there are many words like that which we use without any fuss. The word 'game' is a famous example where different games possess a myriad of properties which are shared by some and not others. In fact there doesn't seem to be a set of properties sufficient to capture the nature of all games. Nevertheless, we use the word without any fuss.
And in a way the fact 'God' means different things to different people isn't a problem. If I say someone is an atheist, you can say that this person has some conception of God, whatever it is, and doesn't believe that thing exists. You can say that much at the very least. In the unlikely event that you are really confused about what he means by God you can ask for clarification. What I think has happened here is that a bunch of folk like Harris, unfamiliar with the philosophical territory, have stumbled over the fact that words don't quite get defined in as strict a manner as they thought. They think they have stumbled upon something of import but in reality the 'problem', such that there is one, generalizes easily to much of language and yet language remains as useful as it always was. From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Hitch Date: Tue, 9 Jul 2013 19:33:43 -0500 On Jul 9, 2013, at 5:56 PM, chris peck <[email protected]> wrote: If some one says "look, cat" I don't know what kind of cat they are refering to. I nevertheless can be confident that they have seen something feline. True, but cats are things people can see, and this the variety of possible meanings for the word cat is greatly constrained. When someone says god do they mean something that is (check any or all of the following):- immanent- transcendant- uncreated- eternal- intelligent- benevolent- creator- infinite- answerer of prayers- judge- designer- truth- love- universal mind- everything ? Because there are many types of possible and very different meanings for the word "god", using the word atheist to describe someone who does not believe in some particular conception of god is much like using the word "acatist" to describe someone who does not believe in 6-legged bright-pink saber tooth tigers, but nonetheless believes in lions and house cats. Even if you reject the particular god of some particular religious sect, I am confident there are particular selections of the above words that you would admit to believing in. Jason --- Original Message --- From: "Jason Resch" <[email protected]> Sent: 10 July 2013 8:35 AM To: "Everything List" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Hitch On Tue, Jul 9, 2013 at 5:33 PM, chris peck <[email protected]> wrote: Why does that make the word less usefull? I think its a very useful word. If someone tells me they are an atheist I then know that they do not belive in God. But you don't know what God the atheist doesn't believe in. Jason -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
