Negative and positive atheism

Positive and negative atheism are frequently used by the philosopher George H. Smith as synonyms of the less-well-known categories of implicit and explicit atheism, also relating to whether an individual holds a specific view that gods do not exist.

[4] "Positive" atheists explicitly assert that it is false that any deities exist.

Those who do not believe any deities exist, but do not assert such non-belief, are included among implicit atheists.

The validity of this categorization is disputed, however, and a few prominent atheists such as Richard Dawkins avoid it.

[8] Within negative atheism, philosopher Anthony Kenny further distinguishes between agnostics, who find the claim "God exists" uncertain, and theological noncognitivists, who consider all talk of gods to be meaningless.

Some varieties of atheism
on left Implicit " negative " / " weak " / " soft " atheists who lack a belief in gods without explicitly denying the concept, includes very young children, those who are unacquainted with the concept or are truly undecided.
on right Explicit " negative " / " weak " / " soft " atheists who do not believe that gods exist necessarily.
on right Explicit " positive " / " strong " / " hard " atheists who firmly believe that gods do not exist.
Note: Areas in the diagram are not meant to indicate relative numbers of people.