Philosophical Meaning of Acharite
The philosophical term “Atheism” was first used by Leo Tolstoy in his book The Hindus. The word “atheism” literally means “not religion”, but the prefix “athe” means “obeying” or “obeying the gods”. From this, the meaning of the word “atheism” can be interpreted as a system of philosophy that denies the existence of deities. The philosophical meaning of the word “atheism” is therefore “apart from religion”, or “not attributing divinity to any being”.
In The Oxford Dictionary definition of the word “atheism”, the second term “Atheism” is defined as “a general disposition, often unconscious, of rejection of the existence of God”. This suggests that those who are defined as “atheists” have a deep-seated intellectual belief that there is no such thing as God. There is also a philosophical term “agnostic”. This suggests that a person may believe in God and not believe that he is theistic or have any religious beliefs. However, these definitions of atheism are very broad and the nature of this philosophy is vague.
In most societies throughout the world, people have a religious belief or concept of a supreme being. However, there is another philosophy that defines this belief, and that is “atheism”. Many people will attempt to distinguish between these two philosophies; however, they are both part of the same philosophy. So whether one defines the philosophy of “atheism” as “not believing in a god” or as “a lack of belief in a god”, both definitions are used interchangeably throughout most society. Many individuals will assert that they have a clear understanding of the difference between these two terms, yet when pressed for an explanation on the topic, they will still use the definitions that they learned in their religious upbringing or college.