Agnostic.com

7 1

Well first of all I'm sorry but I'm not too educated. Beyond horrific childhood. But can someone please explain this to me? On the profiles on here how can someone be agnostic and atheist at the same time? Appreciate all answers.

HardBlues69 7 Aug 13
Share

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

7 comments

Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.

0

You can't be both..you can be Agnostic..and then go full Athiest..but you can't sit on three sides of a fence...

0

My 2 cents: the website allows one to select as many of the options as one wants. Me? I don't care much for labels. If it involves religion I'm anything I need to be to move away from it as soon as possible.

1

People can be fuzzy on their own understanding and application of the labels, especially given that "atheist" has a pretty negative social connotation, particularly in the US, and so people often want to avoid self-identifying as atheist even if, definitionally, they very much ARE atheists.

However, here's how the meanings of the words play out:

God -- for purposes of the other definitions we assume god = a supernatural, conscious intelligent agent responsible for the creation and maintenance of the universe.

Agnostic - one's knowledge stance about god. Do you claim to know that god exists? If you believe this is not knowable, then you're an agnostic, as the word was defined and intended by its originator (Huxley). A fairly common modern devolution of this term is one who thinks it might be knowABLE, but is definitely unknown to the person at this time. However since supernatural beings and realms are inherently unfalsifiable you can't make a defensible knowledge claim one way OR the other -- god is not knowABLE.

Atheist - one's belief stance about god. An atheist sees no valid reason to afford belief to god, and so does not. It is the absence of belief one way or the other.

Atheism tends to be informed by agnosticism, but they can (and do) vary independently.

It's a common corruption of the definitions to see atheism as DISbelief in god (when it is NO belief -- a philosophically important distinction) and then to see agnosticism as some sort of "I'm not sure, maybe" sort of halfway point between theism and atheism. This is how some people see themselves, and that's fine if they choose to, but it does not accurately reflect the historic philosophical definition of the terms.

That was damn concise.

1

probably because no one can prove anything 100% critical thinking whilst great and the only way to go does leave you in an awkward spot when you are an atheist but know you can't say well im 100% sure

1

Mostly this is because of a burden of proof. Since there is zero proof either way I can shift the burden of proof upon myself if I tell you absolutely that there are no gods. I am an atheist, yes, but I am an agnostic atheist. Both terms are one and the same unless you get technical and shift a burden of proof onto yourself. Only a fool would claim without doubt that no gods exist. Do I believe that gods exist? NO.

Shifting the burden of proof is also a common theist apologist gambit. The basic "argument" is that atheists are arrogant fools because they claim to know there is no god, when you can't disprove god. And that is correct, god, as posited by most believers, is conveniently non-falsifiable (although it cuts both ways -- they can't PROVE it, either -- but they always neglect to mention this fact).

Because most actual atheists don't actually claim to have been everywhere and everywhen and have not found some god hiding under a rock somewhere, our actual belief position, when you unpack it, is NO belief. We neither believe nor disbelieve. However, logically, we then default, functionally and practically to not believing, as this is what you do when evidence is lacking. Not believing and unbelief are not the same thing philosophically, but in practical terms, work out the same.

1

Most athiests are 99.9% sure there's no god's that's where the agnostic bit comes into it

1

JustKip has answered this most beautifully, so I am not going to add his explanation. Never apologise for asking questions, those of us who consider ourselves to be quite well educated still learn something new every day. Having an inquiring mind is what led you here in the first place!

@HardBlues69 I have just looked at your bio, and.......wow! You really are a most creative guy. I think like me you have music in your bones, I used to love dancing when I was younger too, although I married a man who could not hold a tune and had two left feet! I am also a foodie and love a man who can rustle up something delicious for me....hubby could do that okay!

Write Comment
You can include a link to this post in your posts and comments by including the text q:154293
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.