fbpx
Wikipedia

Agnosticism

Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable.[1][2][3] Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist."[2]

The English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley coined the word agnostic in 1869, and said "It simply means that a man shall not say he knows or believes that which he has no scientific grounds for professing to know or believe." Earlier thinkers, however, had written works that promoted agnostic points of view, such as Sanjaya Belatthaputta, a 5th-century BCE Indian philosopher who expressed agnosticism about any afterlife;[4][5][6] and Protagoras, a 5th-century BCE Greek philosopher who expressed agnosticism about the existence of "the gods".[7][8][9]

Defining agnosticism edit

[The agnostic] principle may be stated in various ways, but they all amount to this: that it is wrong for a man to say that he is certain of the objective truth of any proposition unless he can produce evidence which logically justifies that certainty. This is what Agnosticism asserts; and, in my opinion, it is all that is essential to Agnosticism.[10]

— Thomas Henry Huxley

Agnosticism, in fact, is not a creed, but a method, the essence of which lies in the rigorous application of a single principle ... Positively the principle may be expressed: In matters of the intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, without regard to any other consideration. And negatively: In matters of the intellect do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable.[11][12][13]

— Thomas Henry Huxley

That which Agnostics deny and repudiate, as immoral, is the contrary doctrine, that there are propositions which men ought to believe, without logically satisfactory evidence; and that reprobation ought to attach to the profession of disbelief in such inadequately supported propositions.[10]

— Thomas Henry Huxley

Consequently, agnosticism puts aside not only the greater part of popular theology, but also the greater part of anti-theology. On the whole, the "bosh" of heterodoxy is more offensive to me than that of orthodoxy, because heterodoxy professes to be guided by reason and science, and orthodoxy does not.[14]

— Thomas Henry Huxley

Being a scientist, above all else, Huxley presented agnosticism as a form of demarcation. A hypothesis with no supporting, objective, testable evidence is not an objective, scientific claim. As such, there would be no way to test said hypotheses, leaving the results inconclusive. His agnosticism was not compatible with forming a belief as to the truth, or falsehood, of the claim at hand. Karl Popper would also describe himself as an agnostic.[15] According to philosopher William L. Rowe, in this strict sense, agnosticism is the view that human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist.[2]

George H. Smith, while admitting that the narrow definition of atheist was the common usage definition of that word,[16] and admitting that the broad definition of agnostic was the common usage definition of that word,[17] promoted broadening the definition of atheist and narrowing the definition of agnostic. Smith rejects agnosticism as a third alternative to theism and atheism and promotes terms such as agnostic atheism (the view of those who do not hold a belief in the existence of any deity, but claim that the existence of a deity is unknown or inherently unknowable) and agnostic theism (the view of those who believe in the existence of a deity(s), but claim that the existence of a deity is unknown or inherently unknowable).[18][19][20]

Etymology edit

Agnostic (from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-) 'without', and γνῶσις (gnōsis) 'knowledge') was used by Thomas Henry Huxley in a speech at a meeting of the Metaphysical Society in 1869 to describe his philosophy, which rejects all claims of spiritual or mystical knowledge.[21][22]

Early Christian church leaders used the Greek word gnosis (knowledge) to describe "spiritual knowledge". Agnosticism is not to be confused with religious views opposing the ancient religious movement of Gnosticism in particular; Huxley used the term in a broader, more abstract sense.[23] Huxley identified agnosticism not as a creed but rather as a method of skeptical, evidence-based inquiry.[24]

The term Agnostic is also cognate with the Sanskrit word Ajñasi which translates literally to "not knowable", and relates to the ancient Indian philosophical school of Ajñana, which proposes that it is impossible to obtain knowledge of metaphysical nature or ascertain the truth value of philosophical propositions; and even if knowledge was possible, it is useless and disadvantageous for final salvation.

In recent years, scientific literature dealing with neuroscience and psychology has used the word to mean "not knowable".[25] In technical and marketing literature, "agnostic" can also mean independence from some parameters—for example, "platform agnostic" (referring to cross-platform software)[26] or "hardware-agnostic".[27]

Qualifying agnosticism edit

Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume contended that meaningful statements about the universe are always qualified by some degree of doubt. He asserted that the fallibility of human beings means that they cannot obtain absolute certainty except in trivial cases where a statement is true by definition (e.g. tautologies such as "all bachelors are unmarried" or "all triangles have three corners").[28]

Types edit

Strong agnosticism (also called "hard", "closed", "strict", or "permanent agnosticism")
The view that the question of the existence or nonexistence of a deity or deities, and the nature of ultimate reality is unknowable by reason of our natural inability to verify any experience with anything but another subjective experience. A strong agnostic would say, "I cannot know whether a deity exists or not, and neither can you."[29][30][31]
Weak agnosticism (also called "soft", "open", "empirical", "hopeful" or "temporal agnosticism")
The view that the existence or nonexistence of any deities is currently unknown but is not necessarily unknowable; therefore, one will withhold judgment until evidence, if any, becomes available. A weak agnostic would say, "I don't know whether any deities exist or not, but maybe one day, if there is evidence, we can find something out."[29][30][31]
Apathetic agnosticism
The view that no amount of debate can prove or disprove the existence of one or more deities, and if one or more deities exist, they do not appear to be concerned about the fate of humans. Therefore, their existence has little to no impact on personal human affairs and should be of little interest. An apathetic agnostic would say, "I don't know whether any deity exists or not, and I don't care if any deity exists or not."[32][33][34]

History edit

Hindu philosophy edit

Throughout the history of Hinduism there has been a strong tradition of philosophic speculation and skepticism.[35][36]

The Rig Veda takes an agnostic view on the fundamental question of how the universe and the gods were created. Nasadiya Sukta (Creation Hymn) in the tenth chapter of the Rig Veda says:[37][38][39]

But, after all, who knows, and who can say
Whence it all came, and how creation happened?
The gods themselves are later than creation,
so who knows truly whence it has arisen?

Whence all creation had its origin,
He, whether he fashioned it or whether he did not,
He, who surveys it all from highest heaven,
He knows – or maybe even he does not know.

Hume, Kant, and Kierkegaard edit

Aristotle,[40]Anselm,[41][42]Aquinas,[43][44]Descartes,[45] and Gödel presented arguments attempting to rationally prove the existence of God. The skeptical empiricism of David Hume, the antinomies of Immanuel Kant, and the existential philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard convinced many later philosophers to abandon these attempts, regarding it impossible to construct any unassailable proof for the existence or non-existence of God.[46]

In his 1844 book, Philosophical Fragments, Kierkegaard writes:[47]

Let us call this unknown something: God. It is nothing more than a name we assign to it. The idea of demonstrating that this unknown something (God) exists, could scarcely suggest itself to Reason. For if God does not exist it would of course be impossible to prove it; and if he does exist it would be folly to attempt it. For at the very outset, in beginning my proof, I would have presupposed it, not as doubtful but as certain (a presupposition is never doubtful, for the very reason that it is a presupposition), since otherwise I would not begin, readily understanding that the whole would be impossible if he did not exist. But if when I speak of proving God's existence I mean that I propose to prove that the Unknown, which exists, is God, then I express myself unfortunately. For in that case I do not prove anything, least of all an existence, but merely develop the content of a conception.

Hume was Huxley's favourite philosopher, calling him "the Prince of Agnostics".[48] Diderot wrote to his mistress, telling of a visit by Hume to the Baron D'Holbach, and describing how a word for the position that Huxley would later describe as agnosticism did not seem to exist, or at least was not common knowledge, at the time.

The first time that M. Hume found himself at the table of the Baron, he was seated beside him. I don't know for what purpose the English philosopher took it into his head to remark to the Baron that he did not believe in atheists, that he had never seen any. The Baron said to him: "Count how many we are here." We are eighteen. The Baron added: "It isn't too bad a showing to be able to point out to you fifteen at once: the three others haven't made up their minds."[49]

— Denis Diderot

United Kingdom edit

Charles Darwin edit

 
Charles Darwin in 1854

Raised in a religious environment, Charles Darwin (1809–1882) studied to be an Anglican clergyman. While eventually doubting parts of his faith, Darwin continued to help in church affairs, even while avoiding church attendance. Darwin stated that it would be "absurd to doubt that a man might be an ardent theist and an evolutionist".[50][51] Although reticent about his religious views, in 1879 he wrote that "I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God. – I think that generally ... an agnostic would be the most correct description of my state of mind."[50][52]

Thomas Henry Huxley edit

 
Thomas Henry Huxley in the 1860s. He was the first to decisively coin the term agnosticism.

Agnostic views are as old as philosophical skepticism, but the terms agnostic and agnosticism were created by Huxley (1825–1895) to sum up his thoughts on contemporary developments of metaphysics about the "unconditioned" (William Hamilton) and the "unknowable" (Herbert Spencer). Though Huxley began to use the term agnostic in 1869, his opinions had taken shape some time before that date. In a letter of September 23, 1860, to Charles Kingsley, Huxley discussed his views extensively:[53][54]

I neither affirm nor deny the immortality of man. I see no reason for believing it, but, on the other hand, I have no means of disproving it. I have no a priori objections to the doctrine. No man who has to deal daily and hourly with nature can trouble himself about a priori difficulties. Give me such evidence as would justify me in believing in anything else, and I will believe that. Why should I not? It is not half so wonderful as the conservation of force or the indestructibility of matter ...

It is no use to talk to me of analogies and probabilities. I know what I mean when I say I believe in the law of the inverse squares, and I will not rest my life and my hopes upon weaker convictions ...

That my personality is the surest thing I know may be true. But the attempt to conceive what it is leads me into mere verbal subtleties. I have champed up all that chaff about the ego and the non-ego, noumena and phenomena, and all the rest of it, too often not to know that in attempting even to think of these questions, the human intellect flounders at once out of its depth.

And again, to the same correspondent, May 6, 1863:[55]

I have never had the least sympathy with the a priori reasons against orthodoxy, and I have by nature and disposition the greatest possible antipathy to all the atheistic and infidel school. Nevertheless I know that I am, in spite of myself, exactly what the Christian would call, and, so far as I can see, is justified in calling, atheist and infidel. I cannot see one shadow or tittle of evidence that the great unknown underlying the phenomenon of the universe stands to us in the relation of a Father [who] loves us and cares for us as Christianity asserts. So with regard to the other great Christian dogmas, immortality of soul and future state of rewards and punishments, what possible objection can I—who am compelled perforce to believe in the immortality of what we call Matter and Force, and in a very unmistakable present state of rewards and punishments for our deeds—have to these doctrines? Give me a scintilla of evidence, and I am ready to jump at them.

Of the origin of the name agnostic to describe this attitude, Huxley gave the following account:[56]

When I reached intellectual maturity and began to ask myself whether I was an atheist, a theist, or a pantheist; a materialist or an idealist; Christian or a freethinker; I found that the more I learned and reflected, the less ready was the answer; until, at last, I came to the conclusion that I had neither art nor part with any of these denominations, except the last. The one thing in which most of these good people were agreed was the one thing in which I differed from them. They were quite sure they had attained a certain "gnosis"—had, more or less successfully, solved the problem of existence; while I was quite sure I had not, and had a pretty strong conviction that the problem was insoluble. And, with Hume and Kant on my side, I could not think myself presumptuous in holding fast by that opinion ... So I took thought, and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of "agnostic". It came into my head as suggestively antithetic to the "gnostic" of Church history, who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant. ... To my great satisfaction the term took.

In 1889, Huxley wrote:

Therefore, although it be, as I believe, demonstrable that we have no real knowledge of the authorship, or of the date of composition of the Gospels, as they have come down to us, and that nothing better than more or less probable guesses can be arrived at on that subject.[57]

William Stewart Ross edit

William Stewart Ross (1844–1906) wrote under the name of Saladin. He was associated with Victorian Freethinkers and the organization the British Secular Union. He edited the Secular Review from 1882; it was renamed Agnostic Journal and Eclectic Review and closed in 1907. Ross championed agnosticism in opposition to the atheism of Charles Bradlaugh as an open-ended spiritual exploration.[58]

In Why I am an Agnostic (c. 1889) he claims that agnosticism is "the very reverse of atheism".[59]

Bertrand Russell edit

 
Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) declared Why I Am Not a Christian in 1927, a classic statement of agnosticism.[60][61] He calls upon his readers to "stand on their own two feet and look fair and square at the world with a fearless attitude and a free intelligence".[61]

In 1939, Russell gave a lecture on The existence and nature of God, in which he characterized himself as an atheist. He said:[62]

The existence and nature of God is a subject of which I can discuss only half. If one arrives at a negative conclusion concerning the first part of the question, the second part of the question does not arise; and my position, as you may have gathered, is a negative one on this matter.

However, later in the same lecture, discussing modern non-anthropomorphic concepts of God, Russell states:[63]

That sort of God is, I think, not one that can actually be disproved, as I think the omnipotent and benevolent creator can.

In Russell's 1947 pamphlet, Am I An Atheist or an Agnostic? (subtitled A Plea For Tolerance in the Face of New Dogmas), he ruminates on the problem of what to call himself:[64]

As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one can prove that there is not a God. On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods.

In his 1953 essay, What Is An Agnostic? Russell states:[65]

An agnostic thinks it impossible to know the truth in matters such as God and the future life with which Christianity and other religions are concerned. Or, if not impossible, at least impossible at the present time.

Are Agnostics Atheists?

No. An atheist, like a Christian, holds that we can know whether or not there is a God. The Christian holds that we can know there is a God; the atheist, that we can know there is not. The Agnostic suspends judgment, saying that there are not sufficient grounds either for affirmation or for denial.

Later in the essay, Russell adds:[66]

I think that if I heard a voice from the sky predicting all that was going to happen to me during the next twenty-four hours, including events that would have seemed highly improbable, and if all these events then produced to happen, I might perhaps be convinced at least of the existence of some superhuman intelligence.

Leslie Weatherhead edit

In 1965, Christian theologian Leslie Weatherhead (1893–1976) published The Christian Agnostic, in which he argues:[67]

... many professing agnostics are nearer belief in the true God than are many conventional church-goers who believe in a body that does not exist whom they miscall God.

Although radical and unpalatable to conventional theologians, Weatherhead's agnosticism falls far short of Huxley's, and short even of weak agnosticism:[67]

Of course, the human soul will always have the power to reject God, for choice is essential to its nature, but I cannot believe that anyone will finally do this.

United States edit

Robert G. Ingersoll edit

 
Robert G. Ingersoll

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899), an Illinois lawyer and politician who evolved into a well-known and sought-after orator in 19th-century America, has been referred to as the "Great Agnostic".[68]

In an 1896 lecture titled Why I Am An Agnostic, Ingersoll related why he was an agnostic:[69]

Is there a supernatural power—an arbitrary mind—an enthroned God—a supreme will that sways the tides and currents of the world—to which all causes bow? I do not deny. I do not know—but I do not believe. I believe that the natural is supreme—that from the infinite chain no link can be lost or broken—that there is no supernatural power that can answer prayer—no power that worship can persuade or change—no power that cares for man.

I believe that with infinite arms Nature embraces the all—that there is no interference—no chance—that behind every event are the necessary and countless causes, and that beyond every event will be and must be the necessary and countless effects.

Is there a God? I do not know. Is man immortal? I do not know. One thing I do know, and that is, that neither hope, nor fear, belief, nor denial, can change the fact. It is as it is, and it will be as it must be.

In the conclusion of the speech he simply sums up the agnostic position as:[69]

We can be as honest as we are ignorant. If we are, when asked what is beyond the horizon of the known, we must say that we do not know.

In 1885, Ingersoll explained his comparative view of agnosticism and atheism as follows:[70]

The Agnostic is an Atheist. The Atheist is an Agnostic. The Agnostic says, 'I do not know, but I do not believe there is any God.' The Atheist says the same.

Bernard Iddings Bell edit

Canon Bernard Iddings Bell (1886–1958), a popular cultural commentator, Episcopal priest, and author, lauded the necessity of agnosticism in Beyond Agnosticism: A Book for Tired Mechanists, calling it the foundation of "all intelligent Christianity".[71] Agnosticism was a temporary mindset in which one rigorously questioned the truths of the age, including the way in which one believed God.[72] His view of Robert Ingersoll and Thomas Paine was that they were not denouncing true Christianity but rather "a gross perversion of it".[71] Part of the misunderstanding stemmed from ignorance of the concepts of God and religion.[73] Historically, a god was any real, perceivable force that ruled the lives of humans and inspired admiration, love, fear, and homage; religion was the practice of it. Ancient peoples worshiped gods with real counterparts, such as Mammon (money and material things), Nabu (rationality), or Ba'al (violent weather); Bell argued that modern peoples were still paying homage—with their lives and their children's lives—to these old gods of wealth, physical appetites, and self-deification.[74] Thus, if one attempted to be agnostic passively, he or she would incidentally join the worship of the world's gods.

In Unfashionable Convictions (1931), he criticized the Enlightenment's complete faith in human sensory perception, augmented by scientific instruments, as a means of accurately grasping Reality. Firstly, it was fairly new, an innovation of the Western World, which Aristotle invented and Thomas Aquinas revived among the scientific community. Secondly, the divorce of "pure" science from human experience, as manifested in American Industrialization, had completely altered the environment, often disfiguring it, so as to suggest its insufficiency to human needs. Thirdly, because scientists were constantly producing more data—to the point where no single human could grasp it all at once—it followed that human intelligence was incapable of attaining a complete understanding of universe; therefore, to admit the mysteries of the unobserved universe was to be actually scientific.

Bell believed that there were two other ways that humans could perceive and interact with the world. Artistic experience was how one expressed meaning through speaking, writing, painting, gesturing—any sort of communication which shared insight into a human's inner reality. Mystical experience was how one could "read" people and harmonize with them, being what we commonly call love.[75] In summary, man was a scientist, artist, and lover. Without exercising all three, a person became "lopsided".

Bell considered a humanist to be a person who cannot rightly ignore the other ways of knowing. However, humanism, like agnosticism, was also temporal, and would eventually lead to either scientific materialism or theism. He lays out the following thesis:

  1. Truth cannot be discovered by reasoning on the evidence of scientific data alone. Modern peoples' dissatisfaction with life is the result of depending on such incomplete data. Our ability to reason is not a way to discover Truth but rather a way to organize our knowledge and experiences somewhat sensibly. Without a full, human perception of the world, one's reason tends to lead them in the wrong direction.
  2. Beyond what can be measured with scientific tools, there are other types of perception, such as one's ability know another human through loving. One's loves cannot be dissected and logged in a scientific journal, but we know them far better than we know the surface of the sun. They show us an indefinable reality that is nevertheless intimate and personal, and they reveal qualities lovelier and truer than detached facts can provide.
  3. To be religious, in the Christian sense, is to live for the Whole of Reality (God) rather than for a small part (gods). Only by treating this Whole of Reality as a person—good and true and perfect—rather than an impersonal force, can we come closer to the Truth. An ultimate Person can be loved, but a cosmic force cannot. A scientist can only discover peripheral truths, but a lover is able to get at the Truth.
  4. There are many reasons to believe in God but they are not sufficient for an agnostic to become a theist. It is not enough to believe in an ancient holy book, even though when it is accurately analyzed without bias, it proves to be more trustworthy and admirable than what we are taught in school. Neither is it enough to realize how probable it is that a personal God would have to show human beings how to live, considering they have so much trouble on their own. Nor is it enough to believe for the reason that, throughout history, millions of people have arrived at this Wholeness of Reality only through religious experience. The aforementioned reasons may warm one toward religion, but they fall short of convincing. However, if one presupposes that God is in fact a knowable, loving person, as an experiment, and then lives according that religion, he or she will suddenly come face to face with experiences previously unknown. One's life becomes full, meaningful, and fearless in the face of death. It does not defy reason but exceeds it.
  5. Because God has been experienced through love, the orders of prayer, fellowship, and devotion now matter. They create order within one's life, continually renewing the "missing piece" that had previously felt lost. They empower one to be compassionate and humble, not small-minded or arrogant.
  6. No truth should be denied outright, but all should be questioned. Science reveals an ever-growing vision of our universe that should not be discounted due to bias toward older understandings. Reason is to be trusted and cultivated. To believe in God is not to forego reason or to deny scientific facts, but to step into the unknown and discover the fullness of life.[76]

Demographics edit

 
Nonreligious population by country, 2010[77]
 
Percentage of people in various European countries who said: "I don't believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force." (2005)[78]

Demographic research services normally do not differentiate between various types of non-religious respondents, so agnostics are often classified in the same category as atheists or other non-religious people.[79]

A 2010 survey published in Encyclopædia Britannica found that the non-religious people or the agnostics made up about 9.6% of the world's population.[80] A November–December 2006 poll published in the Financial Times gives rates for the United States and five European countries. The rates of agnosticism in the United States were at 14%, while the rates of agnosticism in the European countries surveyed were considerably higher: Italy (20%), Spain (30%), Great Britain (35%), Germany (25%), and France (32%).[81]

A study conducted by the Pew Research Center found that about 16% of the world's people, the third largest group after Christianity and Islam, have no religious affiliation.[82] According to a 2012 report by the Pew Research Center, agnostics made up 3.3% of the US adult population.[83] In the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center, 55% of agnostic respondents expressed "a belief in God or a universal spirit",[84] whereas 41% stated that they thought that they felt a tension "being non-religious in a society where most people are religious".[85]

According to the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 38.9% of Australians have "no religion", a category that includes agnostics.[86] Between 64% and 65%[87] of Japanese and up to 81%[88] of Vietnamese are atheists, agnostics, or do not believe in a god. An official European Union survey reported that 3% of the EU population is unsure about their belief in a god or spirit.[89]

Criticism edit

Agnosticism is criticized from a variety of standpoints. Some atheists criticize the use of the term agnosticism as functionally indistinguishable from atheism; this results in frequent criticisms of those who adopt the term as avoiding the atheist label.[22]

Theistic edit

Theistic critics claim that agnosticism is impossible in practice, since a person can live only either as if God did not exist (etsi deus non-daretur), or as if God did exist (etsi deus daretur).[90][91]

Christian edit

According to Pope Benedict XVI, strong agnosticism in particular contradicts itself in affirming the power of reason to know scientific truth.[92][93] He blames the exclusion of reasoning from religion and ethics for dangerous pathologies such as crimes against humanity and ecological disasters.[92][page needed][93][page needed][94] "Agnosticism", said Benedict, "is always the fruit of a refusal of that knowledge which is in fact offered to man ... The knowledge of God has always existed".[93] He asserted that agnosticism is a choice of comfort, pride, dominion, and utility over truth, and is opposed by the following attitudes: the keenest self-criticism, humble listening to the whole of existence, the persistent patience and self-correction of the scientific method, a readiness to be purified by the truth.[92]

The Catholic Church sees merit in examining what it calls "partial agnosticism", specifically those systems that "do not aim at constructing a complete philosophy of the unknowable, but at excluding special kinds of truth, notably religious, from the domain of knowledge".[95] However, the Church is historically opposed to a full denial of the capacity of human reason to know God. The Council of the Vatican declares, "God, the beginning and end of all, can, by the natural light of human reason, be known with certainty from the works of creation".[95]

Blaise Pascal argued that even if there were truly no evidence for God, agnostics should consider what is now known as Pascal's Wager: the infinite expected value of acknowledging God is always greater than the finite expected value of not acknowledging his existence, and thus it is a safer "bet" to choose God.[96]

Atheistic edit

According to Richard Dawkins, a distinction between agnosticism and atheism is unwieldy and depends on how close to zero a person is willing to rate the probability of existence for any given god-like entity. About himself, Dawkins continues, "I am agnostic only to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden."[97] Dawkins also identifies two categories of agnostics; "Temporary Agnostics in Practice" (TAPs), and "Permanent Agnostics in Principle" (PAPs). He states that "agnosticism about the existence of God belongs firmly in the temporary or TAP category. Either he exists or he doesn't. It is a scientific question; one day we may know the answer, and meanwhile we can say something pretty strong about the probability" and considers PAP a "deeply inescapable kind of fence-sitting".[98]

Ignosticism edit

A related concept is ignosticism, the view that a coherent definition of a deity must be put forward before the question of the existence of a deity can be meaningfully discussed. If the chosen definition is not coherent, the ignostic holds the noncognitivist view that the existence of a deity is meaningless or empirically untestable.[99] A. J. Ayer, Theodore Drange, and other philosophers see both atheism and agnosticism as incompatible with ignosticism on the grounds that atheism and agnosticism accept the statement "a deity exists" as a meaningful proposition that can be argued for or against.[100][101]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Hepburn, Ronald W. (2005) [1967]. "Agnosticism". In Donald M. Borchert (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). MacMillan Reference USA (Gale). p. 92. ISBN 0-02-865780-2. In the most general use of the term, agnosticism is the view that we do not know whether there is a God or not. (page 56 in 1967 edition)
  2. ^ a b c Rowe, William L. (1998). "Agnosticism". In Edward Craig (ed.). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-07310-3. In the popular sense, an agnostic is someone who neither believes nor disbelieves in God, whereas an atheist disbelieves in God. In the strict sense, however, agnosticism is the view that human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist. In so far as one holds that our beliefs are rational only if they are sufficiently supported by the human reason, the person who accepts the philosophical position of agnosticism will hold that neither the belief that God exists nor the belief that God does not exist is rational.
  3. ^ "agnostic, agnosticism". OED Online, 3rd ed. Oxford University Press. September 2012. agnostic. : A. n[oun]. :# A person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of immaterial things, especially of the existence or nature of God. :# In extended use: a person who is not persuaded by or committed to a particular point of view; a sceptic. Also: person of indeterminate ideology or conviction; an equivocator. : B. adj[ective]. :# Of or relating to the belief that the existence of anything beyond and behind material phenomena is unknown and (as far as can be judged) unknowable. Also: holding this belief. :# a. In extended use: not committed to or persuaded by a particular point of view; sceptical. Also: politically or ideologically unaligned; non-partisan, equivocal. agnosticism n. The doctrine or tenets of agnostics with regard to the existence of anything beyond and behind material phenomena or to knowledge of a First Cause or God.
  4. ^ "Samaññaphala Sutta: The Fruits of the Contemplative Life". Digha Nikaya. Translated by Bhikkhu, Thanissaro. 1997. from the original on February 9, 2014. If you ask me if there exists another world (after death), ... I don't think so. I don't think in that way. I don't think otherwise. I don't think not. I don't think not not.
  5. ^ Bhaskar (1972).
  6. ^ Lloyd Ridgeon (March 13, 2003). Major World Religions: From Their Origins To The Present. Taylor & Francis. pp. 63–. ISBN 978-0-203-42313-4.
  7. ^ The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Protagoras (c. 490 – c. 420 BCE). from the original on February 10, 2014. Retrieved July 22, 2013. While the pious might wish to look to the gods to provide absolute moral guidance in the relativistic universe of the Sophistic Enlightenment, that certainty also was cast into doubt by philosophic and sophistic thinkers, who pointed out the absurdity and immorality of the conventional epic accounts of the gods. Protagoras' prose treatise about the gods began "Concerning the gods, I have no means of knowing whether they exist or not or of what sort they may be. Many things prevent knowledge including the obscurity of the subject and the brevity of human life."
  8. ^ Patri, Umesh and Prativa Devi (February 1990). . Atheist Centre 1940–1990 Golden Jubilee. Archived from the original on September 25, 2013. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  9. ^ Trevor Treharne (2012). How to Prove God Does Not Exist: The Complete Guide to Validating Atheism. Universal-Publishers. pp. 34 ff. ISBN 978-1-61233-118-8.
  10. ^ a b Thomas Huxley, "Agnosticism and Christianity", Collected Essays V, 1899
  11. ^ Thomas Huxley, "Agnosticism", Collected Essays V, 1889
  12. ^ Huxley, Thomas Henry (April 1889). "Agnosticism". The Popular Science Monthly. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 34 (46): 768. Wikisource has the full text of the article here.
  13. ^ Richard Dawkins (January 16, 2008). The God Delusion. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 72–. ISBN 978-0-547-34866-7.
  14. ^ Thomas Huxley "Agnosticism: A Symposium", The Agnostic Annual. 1884
  15. ^ Edward Zerin: Karl Popper On God: The Lost Interview. Skeptic 6:2 (1998)
  16. ^ George H. Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God, pg. 9
  17. ^ George H. Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God, pg. 12
  18. ^ Smith, George H (1979). Atheism: The Case Against God. Prometheus Books. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-0-87975-124-1. Properly considered, agnosticism is not a third alternative to theism and atheism because it is concerned with a different aspect of religious belief. Theism and atheism refer to the presence or absence of belief in a god; agnosticism refers to the impossibility of knowledge with regard to a god or supernatural being. The term agnostic does not, in itself, indicate whether or not one believes in a god. Agnosticism can be either theistic or atheistic.
  19. ^ Harrison, Alexander James (1894). The Ascent of Faith: or, the Grounds of Certainty in Science and Religion. London: Hodder and Stroughton. p. 21. OCLC 7234849. OL 21834002M. Let Agnostic Theism stand for that kind of Agnosticism which admits a Divine existence; Agnostic Atheism for that kind of Agnosticism which thinks it does not.
  20. ^ Barker, Dan (2008). Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists. New York: Ulysses Press. p. 96. ISBN 978-1-56975-677-5. OL 24313839M. People are invariably surprised to hear me say I am both an atheist and an agnostic, as if this somehow weakens my certainty. I usually reply with a question like, "Well, are you a Republican or an American?" The two words serve different concepts and are not mutually exclusive. Agnosticism addresses knowledge; atheism addresses belief. The agnostic says, "I don't have a knowledge that God exists." The atheist says, "I don't have a belief that God exists." You can say both things at the same time. Some agnostics are atheistic and some are theistic.
  21. ^ Dixon, Thomas (2008). Science and Religion: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-19-929551-7.
  22. ^ a b Antony, Flew. "Agnosticism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
  23. ^ "ag·nos·tic". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2011. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
  24. ^ Huxley, Henrietta A. (2004). Aphorisms and Reflections (reprint ed.). Kessinger Publishing. pp. 41–42. ISBN 978-1-4191-0730-6.
  25. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, Additions Series, 1993
  26. ^ Woodrooffe, Sophie; Levy, Dan (September 9, 2012). . Sparksheet. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
  27. ^ Yevgeniy Sverdlik (July 31, 2013). . Datacenter Dynamics. Archived from the original on June 20, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
  28. ^ Hume, David, "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding" (1748)
  29. ^ a b Oppy, Graham (September 4, 2006). Arguing about Gods. Cambridge University Press. pp. 15–. ISBN 978-1-139-45889-4.
  30. ^ a b Michael H. Barnes (2003). In The Presence of Mystery: An Introduction To The Story Of Human Religiousness. Twenty-Third Publications. pp. 3–. ISBN 978-1-58595-259-5.
  31. ^ a b Robin Le Poidevin (October 28, 2010). Agnosticism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. pp. 32–. ISBN 978-0-19-161454-5.
  32. ^ John Tyrrell (1996). . Archived from the original on August 7, 2007. To believe in the existence of a god is an act of faith. To believe in the nonexistence of a god is likewise an act of faith. There is no verifiable evidence that there is a Supreme Being nor is there verifiable evidence there is not a Supreme Being. Faith is not knowledge. We can only state with assurance that we do not know.
  33. ^ Rahim, Abdur (January 31, 2017). Thinking Outside the Box: The Most Realistic Way of Thinking, Adopting, and Leading Life. Xlibris Corporation. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-5245-7387-4.
  34. ^ Rauch, Jonathan, Let It Be: Three Cheers for Apatheism, The Atlantic Monthly, May 2003
  35. ^ Kramer, Kenneth (1986). World scriptures: an introduction to comparative religions. Paulist Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-8091-2781-8.
  36. ^ Subodh Varma (May 6, 2011). "The gods came afterwards". The Times of India. from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
  37. ^ Kenneth Kramer (January 1986). World Scriptures: An Introduction to Comparative Religions. Paulist Press. pp. 34–. ISBN 978-0-8091-2781-8.
  38. ^ Christian, David (September 1, 2011). Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History. University of California Press. pp. 18–. ISBN 978-0-520-95067-2.
  39. ^ Upinder Singh (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Education India. pp. 206–. ISBN 978-81-317-1120-0.
  40. ^ "Aristotle on the existence of God". Logicmuseum.com. from the original on May 30, 2014. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  41. ^ "Internet History Sourcebooks Project". Fordham.edu. from the original on May 31, 2014. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  42. ^ Williams, Thomas (2013). "Saint Anselm". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2013 ed.). from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  43. ^ "Internet History Sourcebooks Project". Fordham.edu. from the original on August 14, 2014. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  44. ^ Owens, Joseph (1980). Saint Thomas Aquinas on the Existence of God: The Collected Papers of Joseph Owens. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-87395-401-3.
  45. ^ . Oregonstate.edu. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  46. ^ Rowe, William L. (1998). . In Edward Craig (ed.). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-07310-3. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  47. ^ Kierkegaard, Søren. Philosophical Fragments. Ch. 3
  48. ^ A Hundred Years of British Philosophy, By Rudolf Metz, pg. 111
  49. ^ Ernest Campbell Mossner, The Life of David Hume, 2014, pg.483
  50. ^ a b Letter 12041 – Darwin, C. R. to Fordyce, John, May 7, 1879. from the original on June 29, 2014.
  51. ^ Darwin's Complex loss of Faith The Guardian September 17, 2009. from the original on June 29, 2014
  52. ^ . Archived from the original on February 25, 2009. Retrieved November 25, 2008.
  53. ^ Thomas Henry Huxley (1997). The Major Prose of Thomas Henry Huxley. University of Georgia Press. pp. 357–. ISBN 978-0-8203-1864-6.
  54. ^ Leonard Huxley (February 7, 2012). Thomas Henry Huxley A Character Sketch. tredition. pp. 41–. ISBN 978-3-8472-0297-4.
  55. ^ Leonard Huxley; Thomas Henry Huxley (December 22, 2011). Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley. Cambridge University Press. pp. 347–. ISBN 978-1-108-04045-7.
  56. ^ Huxley, Thomas. Collected Essays, Vol. V: Science and Christian Tradition. Macmillan and Co 1893. pp. 237–239. ISBN 1-85506-922-9.
  57. ^ Huxley, Thomas Henry (1892). "Agnosticism And Christianity". Essays Upon Some Controverted Questions. Macmillan. p. 364. Agnosticism And Christianity: Therefore, although it be, as I believe, demonstrable that we have no real knowledge of the authorship, or of the date of composition of the Gospels, as they have come down to us, and that nothing better than more or less probable guesses can be arrived at on that subject.
  58. ^ Alastair Bonnett 'The Agnostic Saladin' History Today, 2013, 63,2, pp. 47–52
  59. ^ William Stewart Ross; Joseph Taylor (1889). Why I Am an Agnostic: Being a Manual of Agnosticism. W. Stewart & Company.
  60. ^ "Why I Am Not A Christian, by Bertrand Russell". Users.drew.edu. March 6, 1927. from the original on March 1, 2014. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  61. ^ a b Bertrand Russell (1992). Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-07918-1.
  62. ^ Russell, Bertrand. Collected Papers, Vol 10. p. 255.
  63. ^ Collected Papers, Vol. 10, p. 258
  64. ^ Bertrand Russell (1997). Last Philosophical Testament: 1943–68. Psychology Press. pp. 91–. ISBN 978-0-415-09409-2.
  65. ^ Bertrand Russell (March 2, 2009). The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell. Routledge. pp. 557–. ISBN 978-1-134-02867-2.
  66. ^ "'What Is an agnostic?' by Bertrand Russell". Scepsis.net. from the original on August 22, 2013. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  67. ^ a b Weatherhead, Leslie D. (September 1990). The Christian Agnostic. Abingdon Press. ISBN 978-0-687-06980-4.
  68. ^ Brandt, Eric T.; Larsen, Timothy (2011). "The Old Atheism Revisited: Robert G. Ingersoll and the Bible". Journal of the Historical Society. 11 (2): 211–238. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5923.2011.00330.x.
  69. ^ a b Ingersoll, Robert Green (1896). "Why I Am Agnostic". Internet Infidels. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  70. ^ Jacoby, Susan (2013). The Great Agnostic. Yale University Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-300-13725-5.
  71. ^ a b "The Good News, by Bernard Iddings Bell (1921)". anglicanhistory.org. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  72. ^ Brauer, Kristen D. (2007). The religious roots of postmodernism in American culture: an analysis of the postmodern theory of Bernard Iddings Bell and its continued relevance to contemporary postmodern theory and literary criticism. Glasgow, Scotland: University of Glasgow. p. 32.
  73. ^ Bell, Bernard Iddings (1931). Unfashionable Convictions. New York and London: Harper & Brothers. p. 20.
  74. ^ Bell, Bernard Iddings (1929). Beyond Agnosticism. New York and London: Harper & Brothers. pp. 12–19.
  75. ^ Bell, Bernard Iddings (1931). Unfashionable Convictions. New York and London: Harper & Brothers. pp. 4–5.
  76. ^ Bell, Bernard Iddings (1931). Unfashionable Convictions. New York and London: Harper & Brothers Publishing. pp. 25–28.
  77. ^ "Religious Composition by Country, 2010–2050". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. April 2, 2015. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  78. ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 30, 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
  79. ^ . Adherents.com. Archived from the original on August 11, 2010. Retrieved August 14, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  80. ^ "Religion: Year in Review 2010: Worldwide Adherents of All Religions". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. from the original on July 2, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
  81. ^ . Financial Times/Harris Interactive. December 20, 2006. Archived from the original on July 23, 2013. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
  82. ^ Goodstein, Laurie (December 18, 2012). . The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 23, 2014.
  83. ^ Cary Funk, Greg Smith. (PDF). Pew Research Center. pp. 9, 42. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 26, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
  84. ^ "Summary of Key Findings" (PDF). Pew Research Center. 2011. (PDF) from the original on October 17, 2014. Retrieved December 28, 2011. Nearly all adults (92%) say they believe in God or a universal spirit, including seven-in-ten of the unaffiliated. Indeed, one-in-five people who identify themselves as atheist (21%) and a majority of those who identify themselves as agnostic (55%) express a belief in God or a universal spirit.
  85. ^ "Summary of Key Findings" (PDF). Pew Research Center. 2011. (PDF) from the original on October 17, 2014. Retrieved December 28, 2011. Interestingly, a substantial number of adults who are not affiliated with a religion also sense that there is a conflict between religion and modern society – except for them the conflict involves being non-religious in a society where most people are religious. For instance, more than four-inten atheists and agnostics (44% and 41%, respectively) believe that such a tension exists.
  86. ^ "Snapshot of Australia". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2021. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  87. ^ Zuckerman, Phil (2007). Martin, Michael T (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Atheism. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-521-60367-6. OL 22379448M. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
  88. ^ "Average intelligence predicts atheism rates across 137 nations" (PDF). January 3, 2008. (PDF) from the original on August 23, 2013. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  89. ^ (PDF). Directorate General Research, European Union. 2005. pp. 7–11. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 30, 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
  90. ^ Sandro Magister (2007). "Habermas writes to Ratzinger and Ruini responds". from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved May 25, 2008.
  91. ^ Ratzinger, Joseph (2006). Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures. Ignatius Press. pp. 87–89. ISBN 978-1-58617-142-1.
  92. ^ a b c Ratzinger, Joseph (2005). The Yes of Jesus Christ: Spiritual Exercises in Faith, Hope, and Love. Cross Roads Publishing.
  93. ^ a b c Ratzinger, Joseph (2004). Truth and Tolerance: Christian Belief And World Religions. Ignatius Press.
  94. ^ Benedict XVI (September 12, 2006). "Papal Address at University of Regensburg". zenit.org. from the original on June 1, 2014. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  95. ^ a b Agnosticism. Catholic Encyclopedia. from the original on July 1, 2014.
  96. ^ "Argument from Pascal's Wager". 2007. from the original on June 5, 2008. Retrieved May 25, 2008.
  97. ^ The God Delusion (2006), Bantam Press, p. 51
  98. ^ The God Delusion (2006), Bantam Press, pp 47–48
  99. ^ "The Argument From Non-Cognitivism". from the original on April 29, 2014. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
  100. ^ Ayer, Language, 115: "There can be no way of proving that the existence of a God ... is even probable. ... For if the existence of such a god were probable, then the proposition that he existed would be an empirical hypothesis. And in that case it would be possible to deduce from it, and other empirical hypotheses, certain experimental propositions which were not deducible from those other hypotheses alone. But in fact this is not possible."
  101. ^ Drange, Atheism

Further reading edit

  • Agnosticism. Forgotten Books. pp. 164–. ISBN 978-1-4400-6878-2.
  • Alexander, Nathan G. "An Atheist with a Tall Hat On: The Forgotten History of Agnosticism." The Humanist, February 19, 2019.
  • Annan, Noel. Leslie Stephen: The Godless Victorian (U of Chicago Press, 1984)
  • Cockshut, A.O.J. The Unbelievers, English Thought, 1840–1890 (1966).
  • Dawkins, Richard. "The poverty of agnosticism", in The God Delusion, Black Swan, 2007 (ISBN 978-0-552-77429-1).
  • Huxley, Thomas H. (February 4, 2013). Man's Place in Nature. Courier Dover Publications. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-0-486-15134-2.
  • Hume, David (1779). Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. Penguin Books, Limited. pp. 1–.
  • Kant, Immanuel (May 28, 2013). The Critique of Pure Reason. Loki's Publishing. ISBN 978-0-615-82576-2.
  • Kierkegaard, Sören (1985). . Religion-online.org. ISBN 978-0-691-02036-5. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  • Lightman, Bernard. The Origins of Agnosticism (1987).
  • Royle, Edward. Radicals, Secularists, and Republicans: Popular Freethought in Britain, 1866–1915 (Manchester UP, 1980).
  • Smith, George H. (1979). (PDF). Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-124-X. Archived from the original on November 26, 2013. Retrieved February 9, 2014.

External links edit

  • Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). "Atheism and Agnosticism". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  • Agnosticism at PhilPapers
  • Agnosticism at the Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project
  • Albert Einstein on Religion Shapell Manuscript Foundation
  • by Robert G. Ingersoll, [1896].
  • : Agnosticism
  • Agnosticism from INTERS – Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science
  • Agnosticism – from ReligiousTolerance.org
  • What do Agnostics Believe? – A Jewish perspective
  • Fides et Ratio Karol Wojtyla [1998]
  • by Brendan Connolly, 2008
  • Nielsen, Kai (1973) [1968]. "Agnosticism". Dictionary of the History of Ideas. University of Virginia Library.

agnosticism, confused, with, gnosticism, agnostic, redirects, here, platform, agnostic, data, schemas, ontologies, cross, platform, software, view, belief, that, existence, divine, supernatural, unknown, unknowable, another, definition, provided, view, that, h. Not to be confused with Gnosticism Agnostic redirects here For platform agnostic data schemas and ontologies see Cross platform software Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable 1 2 3 Another definition provided is the view that human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist 2 The English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley coined the word agnostic in 1869 and said It simply means that a man shall not say he knows or believes that which he has no scientific grounds for professing to know or believe Earlier thinkers however had written works that promoted agnostic points of view such as Sanjaya Belatthaputta a 5th century BCE Indian philosopher who expressed agnosticism about any afterlife 4 5 6 and Protagoras a 5th century BCE Greek philosopher who expressed agnosticism about the existence of the gods 7 8 9 Contents 1 Defining agnosticism 1 1 Etymology 1 2 Qualifying agnosticism 1 3 Types 2 History 2 1 Hindu philosophy 2 2 Hume Kant and Kierkegaard 2 3 United Kingdom 2 3 1 Charles Darwin 2 3 2 Thomas Henry Huxley 2 3 3 William Stewart Ross 2 3 4 Bertrand Russell 2 3 5 Leslie Weatherhead 2 4 United States 2 4 1 Robert G Ingersoll 2 4 2 Bernard Iddings Bell 3 Demographics 4 Criticism 4 1 Theistic 4 1 1 Christian 4 2 Atheistic 5 Ignosticism 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External linksDefining agnosticism edit The agnostic principle may be stated in various ways but they all amount to this that it is wrong for a man to say that he is certain of the objective truth of any proposition unless he can produce evidence which logically justifies that certainty This is what Agnosticism asserts and in my opinion it is all that is essential to Agnosticism 10 Thomas Henry Huxley Agnosticism in fact is not a creed but a method the essence of which lies in the rigorous application of a single principle Positively the principle may be expressed In matters of the intellect follow your reason as far as it will take you without regard to any other consideration And negatively In matters of the intellect do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable 11 12 13 Thomas Henry Huxley That which Agnostics deny and repudiate as immoral is the contrary doctrine that there are propositions which men ought to believe without logically satisfactory evidence and that reprobation ought to attach to the profession of disbelief in such inadequately supported propositions 10 Thomas Henry Huxley Consequently agnosticism puts aside not only the greater part of popular theology but also the greater part of anti theology On the whole the bosh of heterodoxy is more offensive to me than that of orthodoxy because heterodoxy professes to be guided by reason and science and orthodoxy does not 14 Thomas Henry Huxley Being a scientist above all else Huxley presented agnosticism as a form of demarcation A hypothesis with no supporting objective testable evidence is not an objective scientific claim As such there would be no way to test said hypotheses leaving the results inconclusive His agnosticism was not compatible with forming a belief as to the truth or falsehood of the claim at hand Karl Popper would also describe himself as an agnostic 15 According to philosopher William L Rowe in this strict sense agnosticism is the view that human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist 2 George H Smith while admitting that the narrow definition of atheist was the common usage definition of that word 16 and admitting that the broad definition of agnostic was the common usage definition of that word 17 promoted broadening the definition of atheist and narrowing the definition of agnostic Smith rejects agnosticism as a third alternative to theism and atheism and promotes terms such as agnostic atheism the view of those who do not hold a belief in the existence of any deity but claim that the existence of a deity is unknown or inherently unknowable and agnostic theism the view of those who believe in the existence of a deity s but claim that the existence of a deity is unknown or inherently unknowable 18 19 20 Etymology edit Agnostic from Ancient Greek ἀ a without and gnῶsis gnōsis knowledge was used by Thomas Henry Huxley in a speech at a meeting of the Metaphysical Society in 1869 to describe his philosophy which rejects all claims of spiritual or mystical knowledge 21 22 Early Christian church leaders used the Greek word gnosis knowledge to describe spiritual knowledge Agnosticism is not to be confused with religious views opposing the ancient religious movement of Gnosticism in particular Huxley used the term in a broader more abstract sense 23 Huxley identified agnosticism not as a creed but rather as a method of skeptical evidence based inquiry 24 The term Agnostic is also cognate with the Sanskrit word Ajnasi which translates literally to not knowable and relates to the ancient Indian philosophical school of Ajnana which proposes that it is impossible to obtain knowledge of metaphysical nature or ascertain the truth value of philosophical propositions and even if knowledge was possible it is useless and disadvantageous for final salvation In recent years scientific literature dealing with neuroscience and psychology has used the word to mean not knowable 25 In technical and marketing literature agnostic can also mean independence from some parameters for example platform agnostic referring to cross platform software 26 or hardware agnostic 27 Qualifying agnosticism edit Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume contended that meaningful statements about the universe are always qualified by some degree of doubt He asserted that the fallibility of human beings means that they cannot obtain absolute certainty except in trivial cases where a statement is true by definition e g tautologies such as all bachelors are unmarried or all triangles have three corners 28 Types edit Strong agnosticism also called hard closed strict or permanent agnosticism The view that the question of the existence or nonexistence of a deity or deities and the nature of ultimate reality is unknowable by reason of our natural inability to verify any experience with anything but another subjective experience A strong agnostic would say I cannot know whether a deity exists or not and neither can you 29 30 31 Weak agnosticism also called soft open empirical hopeful or temporal agnosticism The view that the existence or nonexistence of any deities is currently unknown but is not necessarily unknowable therefore one will withhold judgment until evidence if any becomes available A weak agnostic would say I don t know whether any deities exist or not but maybe one day if there is evidence we can find something out 29 30 31 Apathetic agnosticism The view that no amount of debate can prove or disprove the existence of one or more deities and if one or more deities exist they do not appear to be concerned about the fate of humans Therefore their existence has little to no impact on personal human affairs and should be of little interest An apathetic agnostic would say I don t know whether any deity exists or not and I don t care if any deity exists or not 32 33 34 History editHindu philosophy edit See also Sanjaya Belatthaputta and Ajnana Throughout the history of Hinduism there has been a strong tradition of philosophic speculation and skepticism 35 36 The Rig Veda takes an agnostic view on the fundamental question of how the universe and the gods were created Nasadiya Sukta Creation Hymn in the tenth chapter of the Rig Veda says 37 38 39 But after all who knows and who can say Whence it all came and how creation happened The gods themselves are later than creation so who knows truly whence it has arisen Whence all creation had its origin He whether he fashioned it or whether he did not He who surveys it all from highest heaven He knows or maybe even he does not know Hume Kant and Kierkegaard edit Aristotle 40 Anselm 41 42 Aquinas 43 44 Descartes 45 and Godel presented arguments attempting to rationally prove the existence of God The skeptical empiricism of David Hume the antinomies of Immanuel Kant and the existential philosophy of Soren Kierkegaard convinced many later philosophers to abandon these attempts regarding it impossible to construct any unassailable proof for the existence or non existence of God 46 In his 1844 book Philosophical Fragments Kierkegaard writes 47 Let us call this unknown something God It is nothing more than a name we assign to it The idea of demonstrating that this unknown something God exists could scarcely suggest itself to Reason For if God does not exist it would of course be impossible to prove it and if he does exist it would be folly to attempt it For at the very outset in beginning my proof I would have presupposed it not as doubtful but as certain a presupposition is never doubtful for the very reason that it is a presupposition since otherwise I would not begin readily understanding that the whole would be impossible if he did not exist But if when I speak of proving God s existence I mean that I propose to prove that the Unknown which exists is God then I express myself unfortunately For in that case I do not prove anything least of all an existence but merely develop the content of a conception Hume was Huxley s favourite philosopher calling him the Prince of Agnostics 48 Diderot wrote to his mistress telling of a visit by Hume to the Baron D Holbach and describing how a word for the position that Huxley would later describe as agnosticism did not seem to exist or at least was not common knowledge at the time The first time that M Hume found himself at the table of the Baron he was seated beside him I don t know for what purpose the English philosopher took it into his head to remark to the Baron that he did not believe in atheists that he had never seen any The Baron said to him Count how many we are here We are eighteen The Baron added It isn t too bad a showing to be able to point out to you fifteen at once the three others haven t made up their minds 49 Denis Diderot United Kingdom edit Charles Darwin edit nbsp Charles Darwin in 1854Raised in a religious environment Charles Darwin 1809 1882 studied to be an Anglican clergyman While eventually doubting parts of his faith Darwin continued to help in church affairs even while avoiding church attendance Darwin stated that it would be absurd to doubt that a man might be an ardent theist and an evolutionist 50 51 Although reticent about his religious views in 1879 he wrote that I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God I think that generally an agnostic would be the most correct description of my state of mind 50 52 Thomas Henry Huxley edit nbsp Thomas Henry Huxley in the 1860s He was the first to decisively coin the term agnosticism Agnostic views are as old as philosophical skepticism but the terms agnostic and agnosticism were created by Huxley 1825 1895 to sum up his thoughts on contemporary developments of metaphysics about the unconditioned William Hamilton and the unknowable Herbert Spencer Though Huxley began to use the term agnostic in 1869 his opinions had taken shape some time before that date In a letter of September 23 1860 to Charles Kingsley Huxley discussed his views extensively 53 54 I neither affirm nor deny the immortality of man I see no reason for believing it but on the other hand I have no means of disproving it I have no a priori objections to the doctrine No man who has to deal daily and hourly with nature can trouble himself about a priori difficulties Give me such evidence as would justify me in believing in anything else and I will believe that Why should I not It is not half so wonderful as the conservation of force or the indestructibility of matter It is no use to talk to me of analogies and probabilities I know what I mean when I say I believe in the law of the inverse squares and I will not rest my life and my hopes upon weaker convictions That my personality is the surest thing I know may be true But the attempt to conceive what it is leads me into mere verbal subtleties I have champed up all that chaff about the ego and the non ego noumena and phenomena and all the rest of it too often not to know that in attempting even to think of these questions the human intellect flounders at once out of its depth And again to the same correspondent May 6 1863 55 I have never had the least sympathy with the a priori reasons against orthodoxy and I have by nature and disposition the greatest possible antipathy to all the atheistic and infidel school Nevertheless I know that I am in spite of myself exactly what the Christian would call and so far as I can see is justified in calling atheist and infidel I cannot see one shadow or tittle of evidence that the great unknown underlying the phenomenon of the universe stands to us in the relation of a Father who loves us and cares for us as Christianity asserts So with regard to the other great Christian dogmas immortality of soul and future state of rewards and punishments what possible objection can I who am compelled perforce to believe in the immortality of what we call Matter and Force and in a very unmistakable present state of rewards and punishments for our deeds have to these doctrines Give me a scintilla of evidence and I am ready to jump at them Of the origin of the name agnostic to describe this attitude Huxley gave the following account 56 When I reached intellectual maturity and began to ask myself whether I was an atheist a theist or a pantheist a materialist or an idealist Christian or a freethinker I found that the more I learned and reflected the less ready was the answer until at last I came to the conclusion that I had neither art nor part with any of these denominations except the last The one thing in which most of these good people were agreed was the one thing in which I differed from them They were quite sure they had attained a certain gnosis had more or less successfully solved the problem of existence while I was quite sure I had not and had a pretty strong conviction that the problem was insoluble And with Hume and Kant on my side I could not think myself presumptuous in holding fast by that opinion So I took thought and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of agnostic It came into my head as suggestively antithetic to the gnostic of Church history who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant To my great satisfaction the term took In 1889 Huxley wrote Therefore although it be as I believe demonstrable that we have no real knowledge of the authorship or of the date of composition of the Gospels as they have come down to us and that nothing better than more or less probable guesses can be arrived at on that subject 57 William Stewart Ross edit William Stewart Ross 1844 1906 wrote under the name of Saladin He was associated with Victorian Freethinkers and the organization the British Secular Union He edited the Secular Review from 1882 it was renamed Agnostic Journal and Eclectic Review and closed in 1907 Ross championed agnosticism in opposition to the atheism of Charles Bradlaugh as an open ended spiritual exploration 58 In Why I am an Agnostic c 1889 he claims that agnosticism is the very reverse of atheism 59 Bertrand Russell edit nbsp Bertrand RussellBertrand Russell 1872 1970 declared Why I Am Not a Christian in 1927 a classic statement of agnosticism 60 61 He calls upon his readers to stand on their own two feet and look fair and square at the world with a fearless attitude and a free intelligence 61 In 1939 Russell gave a lecture on The existence and nature of God in which he characterized himself as an atheist He said 62 The existence and nature of God is a subject of which I can discuss only half If one arrives at a negative conclusion concerning the first part of the question the second part of the question does not arise and my position as you may have gathered is a negative one on this matter However later in the same lecture discussing modern non anthropomorphic concepts of God Russell states 63 That sort of God is I think not one that can actually be disproved as I think the omnipotent and benevolent creator can In Russell s 1947 pamphlet Am I An Atheist or an Agnostic subtitled A Plea For Tolerance in the Face of New Dogmas he ruminates on the problem of what to call himself 64 As a philosopher if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one can prove that there is not a God On the other hand if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think I ought to say that I am an Atheist because when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods In his 1953 essay What Is An Agnostic Russell states 65 An agnostic thinks it impossible to know the truth in matters such as God and the future life with which Christianity and other religions are concerned Or if not impossible at least impossible at the present time Are Agnostics Atheists No An atheist like a Christian holds that we can know whether or not there is a God The Christian holds that we can know there is a God the atheist that we can know there is not The Agnostic suspends judgment saying that there are not sufficient grounds either for affirmation or for denial Later in the essay Russell adds 66 I think that if I heard a voice from the sky predicting all that was going to happen to me during the next twenty four hours including events that would have seemed highly improbable and if all these events then produced to happen I might perhaps be convinced at least of the existence of some superhuman intelligence Leslie Weatherhead edit See also Christian agnosticism nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Leslie Weatherhead In 1965 Christian theologian Leslie Weatherhead 1893 1976 published The Christian Agnostic in which he argues 67 many professing agnostics are nearer belief in the true God than are many conventional church goers who believe in a body that does not exist whom they miscall God Although radical and unpalatable to conventional theologians Weatherhead s agnosticism falls far short of Huxley s and short even of weak agnosticism 67 Of course the human soul will always have the power to reject God for choice is essential to its nature but I cannot believe that anyone will finally do this United States edit Robert G Ingersoll edit nbsp Robert G IngersollRobert G Ingersoll 1833 1899 an Illinois lawyer and politician who evolved into a well known and sought after orator in 19th century America has been referred to as the Great Agnostic 68 In an 1896 lecture titled Why I Am An Agnostic Ingersoll related why he was an agnostic 69 Is there a supernatural power an arbitrary mind an enthroned God a supreme will that sways the tides and currents of the world to which all causes bow I do not deny I do not know but I do not believe I believe that the natural is supreme that from the infinite chain no link can be lost or broken that there is no supernatural power that can answer prayer no power that worship can persuade or change no power that cares for man I believe that with infinite arms Nature embraces the all that there is no interference no chance that behind every event are the necessary and countless causes and that beyond every event will be and must be the necessary and countless effects Is there a God I do not know Is man immortal I do not know One thing I do know and that is that neither hope nor fear belief nor denial can change the fact It is as it is and it will be as it must be In the conclusion of the speech he simply sums up the agnostic position as 69 We can be as honest as we are ignorant If we are when asked what is beyond the horizon of the known we must say that we do not know In 1885 Ingersoll explained his comparative view of agnosticism and atheism as follows 70 The Agnostic is an Atheist The Atheist is an Agnostic The Agnostic says I do not know but I do not believe there is any God The Atheist says the same See also Physical determinism Bernard Iddings Bell edit Canon Bernard Iddings Bell 1886 1958 a popular cultural commentator Episcopal priest and author lauded the necessity of agnosticism in Beyond Agnosticism A Book for Tired Mechanists calling it the foundation of all intelligent Christianity 71 Agnosticism was a temporary mindset in which one rigorously questioned the truths of the age including the way in which one believed God 72 His view of Robert Ingersoll and Thomas Paine was that they were not denouncing true Christianity but rather a gross perversion of it 71 Part of the misunderstanding stemmed from ignorance of the concepts of God and religion 73 Historically a god was any real perceivable force that ruled the lives of humans and inspired admiration love fear and homage religion was the practice of it Ancient peoples worshiped gods with real counterparts such as Mammon money and material things Nabu rationality or Ba al violent weather Bell argued that modern peoples were still paying homage with their lives and their children s lives to these old gods of wealth physical appetites and self deification 74 Thus if one attempted to be agnostic passively he or she would incidentally join the worship of the world s gods In Unfashionable Convictions 1931 he criticized the Enlightenment s complete faith in human sensory perception augmented by scientific instruments as a means of accurately grasping Reality Firstly it was fairly new an innovation of the Western World which Aristotle invented and Thomas Aquinas revived among the scientific community Secondly the divorce of pure science from human experience as manifested in American Industrialization had completely altered the environment often disfiguring it so as to suggest its insufficiency to human needs Thirdly because scientists were constantly producing more data to the point where no single human could grasp it all at once it followed that human intelligence was incapable of attaining a complete understanding of universe therefore to admit the mysteries of the unobserved universe was to be actually scientific Bell believed that there were two other ways that humans could perceive and interact with the world Artistic experience was how one expressed meaning through speaking writing painting gesturing any sort of communication which shared insight into a human s inner reality Mystical experience was how one could read people and harmonize with them being what we commonly call love 75 In summary man was a scientist artist and lover Without exercising all three a person became lopsided Bell considered a humanist to be a person who cannot rightly ignore the other ways of knowing However humanism like agnosticism was also temporal and would eventually lead to either scientific materialism or theism He lays out the following thesis Truth cannot be discovered by reasoning on the evidence of scientific data alone Modern peoples dissatisfaction with life is the result of depending on such incomplete data Our ability to reason is not a way to discover Truth but rather a way to organize our knowledge and experiences somewhat sensibly Without a full human perception of the world one s reason tends to lead them in the wrong direction Beyond what can be measured with scientific tools there are other types of perception such as one s ability know another human through loving One s loves cannot be dissected and logged in a scientific journal but we know them far better than we know the surface of the sun They show us an indefinable reality that is nevertheless intimate and personal and they reveal qualities lovelier and truer than detached facts can provide To be religious in the Christian sense is to live for the Whole of Reality God rather than for a small part gods Only by treating this Whole of Reality as a person good and true and perfect rather than an impersonal force can we come closer to the Truth An ultimate Person can be loved but a cosmic force cannot A scientist can only discover peripheral truths but a lover is able to get at the Truth There are many reasons to believe in God but they are not sufficient for an agnostic to become a theist It is not enough to believe in an ancient holy book even though when it is accurately analyzed without bias it proves to be more trustworthy and admirable than what we are taught in school Neither is it enough to realize how probable it is that a personal God would have to show human beings how to live considering they have so much trouble on their own Nor is it enough to believe for the reason that throughout history millions of people have arrived at this Wholeness of Reality only through religious experience The aforementioned reasons may warm one toward religion but they fall short of convincing However if one presupposes that God is in fact a knowable loving person as an experiment and then lives according that religion he or she will suddenly come face to face with experiences previously unknown One s life becomes full meaningful and fearless in the face of death It does not defy reason but exceeds it Because God has been experienced through love the orders of prayer fellowship and devotion now matter They create order within one s life continually renewing the missing piece that had previously felt lost They empower one to be compassionate and humble not small minded or arrogant No truth should be denied outright but all should be questioned Science reveals an ever growing vision of our universe that should not be discounted due to bias toward older understandings Reason is to be trusted and cultivated To believe in God is not to forego reason or to deny scientific facts but to step into the unknown and discover the fullness of life 76 Demographics edit nbsp Nonreligious population by country 2010 77 nbsp Percentage of people in various European countries who said I don t believe there is any sort of spirit God or life force 2005 78 Demographic research services normally do not differentiate between various types of non religious respondents so agnostics are often classified in the same category as atheists or other non religious people 79 A 2010 survey published in Encyclopaedia Britannica found that the non religious people or the agnostics made up about 9 6 of the world s population 80 A November December 2006 poll published in the Financial Times gives rates for the United States and five European countries The rates of agnosticism in the United States were at 14 while the rates of agnosticism in the European countries surveyed were considerably higher Italy 20 Spain 30 Great Britain 35 Germany 25 and France 32 81 A study conducted by the Pew Research Center found that about 16 of the world s people the third largest group after Christianity and Islam have no religious affiliation 82 According to a 2012 report by the Pew Research Center agnostics made up 3 3 of the US adult population 83 In the U S Religious Landscape Survey conducted by the Pew Research Center 55 of agnostic respondents expressed a belief in God or a universal spirit 84 whereas 41 stated that they thought that they felt a tension being non religious in a society where most people are religious 85 According to the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics 38 9 of Australians have no religion a category that includes agnostics 86 Between 64 and 65 87 of Japanese and up to 81 88 of Vietnamese are atheists agnostics or do not believe in a god An official European Union survey reported that 3 of the EU population is unsure about their belief in a god or spirit 89 Criticism editAgnosticism is criticized from a variety of standpoints Some atheists criticize the use of the term agnosticism as functionally indistinguishable from atheism this results in frequent criticisms of those who adopt the term as avoiding the atheist label 22 Theistic edit Theistic critics claim that agnosticism is impossible in practice since a person can live only either as if God did not exist etsi deus non daretur or as if God did exist etsi deus daretur 90 91 Christian edit According to Pope Benedict XVI strong agnosticism in particular contradicts itself in affirming the power of reason to know scientific truth 92 93 He blames the exclusion of reasoning from religion and ethics for dangerous pathologies such as crimes against humanity and ecological disasters 92 page needed 93 page needed 94 Agnosticism said Benedict is always the fruit of a refusal of that knowledge which is in fact offered to man The knowledge of God has always existed 93 He asserted that agnosticism is a choice of comfort pride dominion and utility over truth and is opposed by the following attitudes the keenest self criticism humble listening to the whole of existence the persistent patience and self correction of the scientific method a readiness to be purified by the truth 92 The Catholic Church sees merit in examining what it calls partial agnosticism specifically those systems that do not aim at constructing a complete philosophy of the unknowable but at excluding special kinds of truth notably religious from the domain of knowledge 95 However the Church is historically opposed to a full denial of the capacity of human reason to know God The Council of the Vatican declares God the beginning and end of all can by the natural light of human reason be known with certainty from the works of creation 95 Blaise Pascal argued that even if there were truly no evidence for God agnostics should consider what is now known as Pascal s Wager the infinite expected value of acknowledging God is always greater than the finite expected value of not acknowledging his existence and thus it is a safer bet to choose God 96 Atheistic edit According to Richard Dawkins a distinction between agnosticism and atheism is unwieldy and depends on how close to zero a person is willing to rate the probability of existence for any given god like entity About himself Dawkins continues I am agnostic only to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden 97 Dawkins also identifies two categories of agnostics Temporary Agnostics in Practice TAPs and Permanent Agnostics in Principle PAPs He states that agnosticism about the existence of God belongs firmly in the temporary or TAP category Either he exists or he doesn t It is a scientific question one day we may know the answer and meanwhile we can say something pretty strong about the probability and considers PAP a deeply inescapable kind of fence sitting 98 Ignosticism editA related concept is ignosticism the view that a coherent definition of a deity must be put forward before the question of the existence of a deity can be meaningfully discussed If the chosen definition is not coherent the ignostic holds the noncognitivist view that the existence of a deity is meaningless or empirically untestable 99 A J Ayer Theodore Drange and other philosophers see both atheism and agnosticism as incompatible with ignosticism on the grounds that atheism and agnosticism accept the statement a deity exists as a meaningful proposition that can be argued for or against 100 101 See also editAcatalepsy Agnostic atheism Agnostic theism Apatheism Apophatic theology Asimov s Guide to the Bible Avidya Buddhism Christian agnosticism Existentialism Ietsism Ignoramus et ignorabimus Instrumentalism List of agnostics Objectivism Possibilianism Rationalism Relativism Religiosity Religious skepticism Russell s teapot Scientism Secularism Solipsism Spirituality Spiritual but not religious Subjectivism Unknown God nbsp Philosophy portal nbsp Religion portalReferences edit Hepburn Ronald W 2005 1967 Agnosticism In Donald M Borchert ed The Encyclopedia of Philosophy Vol 1 2nd ed MacMillan Reference USA Gale p 92 ISBN 0 02 865780 2 In the most general use of the term agnosticism is the view that we do not know whether there is a God or not page 56 in 1967 edition a b c Rowe William L 1998 Agnosticism In Edward Craig ed Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Taylor amp Francis ISBN 978 0 415 07310 3 In the popular sense an agnostic is someone who neither believes nor disbelieves in God whereas an atheist disbelieves in God In the strict sense however agnosticism is the view that human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist In so far as one holds that our beliefs are rational only if they are sufficiently supported by the human reason the person who accepts the philosophical position of agnosticism will hold that neither the belief that God exists nor the belief that God does not exist is rational agnostic agnosticism OED Online 3rd ed Oxford University Press September 2012 agnostic A n oun A person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of immaterial things especially of the existence or nature of God In extended use a person who is not persuaded by or committed to a particular point of view a sceptic Also person of indeterminate ideology or conviction an equivocator B adj ective Of or relating to the belief that the existence of anything beyond and behind material phenomena is unknown and as far as can be judged unknowable Also holding this belief a In extended use not committed to or persuaded by a particular point of view sceptical Also politically or ideologically unaligned non partisan equivocal agnosticism n The doctrine or tenets of agnostics with regard to the existence of anything beyond and behind material phenomena or to knowledge of a First Cause or God Samannaphala Sutta The Fruits of the Contemplative Life Digha Nikaya Translated by Bhikkhu Thanissaro 1997 Archived from the original on February 9 2014 If you ask me if there exists another world after death I don t think so I don t think in that way I don t think otherwise I don t think not I don t think not not Bhaskar 1972 Lloyd Ridgeon March 13 2003 Major World Religions From Their Origins To The Present Taylor amp Francis pp 63 ISBN 978 0 203 42313 4 The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Protagoras c 490 c 420 BCE Archived from the original on February 10 2014 Retrieved July 22 2013 While the pious might wish to look to the gods to provide absolute moral guidance in the relativistic universe of the Sophistic Enlightenment that certainty also was cast into doubt by philosophic and sophistic thinkers who pointed out the absurdity and immorality of the conventional epic accounts of the gods Protagoras prose treatise about the gods began Concerning the gods I have no means of knowing whether they exist or not or of what sort they may be Many things prevent knowledge including the obscurity of the subject and the brevity of human life Patri Umesh and Prativa Devi February 1990 Progress of Atheism in India A Historical Perspective Atheist Centre 1940 1990 Golden Jubilee Archived from the original on September 25 2013 Retrieved June 29 2014 Trevor Treharne 2012 How to Prove God Does Not Exist The Complete Guide to Validating Atheism Universal Publishers pp 34 ff ISBN 978 1 61233 118 8 a b Thomas Huxley Agnosticism and Christianity Collected Essays V 1899 Thomas Huxley Agnosticism Collected Essays V 1889 Huxley Thomas Henry April 1889 Agnosticism The Popular Science Monthly New York D Appleton amp Company 34 46 768 Wikisource has the full text of the article here Richard Dawkins January 16 2008 The God Delusion Houghton Mifflin Harcourt pp 72 ISBN 978 0 547 34866 7 Thomas Huxley Agnosticism A Symposium The Agnostic Annual 1884 Edward Zerin Karl Popper On God The Lost Interview Skeptic 6 2 1998 George H Smith Atheism The Case Against God pg 9 George H Smith Atheism The Case Against God pg 12 Smith George H 1979 Atheism The Case Against God Prometheus Books pp 10 11 ISBN 978 0 87975 124 1 Properly considered agnosticism is not a third alternative to theism and atheism because it is concerned with a different aspect of religious belief Theism and atheism refer to the presence or absence of belief in a god agnosticism refers to the impossibility of knowledge with regard to a god or supernatural being The term agnostic does not in itself indicate whether or not one believes in a god Agnosticism can be either theistic or atheistic Harrison Alexander James 1894 The Ascent of Faith or the Grounds of Certainty in Science and Religion London Hodder and Stroughton p 21 OCLC 7234849 OL 21834002M Let Agnostic Theism stand for that kind of Agnosticism which admits a Divine existence Agnostic Atheism for that kind of Agnosticism which thinks it does not Barker Dan 2008 Godless How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America s Leading Atheists New York Ulysses Press p 96 ISBN 978 1 56975 677 5 OL 24313839M People are invariably surprised to hear me say I am both an atheist and an agnostic as if this somehow weakens my certainty I usually reply with a question like Well are you a Republican or an American The two words serve different concepts and are not mutually exclusive Agnosticism addresses knowledge atheism addresses belief The agnostic says I don t have a knowledge that God exists The atheist says I don t have a belief that God exists You can say both things at the same time Some agnostics are atheistic and some are theistic Dixon Thomas 2008 Science and Religion A Very Short Introduction Oxford Oxford University Press p 63 ISBN 978 0 19 929551 7 a b Antony Flew Agnosticism Encyclopaedia Britannica Retrieved December 15 2011 ag nos tic The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2011 Retrieved November 15 2013 Huxley Henrietta A 2004 Aphorisms and Reflections reprint ed Kessinger Publishing pp 41 42 ISBN 978 1 4191 0730 6 Oxford English Dictionary Additions Series 1993 Woodrooffe Sophie Levy Dan September 9 2012 What Does Platform Agnostic Mean Sparksheet Archived from the original on July 14 2014 Retrieved November 15 2013 Yevgeniy Sverdlik July 31 2013 EMC AND NETAPP A SOFTWARE DEFINED STORAGE BATTLE Interoperability no longer matter of choice for big storage vendors Datacenter Dynamics Archived from the original on June 20 2014 Retrieved November 15 2013 Hume David An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding 1748 a b Oppy Graham September 4 2006 Arguing about Gods Cambridge University Press pp 15 ISBN 978 1 139 45889 4 a b Michael H Barnes 2003 In The Presence of Mystery An Introduction To The Story Of Human Religiousness Twenty Third Publications pp 3 ISBN 978 1 58595 259 5 a b Robin Le Poidevin October 28 2010 Agnosticism A Very Short Introduction Oxford University Press pp 32 ISBN 978 0 19 161454 5 John Tyrrell 1996 Commentary on the Articles of Faith Archived from the original on August 7 2007 To believe in the existence of a god is an act of faith To believe in the nonexistence of a god is likewise an act of faith There is no verifiable evidence that there is a Supreme Being nor is there verifiable evidence there is not a Supreme Being Faith is not knowledge We can only state with assurance that we do not know Rahim Abdur January 31 2017 Thinking Outside the Box The Most Realistic Way of Thinking Adopting and Leading Life Xlibris Corporation p 89 ISBN 978 1 5245 7387 4 Rauch Jonathan Let It Be Three Cheers for Apatheism The Atlantic Monthly May 2003 Kramer Kenneth 1986 World scriptures an introduction to comparative religions Paulist Press p 34 ISBN 978 0 8091 2781 8 Subodh Varma May 6 2011 The gods came afterwards The Times of India Archived from the original on November 5 2015 Retrieved June 9 2011 Kenneth Kramer January 1986 World Scriptures An Introduction to Comparative Religions Paulist Press pp 34 ISBN 978 0 8091 2781 8 Christian David September 1 2011 Maps of Time An Introduction to Big History University of California Press pp 18 ISBN 978 0 520 95067 2 Upinder Singh 2008 A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India From the Stone Age to the 12th Century Pearson Education India pp 206 ISBN 978 81 317 1120 0 Aristotle on the existence of God Logicmuseum com Archived from the original on May 30 2014 Retrieved February 9 2014 Internet History Sourcebooks Project Fordham edu Archived from the original on May 31 2014 Retrieved February 9 2014 Williams Thomas 2013 Saint Anselm Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Spring 2013 ed Archived from the original on December 2 2013 Retrieved June 29 2014 Internet History Sourcebooks Project Fordham edu Archived from the original on August 14 2014 Retrieved February 9 2014 Owens Joseph 1980 Saint Thomas Aquinas on the Existence of God The Collected Papers of Joseph Owens SUNY Press ISBN 978 0 87395 401 3 Descartes Proof for the Existence of God Oregonstate edu Archived from the original on February 22 2014 Retrieved February 9 2014 Rowe William L 1998 Agnosticism In Edward Craig ed Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Taylor amp Francis ISBN 978 0 415 07310 3 Archived from the original on July 22 2011 Retrieved April 17 2012 Kierkegaard Soren Philosophical Fragments Ch 3 A Hundred Years of British Philosophy By Rudolf Metz pg 111 Ernest Campbell Mossner The Life of David Hume 2014 pg 483 a b Letter 12041 Darwin C R to Fordyce John May 7 1879 Archived from the original on June 29 2014 Darwin s Complex loss of Faith The Guardian September 17 2009 Archived from the original on June 29 2014 Darwin Correspondence Project Belief historical essay Archived from the original on February 25 2009 Retrieved November 25 2008 Thomas Henry Huxley 1997 The Major Prose of Thomas Henry Huxley University of Georgia Press pp 357 ISBN 978 0 8203 1864 6 Leonard Huxley February 7 2012 Thomas Henry Huxley A Character Sketch tredition pp 41 ISBN 978 3 8472 0297 4 Leonard Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley December 22 2011 Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley Cambridge University Press pp 347 ISBN 978 1 108 04045 7 Huxley Thomas Collected Essays Vol V Science and Christian Tradition Macmillan and Co 1893 pp 237 239 ISBN 1 85506 922 9 Huxley Thomas Henry 1892 Agnosticism And Christianity Essays Upon Some Controverted Questions Macmillan p 364 Agnosticism And Christianity Therefore although it be as I believe demonstrable that we have no real knowledge of the authorship or of the date of composition of the Gospels as they have come down to us and that nothing better than more or less probable guesses can be arrived at on that subject Alastair Bonnett The Agnostic Saladin History Today 2013 63 2 pp 47 52 William Stewart Ross Joseph Taylor 1889 Why I Am an Agnostic Being a Manual of Agnosticism W Stewart amp Company Why I Am Not A Christian by Bertrand Russell Users drew edu March 6 1927 Archived from the original on March 1 2014 Retrieved February 9 2014 a b Bertrand Russell 1992 Why I Am Not a Christian And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 07918 1 Russell Bertrand Collected Papers Vol 10 p 255 Collected Papers Vol 10 p 258 Bertrand Russell 1997 Last Philosophical Testament 1943 68 Psychology Press pp 91 ISBN 978 0 415 09409 2 Bertrand Russell March 2 2009 The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell Routledge pp 557 ISBN 978 1 134 02867 2 What Is an agnostic by Bertrand Russell Scepsis net Archived from the original on August 22 2013 Retrieved February 2 2014 a b Weatherhead Leslie D September 1990 The Christian Agnostic Abingdon Press ISBN 978 0 687 06980 4 Brandt Eric T Larsen Timothy 2011 The Old Atheism Revisited Robert G Ingersoll and the Bible Journal of the Historical Society 11 2 211 238 doi 10 1111 j 1540 5923 2011 00330 x a b Ingersoll Robert Green 1896 Why I Am Agnostic Internet Infidels Retrieved February 2 2014 Jacoby Susan 2013 The Great Agnostic Yale University Press p 17 ISBN 978 0 300 13725 5 a b The Good News by Bernard Iddings Bell 1921 anglicanhistory org Retrieved February 21 2019 Brauer Kristen D 2007 The religious roots of postmodernism in American culture an analysis of the postmodern theory of Bernard Iddings Bell and its continued relevance to contemporary postmodern theory and literary criticism Glasgow Scotland University of Glasgow p 32 Bell Bernard Iddings 1931 Unfashionable Convictions New York and London Harper amp Brothers p 20 Bell Bernard Iddings 1929 Beyond Agnosticism New York and London Harper amp Brothers pp 12 19 Bell Bernard Iddings 1931 Unfashionable Convictions New York and London Harper amp Brothers pp 4 5 Bell Bernard Iddings 1931 Unfashionable Convictions New York and London Harper amp Brothers Publishing pp 25 28 Religious Composition by Country 2010 2050 Pew Research Center s Religion amp Public Life Project April 2 2015 Retrieved April 27 2020 Social values Science and Technology PDF Archived from the original PDF on April 30 2011 Retrieved April 9 2011 Major Religions Ranked by Size Adherents com Archived from the original on August 11 2010 Retrieved August 14 2010 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link Religion Year in Review 2010 Worldwide Adherents of All Religions Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc Archived from the original on July 2 2014 Retrieved November 21 2013 Religious Views and Beliefs Vary Greatly by Country According to the Latest Financial Times Harris Poll Financial Times Harris Interactive December 20 2006 Archived from the original on July 23 2013 Retrieved April 9 2011 Goodstein Laurie December 18 2012 Study Finds One in 6 Follows No Religion The New York Times Archived from the original on June 23 2014 Cary Funk Greg Smith Nones on the Rise One in Five Adults Have No Religious Affiliation PDF Pew Research Center pp 9 42 Archived from the original PDF on August 26 2014 Retrieved November 21 2013 Summary of Key Findings PDF Pew Research Center 2011 Archived PDF from the original on October 17 2014 Retrieved December 28 2011 Nearly all adults 92 say they believe in God or a universal spirit including seven in ten of the unaffiliated Indeed one in five people who identify themselves as atheist 21 and a majority of those who identify themselves as agnostic 55 express a belief in God or a universal spirit Summary of Key Findings PDF Pew Research Center 2011 Archived PDF from the original on October 17 2014 Retrieved December 28 2011 Interestingly a substantial number of adults who are not affiliated with a religion also sense that there is a conflict between religion and modern society except for them the conflict involves being non religious in a society where most people are religious For instance more than four inten atheists and agnostics 44 and 41 respectively believe that such a tension exists Snapshot of Australia Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Retrieved September 4 2023 Zuckerman Phil 2007 Martin Michael T ed The Cambridge Companion to Atheism Cambridge England Cambridge University Press p 56 ISBN 978 0 521 60367 6 OL 22379448M Retrieved April 9 2011 Average intelligence predicts atheism rates across 137 nations PDF January 3 2008 Archived PDF from the original on August 23 2013 Retrieved October 21 2012 Social values Science and Technology PDF Directorate General Research European Union 2005 pp 7 11 Archived from the original PDF on April 30 2011 Retrieved April 9 2011 Sandro Magister 2007 Habermas writes to Ratzinger and Ruini responds Archived from the original on February 21 2014 Retrieved May 25 2008 Ratzinger Joseph 2006 Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures Ignatius Press pp 87 89 ISBN 978 1 58617 142 1 a b c Ratzinger Joseph 2005 The Yes of Jesus Christ Spiritual Exercises in Faith Hope and Love Cross Roads Publishing a b c Ratzinger Joseph 2004 Truth and Tolerance Christian Belief And World Religions Ignatius Press Benedict XVI September 12 2006 Papal Address at University of Regensburg zenit org Archived from the original on June 1 2014 Retrieved June 29 2014 a b Agnosticism Catholic Encyclopedia Archived from the original on July 1 2014 Argument from Pascal s Wager 2007 Archived from the original on June 5 2008 Retrieved May 25 2008 The God Delusion 2006 Bantam Press p 51 The God Delusion 2006 Bantam Press pp 47 48 The Argument From Non Cognitivism Archived from the original on April 29 2014 Retrieved October 1 2010 Ayer Language 115 There can be no way of proving that the existence of a God is even probable For if the existence of such a god were probable then the proposition that he existed would be an empirical hypothesis And in that case it would be possible to deduce from it and other empirical hypotheses certain experimental propositions which were not deducible from those other hypotheses alone But in fact this is not possible Drange AtheismFurther reading editAgnosticism Forgotten Books pp 164 ISBN 978 1 4400 6878 2 Alexander Nathan G An Atheist with a Tall Hat On The Forgotten History of Agnosticism The Humanist February 19 2019 Annan Noel Leslie Stephen The Godless Victorian U of Chicago Press 1984 Cockshut A O J The Unbelievers English Thought 1840 1890 1966 Dawkins Richard The poverty of agnosticism in The God Delusion Black Swan 2007 ISBN 978 0 552 77429 1 Huxley Thomas H February 4 2013 Man s Place in Nature Courier Dover Publications pp 1 ISBN 978 0 486 15134 2 Hume David 1779 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion Penguin Books Limited pp 1 Kant Immanuel May 28 2013 The Critique of Pure Reason Loki s Publishing ISBN 978 0 615 82576 2 Kierkegaard Soren 1985 Philosophical Fragments Religion online org ISBN 978 0 691 02036 5 Archived from the original on February 22 2014 Retrieved February 9 2014 Lightman Bernard The Origins of Agnosticism 1987 Royle Edward Radicals Secularists and Republicans Popular Freethought in Britain 1866 1915 Manchester UP 1980 Smith George H 1979 Atheism The Case Against God PDF Prometheus Books ISBN 0 87975 124 X Archived from the original on November 26 2013 Retrieved February 9 2014 External links edit nbsp Look up agnosticism in Wiktionary the free dictionary nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Agnosticism nbsp Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica article Agnosticism Zalta Edward N ed Atheism and Agnosticism Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Agnosticism at PhilPapers Agnosticism at the Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project Albert Einstein on Religion Shapell Manuscript Foundation Why I Am An Agnostic by Robert G Ingersoll 1896 Dictionary of the History of Ideas Agnosticism Agnosticism from INTERS Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science Agnosticism from ReligiousTolerance org What do Agnostics Believe A Jewish perspective Fides et Ratio the relationship between faith and reason Karol Wojtyla 1998 The Natural Religion by Brendan Connolly 2008 Nielsen Kai 1973 1968 Agnosticism Dictionary of the History of Ideas University of Virginia Library Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Agnosticism amp oldid 1192227608, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.