I don't believe in that.

I do love soul music though. One of my favorite Ray Charles songs is I Believe to My Soul.

[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[ QUOTE ]
If by a soul you mean something that is seperate from your body and continues after you die, no I don't believe in that.

I do love soul music though. One of my favorite Ray Charles songs is I Believe to My Soul.

[/ QUOTE ]

Amen to that brother!

[DougShrapnel]

Yes, but I am a "bad" atheist in this regard. I have seem some speculative sceintific evidence for it, but even with zero evidence it's such a useful word that I'd "believe" in a soul. I'd be OK with getting kicked out of the club becuase of the belief.

Atheists are highly skeptical of "new age" mumbo jumbo, including uncritical belief in fortune-telling, esp, ghosts, various quack healing regimens, communing with the dead or erotic frolics with aliens.

[imported_luckyme]

I'm always intrigued by the 'maybe' option. In belief situations either you 'believe in' or you don't. I never quite get my head around "I maybe believe".
I suspect it comes from treating belief questions as if they were, "Is it possible that ... ". hmmmm... nope, those seem to require a yes or no also. What would "maybe possible" conceivably mean?
Ok, somebody help me here. What does 'maybe believe' mean?

[purnell]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm always intrigued by the 'maybe' option. In belief situations either you 'believe in' or you don't. I never quite get my head around "I maybe believe".
I suspect it comes from treating belief questions as if they were, "Is it possible that ... ". hmmmm... nope, those seem to require a yes or no also. What would "maybe possible" conceivably mean?
Ok, somebody help me here. What does 'maybe believe' mean?

[/ QUOTE ]

"I don't know."

[bocablkr]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm always intrigued by the 'maybe' option. In belief situations either you 'believe in' or you don't. I never quite get my head around "I maybe believe".
I suspect it comes from treating belief questions as if they were, "Is it possible that ... ". hmmmm... nope, those seem to require a yes or no also. What would "maybe possible" conceivably mean?
Ok, somebody help me here. What does 'maybe believe' mean?

[/ QUOTE ]

I included that option because I know if I didn't someone would complain. It actually has a vote, so hopefully that person will respond to your question.

if by "soul" you mean to say, "sense of decency" or "conscience", then yes. if by "soul", you mean, "immortal invisible spirit independent of the body", then no.

[imported_luckyme]

[ QUOTE ]
"I don't know."

[/ QUOTE ]
Seems strange a person wouldn't know if they believed in something, my head starts hurting just trying to reach that place.
If the question is "Do you believe in X, " and you don't believe ( think it is true) then that's a "no, I don't".
Even if the question is, "Can you conceive that some day you could, given suffient evidence, believe in X?" then a person answers "Yes, I can " or "No, I can't".
Iow, I'm trying to figure out what question a 'maybe' answer thinks it is replying to. It never seems to be the question as posed. Yes, No, leaves out no positions in a belief question.

[evil_twin]

I nearly answered "maybe" purely in the interests of intellectual honesty because I have to concede that I cannot possibly know for sure that there is not some component of my existence that is beyond our current comprehension.

Then I remembered I'm not an idiot and answered "no". But my answer is maybe in the most minor "OK OK I have to accept the tiny possibility" kind of way.

[imported_luckyme]

[ QUOTE ]
I nearly answered "maybe" purely in the interests of intellectual honesty because I have to concede that I cannot possibly know for sure

[/ QUOTE ] Ah, that helps. So, 'Maybe' answers are not in reply to "Do you believe X", rather to a potential followup question along the lines of

"What is your opinion about the existance of X?" "X is a possibility, somewhat slim. Maybe it exists. O.19% chance."
"So, do you believe X exists?"
"No."

[Piers]

Strickly speaking I should have answered maybe, as I have no default definition of soul and need to rely on others to supply a defintion.

However I ansered No, as for most plausable definitions of soul that would be my gut reaction.

[Piers]

[ QUOTE ]
What does 'maybe believe' mean?

[/ QUOTE ]
It could mean the question is ambiguous, so you are not sure exactly what is being asked.

So the doubt is as to what question you are bing asked, not in your answer to a specific question.

[ QUOTE ]
Skeptics are highly skeptical of "new age" mumbo jumbo, including uncritical belief in fortune-telling, esp, ghosts, various quack healing regimens, communing with the dead or erotic frolics with aliens.

[/ QUOTE ]

FYP.

[DougShrapnel]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Skeptics are highly skeptical of "new age" mumbo jumbo, including uncritical belief in fortune-telling, esp, ghosts, various quack healing regimens, communing with the dead or erotic frolics with aliens.

[/ QUOTE ]

FYP.

[/ QUOTE ]Next time work in a FYP that plays off the erotic frolics with aliens.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Skeptics are highly skeptical of "new age" mumbo jumbo, including uncritical belief in fortune-telling, esp, ghosts, various quack healing regimens, communing with the dead or erotic frolics with aliens.

[/ QUOTE ]

FYP.

[/ QUOTE ]Next time work in a FYP that plays off the erotic frolics with aliens, like an alien works in his tentacles into my bunghole.

[/ QUOTE ]

FYP.

[hmkpoker]

I'd like a definition of "soul" to be provided, but I answered "no" anyway because I'm pretty sure that's what I'd say provided any definition you'd give.

I believe that "I," that is, the conscious experience, is a natural result of a functional brain, much like the "fizzing" is a natural result of combining an acid and a base. It is immaterial, variable, and does not survive death. What the experience of death is like is something I can't answer as I can't relate to it.

[DougShrapnel]

[ QUOTE ]
like an alien works in his tentacles into my bunghole.

[/ QUOTE ] TMI

[imported_luckyme]

[ QUOTE ]
It could mean the question is ambiguous, so you are not sure exactly what is being asked.
So the doubt is as to what question you are bing asked, not in your answer to a specific question.

[/ QUOTE ] thanks, piers. I was drifting toward that conclusion from your previous comment. You can see the issue with 'maybe' is that it can't be clear what the response means - so if a person gets 10 maybe replies do they mean -
- "I'm not 100% certain it is true."
- "I don't think it's knowable."
- "I don't have a clue what you're talking about". etc.
The Yes/No answers don't suffer from that ambiguity.
thanks everyone for the help, at least I'm comforted that I wasn't missing something obvious ( which I'm quite capable of doing). luckyme

[ QUOTE ]
I'm always intrigued by the 'maybe' option. In belief situations either you 'believe in' or you don't. I never quite get my head around "I maybe believe".
I suspect it comes from treating belief questions as if they were, "Is it possible that ... ". hmmmm... nope, those seem to require a yes or no also. What would "maybe possible" conceivably mean?
Ok, somebody help me here. What does 'maybe believe' mean?

[/ QUOTE ]

When you're not sure whether you believe or not? Just a guess.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"I don't know."

[/ QUOTE ]
Seems strange a person wouldn't know if they believed in something, my head starts hurting just trying to reach that place.
If the question is "Do you believe in X, " and you don't believe ( think it is true) then that's a "no, I don't".
Even if the question is, "Can you conceive that some day you could, given suffient evidence, believe in X?" then a person answers "Yes, I can " or "No, I can't".
Iow, I'm trying to figure out what question a 'maybe' answer thinks it is replying to. It never seems to be the question as posed. Yes, No, leaves out no positions in a belief question.

[/ QUOTE ]

You seem to assume that self-knowledge is transparent. If there's a subconscious then there are all kinds of things we might believe but not know we believe. If your mother mistreated you as a child you might still believe you love her, when in fact you hate her for what she did to you. Or you might have always thought that your mother loved you, until you start remembering how she treated you as a child. In a case like that there can be times when it makes perfect sense to answer a question like "Do you believe your mother loves you" with an "I don't know." It can simply be unclear to you whether she loved you or not, and so the honest answer could be something like "maybe."

Also, it's not necessary for someone to actually have a thought "that p" in order to believe "that p," or to be reasonably attributed the belief "that p." For example, someone who's never literally had the thought "Australia exists" might still be reasonably attributed the belief that Australia exists.

No. I have always been suspicious that such a belief was some form of manifestion related to schizophrenia. I don't think I am paranoid /images/graemlins/smile.gif but there are a lot of weird people around. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[imported_luckyme]

I'd wondered[ QUOTE ]
Iow, I'm trying to figure out what question a 'maybe' answer thinks it is replying to.

[/ QUOTE ]
thanks Philo for - [ QUOTE ]
It can simply be unclear to you whether she loved you or not, and so the honest answer could be something like "maybe."

[/ QUOTE ] Yes, I suspected they were answering the unasked 'fact' question, rather than the 'belief' question.
"Does you mother love you?" "I don't know" seems a normal answer. From that follows the answer to the belief question, framed as the OPs was, "Do you BELIEVE your mother loves you" Well, since you just answered the fact question that you don't know, then it follows that it's be a weird pyschotic state that allows you to answer "yes, I believe she does." to the belief question. Thus, the honest answer to the Belief question is "No".
Or, we could even just answer the fact question, if asked, " I believe I don't know." which perhaps makes it clearer that the answer to the belief question is "No".
thanks again for the suggestion, luckyme