I think there is a lot of confusion with terms in this area. From what I understand, being agnostic means you are not claiming to have knowledge of a certain topic and being gnostic means you are claiming to have that knowledge. Being atheist means you don't believe in a particular deity and being theist means you do believe. I am an agnostic atheist. Hard to believe some people are offended by this.
6
Enjoy being online again!
Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.Create your free account
14 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.As I understand it, theism is about having belief, and gnosticism is about having knowledge. You could call it splitting hairs in belief vs knowledge.
But the reverse doesn't seem to be true for atheism and agnosticism. Atheism maintains the belief but reverses its direction - now a belief that something exists becomes a belief that it does not. Agnosticism reverses the knowledge, saying that you don't know, rather than you do.
Therefore, I've always been more comfortable with 'agnostic' than 'atheist', as someone who doesn't believe but who doesn't outright deny the possibility. Yes, by the definition that I understand, I am also an atheist. The problem being that common usage of the term is to describe someone who outright denies the existence of God.
NicoleCadmium
Level 7
Dec 29, 2017
1
So, I'm going for the giant generalization: Atheists are "certain" that there is no god, that Jesus never existed, and that there can be no other options. For evidence,
Agnostics aren't certain. They don't see evidence, but that doesn't mean they aren't willing to change their ideas should evidence show up. For evidence,
Gnostics, on the other hand, claim that they have "special" awareness that only they can see. They call it enlightenment, we call it conspiratorial thinking.
Benthoven
Level 8
Dec 29, 2017
1
I thought agnostic was a made up word first used by the English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley to mean the oppostie of gnostic.
Skyfacer
Level 7
Dec 29, 2017
0
Well yes.but some more than others. Most of our words gradually evolved over time and then there are words such as agnostic which where 'invented' My favourite made up word at the moment is 'Islamophobia' which has even been weaponized by certain individuals to silence any criticism of Islam (how's that for changing the subject )
Yeah, this is how I define it too. I find it very useful for many reasons, one of which you outlined. People, especially theists, seem to take atheism as "I know there is no God". That isn't my position at all. It's more like leprechauns. I don't believe they exist, but I could be compelled otherwise.
Mightyjustice
Level 5
Dec 28, 2017
2
Seems pretty clear to me. One term is about knowledge and the other is about belief. You are simply saying that you don't know if there is a god but you don't believe there is. No problem.
TommyMeador
Level 7
Dec 28, 2017
2
Agnostic means that you are ignorant of the existence, or lack thereof, of a higher plane/power. It is "not knowing".
Jack-of-scythes
Level 6
Dec 28, 2017
0
Are the people who take offence in this forum? I hope not. When pressed, I describe myself as an agnostic DE FACTO atheist. That is, I don't believe there's a god, but then I don't believe anything else, either. I don't think a hard atheist, that is, one who is convinced that there is no god, could also be agnostic.
Coffeo
Level 8
Dec 28, 2017
0
So much terminology-I say freethinker and people just go huh? Whatever you're comfortable with is ok here.
sassygirl3869
Level 9
Dec 28, 2017
2
As far as I am concerned, if their is no evidence for somethings existence, it does not exist.
jlynn37
Level 8
Dec 28, 2017
1
That recently discovered species of butterfly didn't exist till a human documented it?
When recently discovered god is shown to exist, I will change my comment.
@Trapezoid The time to believe something exists is when there is evidence for it. It would not be unreasonable to hypothesise that as there are hundreds of types of butterfly, the evidence points to the fact that there may be undiscovered species of butterfly out there.
As far as I am aware, there is no testable evidence that anything supernatural does or could exist.
what objections have you encountered?
btroje
Level 9
Dec 28, 2017
0
You missed Skeptic Atheist. That's me. I'm an atheist who doesn't believe (there's that word again) in the existence of a deity or deities. But then again , when you get right down to earth with this, atheism goes well beyond a belief frame of mind. It's just a natural way of rational thinking.
well you see, by your own definition "Agnostic atheist" means you do not have knowledge that there is no god yet you don't believe there is one. This suggest you have no evidence that there is no god yet you believe that there is no god.
Orthodox Agnostics will claim you cannot believe or not believe in anything. The firebrand atheists will burn you at the stake for denying all the evidence that proves that there is no god.
you just can't win huh? xD
JiunnWong
Level 5
Dec 28, 2017
3
@mbergwell well err, you certainly can prove a hypothetical does not exist, its part of the scientific process.
No knowledge means no knowledge! You certainly can be just agnostic.
Some would argue to be an atheist or theist would mean an act of faith in the absence of knowledge, so, it looks like you have grounds to start your own religion there!
@mbergwell You have just pointed out how to prove the loch ness monster does not exist, just look everywhere in the lake! Sonar, nets, drain the lake etc. very impractical and expensive means, but totally possible.
But I admit the nature of God makes proving or disproving it very problematic.
As for your example about agnostics, a pure agnostic would be the hermit who lives in a car, does not identify with any gender, and never stays in one place.
bingst
Level 8
Dec 28, 2017
0
Enjoy being online again!
Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.Create your free account
Share this post
Categories
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.