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Author Topic:   An Exploration Into"Agnosticism"
Straggler
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Posts: 10333
From: London England
Joined: 09-30-2006


Message 1 of 2 (553542)
04-03-2010 8:33 PM


Agnosticism - What is it? What do people mean when they say they are "agnostic"? Does simply lacking absolute certainty constitute agnosticism? If this is the case then are we not all pretty much agnostic towards pretty much everything? Up to (and possibly including) our own existence? My favourite Bertrand Russel quote:
Bertrand Russel writes:
"To my mind the essential thing is that one should base one's arguments upon the kind of grounds that are accepted in science, and one should not regard anything that one accepts as quite certain, but only as probable in a greater or a less degree. Not to be absolutely certain is, I think, one of the essential things in rationality".
If we accept a degree of uncertainty as rationally implicit in any conclusion then I guess we are all technically "agnostic" (possibly excluding those who claim to KNOW on the basis of irrational faith).
But when someone actually says that they are an "agnostic" what do they mean? What do they mean beyond the lack of absolute certainty that atheists and even many theists would be happy to accept?
Do they mean that the question towards which they are agnostic (e.g. but not exclusively the existence of god) is 50-50 either way? Do they mean that the thing in question is so unknowable as to make any probability estimate impossible? If so how do they know that this unknowable entity is unknowable in this way? That seems contradictory - No?
What constitutes "agnosticism" in the sense of actually claiming to be "agnostic" (as opposed to simply lacking absolute certainty) towards a particular question?
Also - Are there different types of agnosticism? PAP (permanently agnostic in principle) and TAP (temporarily agnostic in practise) as defined by Dawkins are the obvious examples. What is meant by each and are the distinctions valid?

AdminPD
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Message 2 of 2 (553600)
04-04-2010 5:12 AM


Thread Copied to Comparative Religions Forum
Thread copied to the An Exploration Into"Agnosticism" thread in the Comparative Religions forum, this copy of the thread has been closed.

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