Negative atheism, also called weak atheism and soft atheism, is any type of

atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the Existence of God, existence of Deity, deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the ...

where a person does not believe in the existence of any

deities A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

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

Antony Flew Antony Garrard Newton Flew (; 11 February 1923 – 8 April 2010) was an English 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 ...

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 in the United States. Early life and activism Born in Japan in 1949 to Fr ...

'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 Conceptions of God in classical theist, monotheist, pantheist, and panentheist traditions – or of the supreme deity in henotheistic religions – can extend to various levels of abstraction: * as a powerful, personal, supernat ...

, while remaining a negative/weak atheist in terms of others. For example, the God of

classical theism Classical theism is a theological and philosophical form of theism that conceives of God as the ultimate reality, ultimate reality, characterized by attributes such as omnibenevolence, omnipotence, and omniscience. Rooted in the ancient Greek p ...

is often considered to be a personal supreme being who is

omnipotent Omnipotence is the property of possessing maximal 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 ...

, omniscient,

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 describ ...

, and

omnibenevolent Omnibenevolence is the property of possessing maximal goodness. Some philosophers, such as Epicurus, have argued that it is impossible, or at least improbable, for a deity to exhibit such a property alongside omniscience and omnipotence, as a res ...

, 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 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, 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 Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author. He is an Oxford fellow, emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Simonyi Professor for the Publ ...

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 atheist" but ''not'' a "strong atheist" on this scale. Within negative atheism, philosopher

Anthony Kenny Sir Anthony John Patrick Kenny (born 16 March 1931) is a British philosopher whose interests lie in the philosophy of mind, ancient and scholastic philosophy, the philosophy of religion, and the philosophy of Wittgenstein of whose literary est ...

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

References

{{Portal bar, Religion Philosophy and atheism Philosophy of religion es:Ateísmo débil

Scope of application

See also

References