Agnosticism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Defining agnosticism == {{blockquote|[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.<ref name="auto">Thomas Huxley, [http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/CE5/Agn-X.html "Agnosticism and Christianity"], ''Collected Essays V'', 1899</ref>|Thomas Henry Huxley}} {{blockquote|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.<ref>Thomas Huxley, [http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/CE5/Agn.html "Agnosticism"], ''Collected Essays V'', 1889</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Huxley|first=Thomas Henry|date=April 1889|title=Agnosticism|journal=[[Popular Science|The Popular Science Monthly]]|publisher=[[D. Appleton & Company]]|location=New York|volume=34|issue=46|page=768}} Wikisource has the full text of the article [[:Wikisource: Essays upon some Controverted Questions/IX|here.]] </ref><ref name="Dawkins2008">{{cite book|author=Richard Dawkins|title=The God Delusion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yq1xDpicghkC&pg=PA72|date=January 16, 2008|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-547-34866-7|pages=72–}}</ref>|Thomas Henry Huxley}} {{blockquote|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.<ref name="auto"/>|Thomas Henry Huxley}} {{blockquote|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.<ref>Thomas Huxley [http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/UnColl/Rdetc/AgnAnn.html "Agnosticism: A Symposium"], ''The Agnostic Annual.'' 1884</ref>|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.<ref name="Edward Zerin 1998">Edward Zerin: Karl Popper On God: The Lost Interview. ''Skeptic'' '''6''':2 (1998)</ref> 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.<ref name="RoweRoutledge"/> [[George H. Smith]], while admitting that the narrow definition of atheist was the common usage definition of that word,<ref>George H. Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God, pg. 9</ref> and admitting that the broad definition of agnostic was the common usage definition of that word,<ref>George H. Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God, pg. 12</ref> 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).<ref name=Smith1979>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FI7ZAAAAMAAJ&q=agnostic+theist |title=Atheism: The Case Against God |first=George H |last=Smith |author-link=George H. Smith |pages=10–11 |quote=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. |year=1979 |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=978-0-87975-124-1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Ascent of Faith: or, the Grounds of Certainty in Science and Religion|year=1894|first=Alexander James|last=Harrison|publisher=Hodder and Stroughton|location=London|page=21|oclc=7234849|ol=21834002M|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c3QrAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA21|quote=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.}} </ref><ref name="barker-agnostic-atheism">{{cite book|last=Barker|first=Dan|author-link=Dan Barker|title=Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists|year=2008|location=New York|publisher=Ulysses Press|isbn=978-1-56975-677-5|ol=24313839M|page=96|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fAjPWYgIfCoC&pg=PA96|quote=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.}}</ref> ===Etymology=== ''Agnostic'' ({{ety|grc|ἀ- (a-)|without||[[wikt:γνῶσις|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.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Dixon| first = Thomas| title = Science and Religion: A Very Short Introduction| publisher = Oxford University Press| year = 2008| location = Oxford| page = 63| isbn = 978-0-19-929551-7}} </ref><ref name="EB-Agnosticism">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Antony |first=Flew |title=Agnosticism |url= https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/9356/agnosticism |encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=December 15, 2011}}</ref> Early [[Christianity|Christian]] church leaders used the [[Greek language|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.<ref name="nknxjx">{{cite web |title=ag·nos·tic |website=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=2011 |url= http://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=agnostic&submit.x=20&submit.y=28 |access-date= November 15, 2013}}</ref> Huxley identified agnosticism not as a creed but rather as a method of [[Skepticism|skeptical]], evidence-based inquiry.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=97DaE6BzKTsC&pg=PA41 |title=Aphorisms and Reflections |first= Henrietta A.| last=Huxley |publisher= Kessinger Publishing |year=2004 |edition= reprint |pages=41–42 |isbn=978-1-4191-0730-6}}</ref> 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".<ref>Oxford English Dictionary, Additions Series, 1993</ref> In technical and marketing literature, "agnostic" can also mean independence from some parameters—for example, "platform agnostic" (referring to [[cross-platform software]])<ref name= SparkSheet>{{cite web |title= What Does Platform Agnostic Mean? |last1= Woodrooffe |first1=Sophie |last2=Levy |first2= Dan |website=Sparksheet |url= http://sparksheet.com/what-does-platform-agnostic-mean/ |date=September 9, 2012 |access-date=November 15, 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140714153217/http://sparksheet.com/what-does-platform-agnostic-mean/ |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |url-status=dead |df=mdy }}</ref> or "[[hardware-agnostic]]".<ref name=Datacenterdynamics>{{cite web |website=Datacenter Dynamics |title=EMC and NetApp - a software-defined storage battle |url=http://www.datacenterdynamics.com/focus/archive/2013/07/emc-and-netapp-%E2%80%93-software-defined-storage-battle |first=Yevgeniy|last= Sverdlik |date=July 31, 2013 |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140620131749/http://www.datacenterdynamics.com/focus/archive/2013/07/emc-and-netapp-%E2%80%93-software-defined-storage-battle |archive-date=June 20, 2014 |url-status=dead |df=mdy }}</ref> ===Qualifying agnosticism=== [[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. [[tautology (logic)|tautologies]] such as "all bachelors are unmarried" or "all triangles have three corners").<ref>Hume, David, "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding" (1748)</ref> ===Types=== ;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."<ref name="Oppy2006">{{cite book|last=Oppy |first=Graham|title=Arguing about Gods|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DlVtfUxPD14C&pg=PA15|date=September 4, 2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-45889-4|pages=15–}} </ref><ref name="Barnes2003">{{cite book|author=Michael H. Barnes|title=In The Presence of Mystery: An Introduction To The Story Of Human Religiousness|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bhtb2_NYnpoC&pg=PA3|year=2003|publisher=Twenty-Third Publications|isbn=978-1-58595-259-5|pages=3–}} </ref><ref name="Poidevin2010">{{cite book|author=Robin Le Poidevin|title=Agnosticism: A Very Short Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8DKg5MeJtmIC&pg=PT32|date=October 28, 2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-161454-5|pages=32–}}</ref> ;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."<ref name="Oppy2006" /><ref name="Barnes2003" /><ref name="Poidevin2010" /> ;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."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.apatheticagnostic.com/ourchurch/faith.html|title=Commentary on the Articles of Faith|author=John Tyrrell|year=1996|quote=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.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807021506/http://www.apatheticagnostic.com/ourchurch/faith.html|archive-date=2007-08-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Rahim |first1=Abdur |title=Thinking Outside the Box: The Most Realistic Way of Thinking, Adopting, and Leading Life |date=31 January 2017 |publisher=Xlibris Corporation |isbn=978-1-5245-7387-4 |page=89 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f-NPDgAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>Rauch, Jonathan, ''Let It Be: Three Cheers for Apatheism'', ''[[The Atlantic Monthly]]'', May 2003</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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