Agnosticism

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Agnosticism

Agnosticism is the philosophical view that the truth value of certain claims is unknown or inherently impossible to prove or disprove. This holds true particularly for metaphysical claims regarding theology, the afterlife, or the existence of deities, ghosts, or even ultimate reality. It is often put forth as a middle ground between theism and atheism.

Research services generally list agnostics in the same category as atheists and non-religious people, using "agnostic" in the sense of "noncommittal". This may be misleading given the existence of agnostic theists, who identify themselves as both agnostics in the original sense and followers of a particular religion.

Some assert that it is possible to be both an atheist and an agnostic, and some nontheists self-identify as agnostic atheists.

1 Etymology
2 Types of Agnosticism
3 Qualifying Agnosticism
4 Religious Scholars
5 Related articles
6 External Links

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Etymology

"Agnostic" was introduced by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869 to describe his philosophy which rejects Gnosticism. His rejection included all claims to spiritual of mystical knowledge.

Early Christian leaders used the Greek word gnosis (knowledge) to describe "spiritual knowledge". Agnosticism does not only apply to views opposing the doctrine of gnosis of Gnosticism. Huxley used the term in a broad sense.

In recent years, the term "agnostic" has been used in scientific literature in psychology and neuroscience, as well as in technical and marketing literature, to mean "not knowable" or "independent".

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Types of Agnosticism

Strong Agnosticism
- Also known as "hard agnosticism", "closed agnosticism", "strict agnosticism", or "absolute agnosticism"
- View that questions the existence or nonexistence of God or gods
- Nature of ultimate reality is unknowable by reason of our natural inability to verify any experience with anything but another subjective experience

Weak Agnosticism
- Also known as "soft agnosticism", "open agnosticism", "empirical agnosticism", or "temporal agnosticism"
- View that the existence or nonexistence of any deity is currently unknown but is not necessarily unknowable
- Withhold judgment until evidence is available

Apathetic Agnosticism
- Also known as "Pragmatic Agnosticism"
- View that there is no proof of either the existence or nonexistence of any deity
- Any deity that may exist appears unconcerned for the universe or the welfare of its inhabitants

Agnostic Theism
- Also known as "religious agnosticism" or "spiritual agnosticism"
- View of those who do not claim to know existence of any deity
- Still believe in an existence

Agnostic Atheism
- View of those who do not know of the existence or nonexistence of any deity
- Do not believe in any way

Ignosticism
- View that a coherent definition of God must be put forward before the question of the existence of God can be meaningfully discussed
- If the definition is not coherent, the ignostic holds the noncognitivist view that the existence of God is meaningless or empirically untestable

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Qualifying Agnosticism

Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume contended that meaningful statements about the universe are always qualified by some degree of doubt. The fallibility of humans means that they cannot obtain absolute certainty except in trivial cases where a statement is true by definitions.

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Religious Scholars

Religious scholars affirm the possibility of knowledge because human intelligence has the power to reach the essence and existence of things if it has a non-material, spiritual element. According to these scholars, agnosticism is impossible in actual practice, since a person can live only either as if God did not exist or as if God did exist. They believe that each day in a person's live in an unavoidable step towards death, and not to decide for or against God is to decide in favor of atheism.

These religious scholars argue that God has placed much evidence of his existence in his creation and continues to personally speak to humans. They believe that if agnostics demand from God that he prove his existence, they would be asking God to become man's servant.

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