| on left | Implicit "negative" / "weak" / "soft" atheists who lack a belief in God without explicitly denying the concept, includes very young children, those who are unacquainted with the concept or are truly undecided. | |
| on right | Explicit "negative" / "weak" / "soft" atheists who do not believe that God exists necessarily. | |
| on right | Explicit "positive" / "strong" / "hard" atheists who firmly believe that God doesn't exist. |
Note: Areas in the diagram are not meant to indicate relative numbers of people.
| Part of a series on |
| Atheism |
|---|
Negative atheism, also called weak atheism and soft atheism, is any type of atheism where a person does not believe in the existence of any deities 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.[1][2][3]
The terms "negative atheism" and "positive atheism" were used by Antony Flew in 1976[1] and have appeared in George H. Smith's[4] and Michael Martin's writings since 1990.[5]
- ^ a b Flew, Antony (1976). "The Presumption of Atheism". The Presumption of Atheism, and other Philosophical Essays on God, Freedom, and Immortality. New York: Barnes and Noble. pp. 14ff. Archived from the original on 2005-10-12. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
In this interpretation an atheist becomes: not someone who positively asserts the non-existence of God; but someone who is simply not a theist. Let us, for future ready reference, introduce the labels 'positive atheist' for the former and 'negative atheist' for the latter.
- ^ Martin, Michael (2006). The Cambridge Companion to Atheism. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-84270-0.
- ^ "Definitions of the term "Atheism"". Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. 2007. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
- ^ Atheism, Ayn Rand, and Other Heresies - an excerpt; George H. Smith; 1990
- ^ Martin, Michael (1990). Atheism: A Philosophical Justification. Temple University Press. p. 26. ISBN 0-87722-943-0. "negative atheism, the position of not believing a theistic God exists" / "positive atheism: the position of disbelieving a theistic God exists"; p. 464: "Clearly, positive atheism is a special case of negative atheism: Someone who is a positive atheist is by necessity a negative atheist, but not conversely".