Does atheism differ from agnosticism?

[Stitch]

There seems to be an effort here to linearise the opposite terms "theist" and "atheist" with the term "agnostic" without really considering its opposite "gnostic".

We now have 4 terms to try and lineraise, 2 of which relate to the belief or lack thereof in deities and 2 of which relate to certain knowledge or the lack thereof. It may be helpful to consider the options as:

There are 2 boxes there I suspect will contain very few people, and those that are there may have a questionable definition of "know". Most people will fall in to the other 2 boxes, boxes which have "agnostic" as a common element, which renders the term essentially irrelevant to most discussion.

 

[hammegk]

Alternatively

......................atheist agnostic theist gnostic
Christian
Moslem
Hindu
Religion 4
.
.
.
Religion n
undefined

Represents a 4 x (n+1) matrix. Real Atheists just need to check all (n+1) possibilities.

Gnostics are 'super-theists' who state they have secret knowledge of god over and above public dogma. Huxley coined a-gnostic to provide a category for "one who professes that the existence of a First Cause and the essential nature of things are not and cannot be known".

 

[JanisChambers]

I think this split shows a previously hidden problem with human thought in general. We seem to have a voracious hunger for absolute certainty. It's odd, but I think the division is made by some who hold absolution in the non-existence of god (Hard Atheist) and others in an equal absolution that they simply do not know. The second once sounds strange, but all it has to do is give closure to uncertainty.

We don't know if there is a god, We don't know a great deal of things, but it's alright not to immediately know some things. All we can do is be intellectually honest with ourselves and state the limitation of our knowledge. I am an atheist because I have no evidence of a gods existence, that is where my knowledge is at this time. To be more progressive I would have to say I am a Naturalist, because everything I know and everything I have evidence from is from the natural world and no super-nature has shown it's self.

 

[skeptical]

There seems to be an effort here to linearise the opposite terms "theist" and "atheist" with the term "agnostic" without really considering its opposite "gnostic".

We now have 4 terms to try and lineraise, 2 of which relate to the belief or lack thereof in deities and 2 of which relate to certain knowledge or the lack thereof. It may be helpful to consider the options as:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a236/OllyK/orth.jpg

There are 2 boxes there I suspect will contain very few people, and those that are there may have a questionable definition of "know". Most people will fall in to the other 2 boxes, boxes which have "agnostic" as a common element, which renders the term essentially irrelevant to most discussion.

That is a nice graphical way of illustrating what I was trying to state: everyone has some _belief_ as to the existence of a personal God or not (the belief coordinate), although they may have very little, if any confidence in that belief. (the knowledge coordinate)

I understand perfectly the hesitancy of some to apply the term Atheist to themselves, but if you lack a belief in a personal God, that is pretty much what you are, although Deists and Pantheists may object to this as too broad a categorization.

 

[Mobyseven]

There seems to be an effort here to linearise the opposite terms "theist" and "atheist" with the term "agnostic" without really considering its opposite "gnostic".

We now have 4 terms to try and lineraise, 2 of which relate to the belief or lack thereof in deities and 2 of which relate to certain knowledge or the lack thereof. It may be helpful to consider the options as:

[qimg]http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a236/OllyK/orth.jpg[/qimg]

There are 2 boxes there I suspect will contain very few people, and those that are there may have a questionable definition of "know". Most people will fall in to the other 2 boxes, boxes which have "agnostic" as a common element, which renders the term essentially irrelevant to most discussion.

Nomination, and I wish I'd figured out this easy way to explain the situation earlier.

 

[The Gnomon]

Two-dimensional diagram clarifies

That is a nice graphical way of illustrating what I was trying to state: everyone has some _belief_ as to the existence of a personal God or not (the belief coordinate), although they may have very little, if any confidence in that belief. (the knowledge coordinate)

I understand perfectly the hesitancy of some to apply the term Atheist to themselves, but if you lack a belief in a personal God, that is pretty much what you are, although Deists and Pantheists may object to this as too broad a categorization.

As one who fits into the Atheist-Agnostic box, this diagram appears to remove a false dichotomy between the two (Atheist and Agnostic). Well done!

 

[Stitch]

I can't claim all the credit for it, another forum poster had verbalised a similar idea in a previous thread. Also my Database lecturer at Uni was a big one for pointing out that what you often consider to be linear is in reality orthogonal.

 

[Apology]

I'm sorry, you guys, I'm in the middle of moving. I know I owe BigNickel a response, and I promise I'll do it when my internet is turned on in the new place