Agnosticism: what is it in simple words, a brief overview, theories

The main goal of philosophy has always been the desire to understand how the world works and what place a person occupies in it. At the same time, since ancient times, thinkers have wondered whether humanity will ever be able to find answers to all questions, or whether some aspects of the world order will remain unknown to us. We don’t know the answer to this question yet, so each version has its supporters.

The concept according to which a complete understanding of the world is inaccessible to humans is called epistemological pessimism. Its supporters believe that the human mind is not capable of understanding all aspects of the world order, which means that there will always be questions to which humanity cannot find reliable answers.

Epistemological pessimism includes two directions:

• agnosticism is a philosophical concept according to which the world is unknowable to man, since some knowledge is inaccessible to him and will never be available;
• skepticism is a concept that questions the reliability of truth (that is, the very ability to reliably understand what is real and what is fiction).

Today we will talk about agnosticism. We will consider in detail the essence of this teaching, the history of its appearance and development, list the main supporters and analyze in detail how it differs from skepticism.

History of the term

The term “agnosticism” was first proposed for use in scientific circles by T. Huxley. The English zoologist, having received an offer to join the Metaphysical Society, for the first time seriously thought about his attitude towards God and religion. Not finding a term that would accurately describe his feelings, the scientist chose a new word that, in his opinion, described his worldview.

An agnostic, as Huxley saw it, is a person who does not accept religious dogma. He does not believe in the existence of any of the gods, since it has not been scientifically proven. But he also admits that humanity will be able to know the gods in the future, or prove that gods do not exist.

P. Kropotkin interprets the history of the term in his own way. He claims that it was first used by unbelieving writers who liked to gather in a small group at D. Knowles, publisher of the Nineteenth Century magazine. They chose to abandon the definition of “atheist”, preferring “agnostic” - one who denies gnosis.

The first mentions of agnosticism are found in the works of philosophers of the ancient period. The sophist Protagoras and the ancient Indian philosopher Sanjaya discussed the impossibility of verifying and proving the existence of gods. He also doubted the possibility of proving the existence of an afterlife.

Basic ideas of agnosticism

Agnosticism owes its development to a large number of thinkers who developed and popularized its ideas over many centuries. Let's consider the main ideas of agnosticism with reference to specific scientists and philosophers - those whose contributions led to the formation of agnosticism in its modern form:

George Berkeley

The key thesis that Berkeley developed and defended throughout his scientific career was the statement “being is that which is perceived, or the one who perceives.” He insisted that a person has access to only that knowledge about the surrounding reality that he receives through perception.

At the same time, in the human mind, understanding of the surrounding world is present only in the form in which it was perceived. Consequently, knowledge of objective reality cannot be absolute , since it is limited by capabilities and distorted by the peculiarities of human perception.

David Hume

Hume's ideas are similar to Berkeley's. His main work covering this topic was “Treatise on Human Nature,” published in 1739-1740 (published in parts). In this work, he discusses issues of reliability of knowledge, as well as the fundamental impossibility of verifying this reliability.

At the same time, he does not call for total skepticism, but only shows that it is necessary to take into account the imperfection of the methods of knowledge available to us. All knowledge is achieved through empirical and theoretical knowledge. In other words, the process of cognition always involves certain assumptions and assumptions, many of which cannot be reliably proven or disproved.

Immanuel Kant

As noted above, Kant viewed objective reality as a “thing in itself” that exists independently of human consciousness, but is at the same time available in a certain form for its perception. He argued that it is first necessary to understand the limits of reason , and only then will it be possible to talk about the fundamental possibility or impossibility of pure knowledge, as well as about methods for achieving it.

And until we understand these boundaries, we cannot know to what extent the “thing for us” (our perception of reality) is identical to the “thing in itself” (objective reality). Kant’s agnosticism can be simply formulated as follows: as long as the boundaries of the human mind are unknown, absolute knowledge is impossible, just as the answer to the question of the achievability of absolute knowledge in the future is impossible.

Herbert Spencer

Herbert Spencer outlined his position on the topic under consideration in his work “Fundamentals.” In it, he says that the “ultimate reality” is inaccessible to human understanding, since the boundaries of the capabilities of his mind do not extend as far as reality extends.

Spencer notes that this is the main tool of religions, which use all kinds of speculation and allegory to create the illusion of understanding. Moreover, the statements postulated by religion cannot be verified due to the same limitations of the human mind.

Thus, one of the key claims of Spencer's agnosticism is that man cannot know anything with certainty about God and other supernatural phenomena that cannot be studied experimentally.

The connection between agnosticism and religion

Agnosticism is mistakenly considered a religious belief. But this is a misunderstanding of the essence of the direction. The teaching of agnostics does not deny the existence of gods, but does not consider religions to be a reliable source of knowledge about the highest principle. It denies the possibility of proving the truth of statements using the rational approach that guides scientists in the process of studying any hypothesis.

An agnostic can believe in God, but being an adherent of a particular religion cannot. Dogmatic religions leave no room for doubt, and contradict the agnostic belief in the impossibility of knowing the world. Therefore, belief in God can only be a vague belief in an idea, and not a specific object.

In some religions, the definition of god is given briefly or not at all. In Buddhism and Taoism, the absence of a personified god avoids the conflict between religion and agnosticism.

The essence of the concept of Agnosticism

An agnostic is a person who refutes the complete knowledge of the world and phenomena due to the limited perception of man. He is sure that people do not know what is the truth and what is the lie. It is rather a person’s worldview and different perceptions of the world.

The concept of “agnosticism” appeared in science in 1869. It was introduced by the English naturalist and biologist Thomas Huxley. From Greek this word is translated as “unknowable.”

Huxley explained his concept: a person cannot say that he is right about something if he does not have scientific grounds. For example, a scientist cannot speak confidently about a problem if he does not have the facts. Agnosticism is more of a way of examining a hypothesis from a scientific point of view. It cannot be taken on faith without experiments and evidence. Every scientific hypothesis is either refuted or confirmed by a factual basis.

Agnostic Thinking:

1. The modern world is studied by man subjectively. 2. Agnostics do not impose their opinions because they deny a unified and accurate knowledge of the world. 3. We are sure that everyone has their own point of view and there is no point in arguing, because everyone will be wrong.

The theory of agnosticism is based on science and evidence because it is a belief in knowledge. Only that which has an evidentiary basis is real.

Directions and forms of agnosticism:

• Relativism. It is based on relativity. This is the principle of knowledge, in which the basis is sensuality, and it does not reflect objective and stable phenomena. If a concept is untrue and subjective, then it is denied by the objectivity of knowledge and leads to agnosticism. • Irrationalism. Translated from Lat. - unreasonable, illogical. It is based on the assertion that there are many areas of understanding of the world that are inaccessible to the mind of an ordinary person.

Direction in philosophy

In philosophy, agnosticism as a trend arose in the 19th century. This term was used to interpret the views of positivists. They sought to rid philosophy of errors and create a solid structure based on knowledge. Positivists considered all evidence of the existence of God to be insignificant, since they could not be verified in practice.

Positivists assumed the existence of a higher principle or several principles, and therefore did not consider themselves atheists. They sought to find facts that would confirm religious dogmas or lead to new understandings of the divine. Some scientists believed that the opportunity to prove or disprove the existence of God would appear among scientists of the future and formed a new direction in philosophy that exists at the intersection of science and religion.

Scientific agnosticism

We have already mentioned above that the term “agnosticism” was proposed in 1869 by the scientist Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), who, by the way, was not even a philosopher, but became famous for his scientific works in the field of zoology and comparative anatomy.

Moreover, this term was born in response to the question whether a scientist considers himself an atheist or a believer. Huxley considered himself a free-thinking person and stated that, we quote: “a person should not think that he knows something that he has no scientific basis for knowing.”

The term "agnostic" is a symbiosis of the ancient Greek α (alpha), which means "without", and γνῶσις (gnosis), which means "knowledge". So briefly, in one word, the essence of an entire direction in philosophy, science and theology was indicated. Elements of agnosticism can be found in the works of a number of scientists who most people do not associate with either philosophy or theology.

Famous agnostic scientists:

• Charles Darwin.
• Albert Einstein.
• Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein were classified as agnostics by biographers who studied their lives and views, but American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson classified himself as a follower of this trend after he was accused of atheism.

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein, in addition to physics, was keenly interested in the philosophy of science. He wrote that the world around us is a huge eternal mystery, only partially accessible to our perception and our mind. However, the fact that the surrounding reality cannot be completely ordered by reason is the great miracle of science.

This understanding of the relativity of human knowledge probably made it possible for Einstein to create the theory of relativity. For a great scientist, what could not be completely ordered by reason was not at all an obstacle to scientific research, but a challenge that had to be accepted.

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin did not hide the fact that his attitude towards religion and knowledge changed throughout his life. He is credited with the phrase that, we quote: “There is nothing more remarkable than the spread of religious unbelief, or rationalism, during the second half of my life.”

At the same time, Darwin himself emphasized that he was not an atheist in the generally accepted sense, i.e. does not deny the possibility of the existence of God. And he believed that the theory of evolution he developed did not in any way contradict his views on religion and the process of cognition. Moreover, Darwin wrote that “the more we understand the laws of nature, the more incredible miracles become to us.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson became famous for his initiative to change the classification of planets and move away from simple counting and assigning a serial number. In his opinion, planets should be grouped according to their common characteristics: terrestrial planets, gas giants, etc. In a sense, Tyson became an “atheist” even in the world of science, having swung at the foundations familiar to everyone.

It is not surprising that he was often accused of almost all mortal sins, including atheism. To this Tyson replied that he is a scientist and thinks with his own head, so the definition of “agnostic” is more suitable for him, i.e. a person who, we quote: “is ready to accept evidence if it exists.” Apparently, this also applies to evidence of the existence of God, if any is found.

Now let’s summarize the main postulates of agnosticism:

1. Any knowledge is relative.
2. Any statement may turn out to be true.
3. Any statement may turn out to be false.

So what is agnosticism anyway - the path to freedom of knowledge or a relic of the past? Rather, this is the path to freedom of knowledge and new discoveries, if we accept the relativity of human knowledge not as a limiter, but as a challenge for further movement forward. This is also an opportunity to question the practical sufficiency and finality of any of the previously made discoveries, which, in turn, opens the way to new scientific achievements.

Well, now you can test yourself and find out how well you understand agnosticism, based on the material in the article:

By the way, if you are interested in the topic of cognition, we invite you to our program “Cognitive Science. Development of Thinking”, where you will master about two dozen thinking techniques.

We wish you new knowledge and impressive discoveries!

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Subcategories of agnosticism

Agnosticism has 4 subcategories:

1. Weak. For adherents of weak or temporary agnosticism, the question of the study of God has no answer. They are convinced that this is not accessible to the human mind.
2. Strong. It is also called absolute or strict. Agnostics of this school consider proof of the existence or non-existence of God impossible, since none of the theories can be tested.
3. Indifferent. Adherents of the indifferent direction consider the very question of the existence or non-existence of God to be unimportant. It is based on the belief that neither theists nor atheists have convincing evidence, so there is no point in discussing this topic.
4. Ignosticism. Representatives of this movement are interested not only in the very possibility of the existence of God. First of all, they strive to give a precise definition of the concept of “God”. Until the scientific community has a clear definition for the object of research, it is impossible to begin studying it.

Often, agnostics do not affiliate themselves with a specific group, calling themselves simply agnostics, without elaboration.

Epistemological agnosticism

Epistemology is a philosophical doctrine about the fundamental probability of knowing the world and posing the question to people: is the world knowable? This gives rise to different points of view:

• Optimists believe that we can fully understand the world around us and believe in everything. • Skeptics believe, but ask endless questions. • Agnostics do not believe in complete knowledge of the world because many things cannot be proven by science.

Agnosticism and skepticism are practically similar, because an agnostic is not sure whether it is possible to know the world or not, and a skeptic says: “in principle, we cannot answer the question about the knowability of the world.”

Features of Kant's agnosticism

Kant formulated the basic understanding of agnosticism as a direction that studies the difference between a priori knowledge and information obtained experimentally. The philosopher believed that some areas of science cannot be tested using the main rational method of cognition - experiment. Therefore, no belief can be taken as truth.

As a result of his reasoning, Kant came to the conclusion that objects have duality. Their individual properties can be studied using the senses: a person can determine the weight, color and size of an object without additional instruments. But their hidden characteristics cannot be studied without special equipment. In science there will always be controversial phenomena that cannot be fully understood.

The origin and development of agnosticism

As noted above, the first arguments in favor of agnosticism were expressed by ancient philosophers, adherents of skepticism. Their main argument was the imperfection of the knowledge available to humanity, which was constantly changing and revised. In this regard, skeptics refused to consider any existing knowledge as true and relativized it (relativism is a philosophical concept that affirms the relativity, conventionality and subjectivity of human cognition), arguing that they do not reflect objective reality, but the available methods of cognition.

In a relatively modern form, the main ideas of agnosticism were formulated by George Berkeley. He argued that a person is not able to go beyond the limits of his own sensory knowledge, which means that a full understanding of objective reality is not available to him.

David Hume and Immanuel Kant are considered the authors of the classical concept of agnosticism. Hume argued that any knowledge a person has comes from experience. And this experience will always be limited, and it is impossible to go beyond its limits. Accordingly, it is impossible to reliably understand how knowledge coincides with objective reality. Kant applied the concepts of “thing in itself” and “thing for us” to objective reality. He believed that a subject can perceive in any object only the meaning that he puts into it through his own actions.

A significant role in the development of the doctrine was played by the analysis of Victor Cousin’s reasoning about the nature of God and its knowability, which was published in 1829 by William Hamilton. Subsequently, many of the thoughts expressed in this work were repeated by one of the main representatives of agnosticism, Herbert Spencer.

Based on Kant's ideas, Hamilton believed that all knowledge a person can have is based on subjective experience. And knowledge that is outside of experience will always remain antinomic for a person (antinomy is a situation in which two mutually contradictory statements look equally valid from the point of view of logic).

Agnosticism as a worldview

Agnosticism is not just a special attitude to the issue of faith and religion, it is a separate type of worldview, located between belief in the supernatural and a scientific view of the world. For an agnostic approach, it is important to accept the existence of God, but to question any evidence for his existence.

Agnostic ethics does not allow dogmatism. This is not a separate paradigm, but an intellectual position. Anyone who considers himself an agnostic must view religion from a logical perspective. To be an agnostic is to be a skeptic. Representatives of every philosophical school based on the idea of ​​denying absolute knowledge can be classified as agnostics. At the same time, the teachings themselves can differ radically from each other.

Agnosticism in religion

The word "agnostic" is often used in religion. There is a contrast between agnostics and believers and atheists. However, atheists vehemently deny the presence of God; they are also called unbelievers or atheists. Agnostics reject the very possibility of searching for evidence of the presence of God.

The principle of agnosticism is the impossibility of proving or disproving the presence of higher powers. The most honest answer from an agnostic is: “No one can know whether God really exists.” That is, a person does not think categorically, but simply shares his assessment. An agnostic with this answer does not suffer from the attacks of believers when criticizing religion.

Famous agnostics

Among the representatives of agnosticism one can single out Protagoras, Kant and Hume, the greatest Scottish philosopher. Among his contemporaries, Hume became famous for his political and diplomatic activities. Hume served as a diplomat at the British embassy in France, and in addition to his main work, he was engaged in writing scientific works. He published a fundamental collection of works - the collection “History of England”, which quickly spread throughout all countries of Western Europe.

Under the influence of Hume's views that spread among the intellectual elite, the next generation of agnostics was formed:

• A. Smith;
• O. Comte;
• O. Comte;
• B. Russell.

According to Hume, knowledge must be based on sensations and experience. The philosopher also assumed the existence of non-experimental knowledge, the classical type of which he called mathematics. Mathematical science appeared as a result of the activity of consciousness, and it, unlike perception, is subjective.

In the scientific world, an agnostic is not a practitioner, but an observer. He can enter into discussions with representatives of different directions, but not take a specific position. For modern science, a skeptical approach is extremely important. It allows the scientific approach to develop and progress. Agnosticism is not a holistic concept, but one of the ways of understanding the world that will never lead to the final result.

Types of agnosticism

The limitation in cognition has a very convincing explanation. This is impossible for several reasons:

● There are simply no boundaries of knowledge, information has no limits; ● The world is constantly changing and it is impossible to keep up with this pace; ● We all see our surroundings only from one point of view, from our subjective position; ● A person's capabilities are limited by his perception and physical capabilities.

Agnostics believe that there are no patterns according to which society and nature develop. They believe that it is impossible to find out complete and reliable information about any subject. This philosophy has three directions:

▪️Skepticism. Its supporters express doubts that any method of obtaining information is effective, but do not deny that we are capable of learning and assimilating knowledge.

▪️Relativism. Followers of this trend are convinced that there is no true knowledge worthy of trust. That is, they literally follow the commandment of Socrates and question everything.

▪️Irrationalism is part of religious or mystical philosophy. According to his doctrine, we can only receive a stream of secret information from above without realizing it.

Examples[edit]

• “The Flying Tavern” by G. K. Chesterton - the main antagonist, Lord Ivywood, is an agnostic, who decided to promote in England some principles of Islam, such as teetotalism (though with all sorts of reservations, which meant that the upper classes could drink), which did not please ordinary Englishmen .
• "Dune" by Frank Herbert - among the sources of beliefs of Arrakis, along with the religions themselves, the agnosticism of the ruling classes, including the Cosmogation Guild, is named. True, this is not quite the same agnosticism: “...for whom religion has always been something like a puppet theater - to entertain the public and keep it in check - and who believed that all and all phenomena, not excluding religious phenomena, can be in essence, reduce to mechanistic explanations.”
• Zelazny's novel Creatures of Light and Darkness. Preacher and fighter Madrak is a consistent agnostic; for example, the absolution in his performance begins like this: “As far as I can be heard by anyone or anything that may or may not listen to what is said by me, I ask, if forgiveness means anything, that there be you are forgiven for everything you have done or not done that requires forgiveness.” Even more curiously, he prays: “Our Father or not Our Father, who thou art, perhaps in heaven, hallowed be thy name, if thou hast a name and thou desirest that it should be sanctified...” Subsequently, Madrak helps destroy something that seems to be real deity; this realization plunges Madrak into a deep crisis.
• “Heritage” - the elves of Alagaësia adhere to such views (they do not worship anyone or anything and believe that there is no evidence of the existence of any gods, and the Universe develops according to its own laws, but they agree to change their views if, “for example, before the god Helzvog will appear among them”), which at first shocks the protagonist.
• “South Park” is a family of agnostics, in which it is generally not customary to say anything for sure, and therefore their family drink is Dr. Pepper, because it is not really clear whether it tastes like cola or not.
• The film “Exodus: Kings and Gods” is quite agnostic with its wick screwed on. God's appearances to Moses can be interpreted as hallucinations after hitting his head, and all miracles can be interpreted as fortunate natural phenomena (although the Darkness of Egypt and the death of the Egyptian firstborns, perhaps, can only be explained by a great coincidence), and in the end God says to Moses, writing the commandments on the tablets: “If you don’t agree, don’t write.”
• Rudazov’s metaverse is someonetothamism, a quasi-religion with an agnostic philosophy: we don’t know whether there really is Someone Out There, and if there is, what it is, but we do not exclude any options, and therefore we will never forget to thank Someone There - what if He (She? It? They?) still exists and does something good for us? Nobody really knows.
• Dog Korolenko

Skepticism and agnosticism. general characteristics

A movement that denies the existence of truth is called “skepticism.” It was the skeptics who made the declaration “There is no Truth” the main thesis of their doctrine. Which, of course, was not at all accidental. The skeptics arrived at their thesis - strange as it may seem at first glance - in an obvious way, that is, by logically developing certain positive statements. Zeno's famous aporia proved that space is both discontinuous and continuous, that is, it can be neither one nor the other. Space, understood as discontinuous, makes this idea absurd. Even as a continuous space. Therefore, it had to combine contradictory properties. And this conclusion seemed logically infallible. It seemed that she was revealing the boundaries of logic, the fallacy of its rule, according to which phenomena are always one, always identical to themselves. That is, that truth is inconsistent. Here it seemed to the researchers that both the direct and the reverse statements were true. What could the researchers do? Just fold your hands and admit: “There is no truth.” After all, truth is a certain proposition. There is no truth where a diametrically opposed judgment is recognized along with the judgment as equally true. It so happened that the ancient skeptics, faced with some features of the movement, with its obvious contradictions, gnashed their wisdom teeth.

The history of agnosticism

But when did agnosticism itself begin? Unofficially, agnosticism originated in ancient times. So, if you turn to the works of ancient Greek philosophers, you can see some statements similar to the positions of agnosticism.

In history, it is generally accepted that agnosticism as a full-fledged philosophical phenomenon originated in the 19th century, when Spencer, Hamilton, Berkeley and Hume (the main agnostic philosophers) expressed the position that it is impossible to know the existing world through human subjective perception of metaphysical phenomena. In general, this teaching was justified by the desire to oppose metaphysics (the way of knowing the world), based on the works of the sophists (another direction of philosophy), skeptics, and ancient philosophers.

Over time, agnosticism as a phenomenon acquired religious overtones, as the movement of atheists (people who do not believe in God and the divine origin of the world) developed. Today, agnosticism is a special school of thought that covers not only religion and philosophy, but also other sciences and spheres of human life.

Historically, agnosticism was not associated with religion and belief in God

What is the difference between agnostic and atheism?

In this article, the parallel between agnostics and faith, as well as agnostics and atheists, was often heard. Both do not recognize the existence of God. But what then is the difference between them?

Agnostics

They do not adhere to any faith or religion, but do not deny the rationality of a person’s faith in a higher power

Agnosticism is the belief that the world is unknowable

Do not deny the possibility of the existence of God

Do not contradict existing religions, since they are not denied

Agnosticism is characteristic not only of religion, but also of science, philosophy, etc.

Atheists

Deny the need for spiritual practices and attitudes towards any faith

Deny belief in anything as such

Deny divine power and divine participation in the creation of the world

They are opposed to existing world religions

Atheists exclusively consider matters of religion

What do agnostics believe?

Agnostics see the human world in their own way. In order to correctly understand the essence of agnosticism, it is necessary to understand what exactly representatives of time agnosticism believe:

1. Man cannot understand the world and its phenomena;
2. Regarding religion, it is impossible to accurately determine whether God exists or not. That is, such a religious concept cannot be either proven or disproved by man;
3. It is impossible to accurately determine the boundaries of good and bad. That is, the eternal debate about good and evil is ineffective and will not bring any results;
4. All confirmed knowledge can always be refuted in the future. This means that knowledge is not valid;
5. At the same time, agnostics do not refute the possibility that someday humanity will be able to unambiguously determine the existence of certain phenomena.

Agnostics hold certain beliefs and positions

Should you become an agnostic?

Today, the number of agnostics and atheists is constantly growing in the world. This is primarily due to the progressive development of society and science. And also with the fact that more and more states are becoming secular (non-religious). Therefore, the question of “Should you become an agnostic” rests solely on you and your views. You must decide for yourself which views and positions are more true for you.

How to become agnostic

Since agnosticism is not a religion, the procedure for becoming a representative of this movement is quite simple. Awareness of the reality of “I am an agnostic” requires going through a certain process of familiarization with the relevant literature. Let's look at this process:

1. Study the literature on agnosticism;
2. Decide whether such positions are suitable for you personally;
3. If you are a representative of any religion, then you need to renounce it. Since faith presupposes absolute faith in the presence of higher powers. There should be no hesitation here;
4. Just start sticking to agnostic principles.

You cannot remain, for example, a Jew if you are an agnostic

How to stop being agnostic

The procedure is as easy as becoming an agnostic. Just stop classifying yourself as an agnostic. There are no special ways out of this “faith.” You, like all people, are constantly developing, and accordingly, your worldview and outlook on life may change with age.

What is the essence of agnosticism

So, agnosticism is a special direction of thought, a philosophical movement. But what is it? Let's look at the main criteria of agnosticism.

The word “agnosticism” itself comes from the Greek “agnostos”, which directly translates as unknowable.

Agnosticism itself is a perception of the world in which nothing can be known objectively, since behind such a perception there will necessarily be a human factor, which is necessarily subjective in nature. Hence, in general, the very process of proving something in agnosticism does not make sense, since the possibility of knowledge is denied.

At the same time, agnosticism is characterized by the presence of certain contradictions.

No position (including scientific) can be considered reliable, since it is impossible to prove reliability from an objective point of view.

Not a single position can be refuted, since knowing the truth is unattainable for human consciousness.

Thus, agnosticism in simple words does not refute anything, but at the same time it does not prove anything.

Examples of how agnostics see the world

So, we figured out what the ideology of agnosticism includes. But how then do agnostics see our world? Let's look at a few examples to help you understand this.

A person is free to choose his own actions and his life. That is, fatalism as such is denied

Existing categorical concepts (for example, good and evil) are relative in nature - they are not absolutely true and can be refuted

The meaning of life quite often comes down to the concept of hedonism (pleasure, joy and pleasure)

For more specific examples, let's look at specific areas of science and knowledge:

1. Religion. Agnostics do not deny the identity of Jesus Christ. Moreover, many representatives of this movement admire the very life of this person. But at the same time, there is no evidence of the presence of divine power and presence in our world;
2. The theory of rebirth (reincarnation) and the afterlife. Since this knowledge has not been confirmed in any way (there are only different opinions of people - witnesses of the paranormal, whose catches cannot be subjected to a critical determination of reliability), then agnostics cannot define it as existing. By analogy with religion, agnostics also do not deny their existence;
3. The theory of parallel universes. Although many physicists say that Malich’s experiments prove the existence of parallel universes, this is not known for certain. Therefore, agnosticism assumes the existence of other universes, but does not consider such a statement as true knowledge.

Do you consider yourself an agnostic?

Yes, I am agnostic.

100%

No, I am a supporter of other ideological concepts, including religious ones

0%

Voted: 6