Define “Agnostic”
- Thread starter ynot
- Start date
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.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/#DefiAgno
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/#DefiAgno
Therefore doesn't have a belief that a god DOES exist. Merely that one MIGHT.
Trebuchet
Penultimate Amazing
I once had a Catholic priest tell me he was agnostic because he was "not a Gnostic". Right.
Right. I assume he was an agnostic-theist then.
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Agnosticism is the position that one doesn't know whether or not there is God.
But there is also a theological agnosticism in which one asserts that ze cannot know the attributes of God except in metaphor, because God transcends Human language and comprehension. Theological Agnosticism says we can't make any objective statements about the nature of God. But this doesn't exclude encountering God.
But there is also a theological agnosticism in which one asserts that ze cannot know the attributes of God except in metaphor, because God transcends Human language and comprehension. Theological Agnosticism says we can't make any objective statements about the nature of God. But this doesn't exclude encountering God.
Thermal
August Member
That's how I see it. Until we can determine what god is or isn't, we can't say we know one way or the other. Fair enough to say no evidence, but equally fair to say we don't even know what evidence to look for.
Therefore an agnostic-theist doesn't claim they know a god exists. They merely believe one does.
And an agnostic-atheist doesn't claim to know a god doesn't exist. They merely don't believe one does.
An Agnostic doesn't make a knowledge claim about the existence of God: Claim to exist, claim not to exist.
An Agnostic doesn't make a belief claim either. In most cases I suppose that just reduces to common garden variety atheism.
As I clearly said.
Agnostic-theists believe there’s a god. Are you claiming there's no such thing?
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Sorry. I don't know what an "Agnostic-theist" is.
So I'll just take your word for it.
Oh! I see from Post 5 that an Agnostic Theist is an Theist who is not an Gnostic.
I understand now and agree.
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Loss Leader
I would save the receptionist., Moderator
Whatever the actual definition of agnosticism is, I've generally found people who use it to describe themselves actually to be deists who don't strongly identify with any particular religion.
I've generally found people who self-identify as “agnostic” do so to define themselves as being in a middle position between theism and atheism. Often they claim this position is somehow “superior”.
That deists may not strongly identify with any particular religion doesn’t make them any less religious theists.
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Loss Leader
I would save the receptionist., Moderator
In fact, I'll go a step further: I've never seen a person* who identifies as agnostic act as though a god might not exist. They tend to behave as though there is a god.
*By "person" here, I mean the unreflective, uncritical common individual - the type of person you might meet at a business mixer.
And they're likely to call their god something like "Cosmic Consciousness" and deny it's a god.
Theism is about belief and faith, it's not about evidence and knowledge.
Thermal
August Member
Belief can be based on evidence, in theism too.
Would that be credible/empirical evidence, or merely anecdotal/paranormal evidence?
If you have any of the former I'd like to see it.
In other words, is it evidence that can be proven, or does it have to be merely believed?
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P.J. Denyer
Penultimate Amazing
I disagree, an agnostic can make any belief claim they like, theist or atheist, but agnosticism as a position does not support either view.
P.J. Denyer
Penultimate Amazing
I wouldn't necessarily phrase it quite like that as it appears perjorative, imho.
"Theisim/Atheism is about belief or the lack of belief and does not address the question of knowledge."
would probably be more neutral.
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