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Questions tagged [agnosticism]

An agnostic is one who believes it impossible to know anything about God or about the creation of the universe and refrains from commitment to any religious doctrine.

Agnosticism is the view that the truth values of certain claims – especially metaphysical and religious claims such as whether God, the divine, or the supernatural exist – are unknown and perhaps unknowable.

Wikipedia article for agnosticism.

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In what sense is atheism scientific?

I have been reading a bit of Dawkins and the like and they all seem to hold a very strong viewpoint on atheism and its associated ideology. I have not found a direct citation for this but he frequently makes a very close connection, e.g.: An…
user2683
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Are we all ‘atheist’ or 'agnostic in a pandemic'?

Saudi Arabia is a deeply religious country. Most of the people in the Persian Gulf nation pray five times a day, 35 times a week, 140 times a month and 1,680 times a year. But they banned pilgrimages (one of the pillars of Islam), because of the…
Barungi Stephen
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What is the difference between knowledge and belief?

Sometimes this image is used to explain what agnosticism is and how it's independent from belief: It makes some sense but I still have confusion understanding it. What is the difference between knowledge and belief? Image source: "Agnosticism" on…
CiscoIPPhone
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How far can/should one press philosophical doubt?

Should we keep on questioning until nothing is left to question or is there a point on which we need to stand (which we often tend to do)? Descartes used 'I think' as this fixed point where the skepticism abates, there may be others. But what is a…
Ather Cheema
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Why should an atheist care about what happens to the world after his/her death?

Consider someone who doesn't believe in any kind of reincarnation or perfect punishment after death, an atheist. That is, nothing in the world can impact him/her after his/her death, because, as he/she believes, he/she will completely ceasing…
BsAxUbx5KoQDEpCAqSffwGy554PSah
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How compatible is atheism with agnosticism?

My question is about the presence of God in people`s lives. If we reject the form of God as a supernatural being with forces of punishing people, or providing them with afterlife rewards, are we closer to the atheism or agnosticism? At last, how…
Fred Buford_32
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Does Strong Agnosticism (as opposed to Weak Agnosticism) justify taking Pascal's wager?

Definitions: Weak Agnosticism: not knowing whether God exists or not, but remaining open to deciding later (presumably after thinking more on the subject or gaining more facts). Strong Agnosticism: not knowing whether God exists or not, and…
Alexander S King
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Is atheism or agnosticism more rational?

While there is still widespread disagreement regarding the existing definition of atheism, it is normally considered as the "Rejection of belief in the existence of deities". One accepted definition of agnosticism is: "[it] is the view that human…
ngub05
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Is Spinoza the formal founder of agnosticism?

According to a search on Google for "who founded agnosticism": It says that T.H. Huxley is the first to coin the word agnosticism publicly, but there is no much said about who was the founder of the actual philosophy. Can Spinoza be considered the…
Isaac Brenig
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Is Theological Agnosticism a defensible position?

Given that there is a substantive body of debate between atheism and religion, how can the proposition that the existence of God(s) is unknowable really be defended?
Neil Meyer
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Why would philosophical agnosticism and pragmatic atheism be considered more rational than philosophical agnosticism and pragmatic theism?

I'm referring to the accepted answer on this post. The answerer states that If one is both attentive to empirical scientific studies and to philosophical investigations of the limits of knowledge, then the only rational position is philosophical…
Sydney Maples
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What is the difference between atheism and agnosticism?

(Apologies for the crazy length question) Whenever the thorny issue of theism vs. atheism comes up -- especially on the internet -- a further issue always seems to arise concerning what these positions are. (See for example this question) Often…
J.P.
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How to avoid nihilism as an agnostic?

As an agnostic I end up as a nihilist on morality. Philosophers say we need a framework for morality but if that framework is religious, which itself is not empirical and sometimes is contradictory, how can we even claim that it leads us to…
Sashank
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Agnostic theism and agnostic atheism and their validity

Recently, there has been a rise of the terms like "Agnostic Theism" and "Agnostic Atheism" which one rarely comes across in philosophical literature. To me, these terms seem more of a mockery of the original ideologies adopted by debaters so they…
mathnoob123
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Is agnosticism subjective? And thus the "spaghetti monster"-argument falls apart?

According to the philosopher William L. Rowe, "agnosticism is the view that human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist" The word "rational"…
Makeo
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