Agnosticism

Agnosticism (from Greek agnōstos, "unknowable", from a- "not" + gnostos "known"), the doctrine that humans cannot know of the existence of anything beyond the phenomena of their experience, is the view that any ultimate reality (such as a deity) is unknown and probably unknowable. It is a philosophical or religious position characterized by uncertainty about the existence of a god or any gods but does not deny that a "higher power" might exist. General or secular agnosticism describes an attitude of doubt or uncertainty about something, denying or doubting the possibility of ultimate knowledge in some area of study, therefore being at least noncommittal.

History

In 1869, English biologist T.H. Huxley coined this noun referring to someone whose religious beliefs lie somewhere in between those of a theist and an atheist — that is, a believer and a disbeliever. Huxley combined the Greek prefix a-, meaning "not," with gnostos, "known." This word can be used as a noun or adjective, and it can also refer to uncertainty about questions other than the existence of God: "Some philosophers remain agnostic as to whether people have free will."

He did not, however, define “agnosticism” simply as the state of being an agnostic. Instead, he often used that term to refer to a normative epistemological principle, something similar to (though weaker than) what we now call “evidentialism”. Roughly, Huxley’s principle says that it is wrong to say that one knows or believes that a proposition is true without logically satisfactory evidence (Huxley 1884 and 1889). But it was Huxley’s application of this principle to theistic and atheistic belief that ultimately had the greatest influence on the meaning of the term. He argued that, since neither of those beliefs is adequately supported by evidence, we ought to suspend judgment on the issue of whether or not there is a God. Nowadays, the term “agnostic” is often used (when the issue is God’s existence) to refer to those who follow the recommendation expressed in the conclusion of Huxley’s argument: an agnostic is a person who has entertained the proposition that there is a God but believes neither that it is true nor that it is false. Not surprisingly, then, the term “agnosticism” is often defined, both in and outside of philosophy, not as a principle or any other sort of proposition but instead as the psychological state of being an agnostic.

Quotes

• Religious agnosticism may accept the ethical value of a religious way of living and even endorse religious ideas as a viable basis for understanding various aspects of human existence. — Gary Gutting

See also

• Atheism

External links

Encyclopedias

• Encyclopedia Britannica: Agnosticism
• Encyclopedia.com: Agnosticism