I'm not sure I've ever seen the term "scientific atheism" used - at least in the context of a juxtaposition with agnosticism.
Sure. I was trying to coin a phrase to suggest a thought I had, comparing agnosticism and atheism.
From a lay standpoint, the common explanation is that atheists are sure there's no god, but agnostics aren't that sure. The point I had was that, technically, if one is of scientific mind, one can't be totally sure there is no god - tentativity must be maintained.
So, from that perspective you can't be both scientifically tentative and truly atheist; that would require being more sure about something than tentativity would allow. But I don't feel agnostic, I feel atheist - I'm as sure as I can be there's no god.
So, that's what I meant by "scientific atheist" - that I'm as sure there is no god as scientific tentativity will allow. If that makes me agnostic instead then I don't really think there's a difference.
It's probably a misleading phrase. Hopefully my explanation makes some sense. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, as well as the thoughts of other atheists or agnostics. I'm actually pretty new to atheism - at least, in terms of being "out of the closet" with it - so I haven't ironed out all the nomenclature yet.
Since the topic is "None of the above", perhaps we're in the right thread after all. My explanation has a kind of "none of the above" feel to it, don't you think?
[This message has been edited by crashfrog, 06-18-2003]