Can nothingness be a claim?
I have a very interesting question related to critical thinking. The question is:
Can nothingness be a claim?
Let me elaborate on the whole situation so everyone can understand the question.
Yesterday late at night, I was thinking about God. I am an atheist, so I don’t believe in God. Suddenly, my inner voice said to me:
“Why are you still believing instead of knowing? You believe that there is no God, and that is the exact same thing theists do — they also believe.”
Believing in something is a kind of doubt: maybe it exists, or maybe it does not. So rather than believing, I thought I should say:
“I know that there is no God.”
But when I said this, things started getting complicated. I realized that if I say:
“I know that there is no God,”
then at that moment I am making a claim. And if it is a claim, then the burden of proof also goes onto me, because claims require proof.
And the thinking starts from here.
I said, “No, I am not making any claim.”
The statement:
“I know that there is no God”
is a kind of claim that represents nothingness. Whenever I say:
“I know that there is no God,”
it means that I know there is no being above us controlling us. So according to this, the statement is making a claim about “nothingness.”
And nothingness itself is not a claim; it is a neutral position.
I am not claiming another being or another supernatural power. I am claiming nothingness by saying:
“I know that there is no God.”