tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8490879286631860915.post1994040520679913383..comments2023-07-03T04:44:07.011-07:00Comments on I traded my soul for happiness: Freethinker, Secularist, Nontheist, Humanist.......Kaminahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14695959724523452864noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8490879286631860915.post-16097869921341707772008-01-24T12:30:00.000-08:002008-01-24T12:30:00.000-08:00I like naturalist. :) I tend to like every name id...I like naturalist. :) I tend to like every name idea I hear. None of them are bad, there are just SO many that we end up losing the larger community. My opinion is still that I like "atheist" and I prefer to change what it means to theists, rather than coming up with new names that ultimately mean the same thing. <BR/><BR/>I'm probably going to wait until everyone agrees on something and go with that. I just want us to move forward.Kaminahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14695959724523452864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8490879286631860915.post-10400759626962723682008-01-24T00:01:00.000-08:002008-01-24T00:01:00.000-08:00I've heard some atheists say that they don't like ...I've heard some atheists say that they don't like the label "atheist" because it defines them as something they are not, from the point of view of theists. And of course there is the name "bright", popularized by Dennett and others, but that has a smack of superciliousness about it: if you're not a "bright" you must be a "dim", right?<BR/><BR/>Me, I don't care much. I usually just call myself an atheist. The problem with inventing a new name for something is that if that something has negative connotations, they will sooner or later get attached to the new name anyway. This can lead to what Steven Pinker calls the "euphemism treadmill", a series of new names that last a few years and then get discarded.<BR/><BR/>He gave the example of names for blacks. Up until the thirties or so, "black" was normal, and usually pejorative. It was replaced by "negro", and then "Afro-American", and now "black" again. Perhaps as Pinker says, when racism dies, then the labels can stay put.<BR/><BR/>My own name for my position would be "natural", or "naturalist", as opposed to "supernatural", or "supernaturalist", but no one's bitten so far.zilchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01695741977946935771noreply@blogger.com