What is the functional difference between deism and atheism?

[AlBell]

Other than perhaps solipsism, what philosophical viewpoint doesn't?

The one which don't assume an entity exists until evidence for it are gathered. Agnostic atheism seems to be the most nearer to that.

It does? How did you escape solipsism, other than deny it's you? You seem to have concluded you exist. I find unavoidable circularity in that argument.

 

[Piscivore]

None of the answers seem to arrive at something worth believing in and, especially, a creature that deserves no worship.

That's not quite the same question as "does it exist", though.

 

[TraneWreck]

That's not quite the same question as "does it exist", though.

Sure, but remember, we have absolutely no physical evidence for this thing's existence, and in the case of deism, there's no divine mojo awakening people's hearts or scripture to refer to.

It's just an inefficacious blob of nothing that, at best, was some sort of first cause who keeps the harps in tune. What reason would one have for believing in this thing?

 

[Darat]

Other than perhaps solipsism, what philosophical viewpoint doesn't?

Solipsism does start with an assumption.

I've read many brain twisting philosophical tracts that attempt to try and find something that doesn't require assumption but in the end you can always see the man behind the curtain.

 

[Piscivore]

Sure, but remember, we have absolutely no physical evidence for this thing's existence, and in the case of deism, there's no divine mojo awakening people's hearts or scripture to refer to.

It's just an inefficacious blob of nothing that, at best, was some sort of first cause who keeps the harps in tune. What reason would one have for believing in this thing?

Similar to the reasons people believe in "freedom" or "the future"?

 

[Egg]

Solipsism does start with an assumption.

I've read many brain twisting philosophical tracts that attempt to try and find something that doesn't require assumption but in the end you can always see the man behind the curtain.

I think you may well be right (hence "perhaps"). It's the closest I'm aware of though.

 

[A Christian Sceptic]

Do any, some, ?? Diests believe God cares how humans behave - even if he's not at this point directly involved in the Universe he created?

Do any, some, ?? Diests believe God is good, moral, etc or unknown except for starting things up / first creation / etc?

It seems like whether he's directly involved or not might not be what determines how someone lives there life in regards to their diestic believes, but rather what they think God's like, concerned with, etc.

 

[TraneWreck]

Similar to the reasons people believe in "freedom" or "the future"?

I don't follow.

I don't have to believe in the future, it will either come or it won't, and freedom I can understand in a relative sense--prison vs. not in prison, for instance.

 

[Piscivore]

I don't follow.

I don't have to believe in the future, it will either come or it won't,

I mean when someone says "I believe in the future of this company", or when the transhumanists wax poetic about the Singularity, sort of thing. Hell, that's a good example right there.

and freedom I can understand in a relative sense--prison vs. not in prison, for instance.

I guess I should have said "Freedom", with the capital. That vague, undefined thing that revolutionaries and politicians natter about when they talk about "Liberty". "Justice" is another one.