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05 "But isn't it impossible to prove the non-existence of something?" (An Introduction to Atheism)




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This article is from the Atheism FAQ, by mathew meta@pobox.com with numerous contributions by others.

05 "But isn't it impossible to prove the non-existence of something?" (An Introduction to Atheism)

There are many counter-examples to such a statement. For example, it
is quite simple to prove that there does not exist a prime number
larger than all other prime numbers. Of course, this deals with
well-defined objects obeying well-defined rules. Whether Gods or
universes are similarly well-defined is a matter for debate.

However, assuming for the moment that the existence of a God is not
provably impossible, there are still subtle reasons for assuming the
non-existence of God. If we assume that something does not exist, it
is always possible to show that this assumption is invalid by finding
a single counter-example.

If on the other hand we assume that something does exist, and if the
thing in question is not provably impossible, showing that the
assumption is invalid may require an exhaustive search of all possible
places where such a thing might be found, to show that it isn't there.
Such an exhaustive search is often impractical or impossible. There is
no such problem with largest primes, because we can prove that they
don't exist.

Therefore it is generally accepted that we must assume things do not
exist unless we have evidence that they do. Even theists follow this
rule most of the time; they don't believe in unicorns, even though
they can't conclusively prove that no unicorns exist anywhere.

To assume that God exists is to make an assumption which probably
cannot be tested. We cannot make an exhaustive search of everywhere
God might be to prove that he doesn't exist anywhere. So the sceptical
atheist assumes by default that God does not exist, since that is an
assumption we can test.

Those who profess strong atheism usually do not claim that no sort of
God exists; instead, they generally restrict their claims so as to
cover varieties of God described by followers of various religions. So
whilst it may be impossible to prove conclusively that no God exists,
it may be possible to prove that (say) a God as described by a
particular religious book does not exist. It may even be possible to
prove that no God described by any present-day religion exists.

In practice, believing that no God described by any religion exists is
very close to believing that no God exists. However, it is
sufficiently different that counter-arguments based on the
impossibility of disproving every kind of God are not really
applicable.

 

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