We explain what agnosticism is, its history and differences with atheism. Furthermore, some exponents of this position.
What is agnosticism?
Agnosticism is a philosophical position that maintains the impossibility of human beings to know the nature and existence of God. Furthermore, this position implies that human beings and humanity cannot know or decipher certain transcendental questions, both religious and metaphysical.
The term emerged in England in 1869, with the help of biologist Thomas Henry Huxley, to give name to a doctrine that maintains that human beings are limited to knowing only what they can experience and know through their senses.
The word agnostic comes from the union of Greek words to- (“without”) and gnôsthos (“knowledge”). Currently, It is often used as a synonym for “skeptic.” (one who distrusts ideas and beliefs) regarding mystical and religious matters and, especially, what traditional Christian doctrine proclaims.
Origin of the term “agnosticism”
The ideas supported by agnosticism come from or are related to currents or positions that emerged throughout history, such as skepticism and then existentialism.
The term “agnosticism” was coined in 1869 at a meeting of the London Metaphysical Society. The English Darwinian biologist Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) proposed it as a name for his own philosophical position. Thus a tradition was formally founded whose antecedents are found in the ancient history of humanity, with exponents such as the Indian ascetic Sanyaia Belatthaputta (5th century BC) or the Greek philosopher Protagoras (481 BC – 411 BC).).
Huxley proposed agnosticism as a method of research more than a creed or a religious position. Every agnostic, according to him, should allow himself to be guided by his reason “as far as it takes him” and at the same time not pretend “that conclusions that have not been demonstrated or are not demonstrable are true.”
In that sense, Huxley's position was close to the rationalism and empiricism that governed the philosophical thought of the time.
Difference between agnosticism and atheism
Although agnosticism is considered a position contrary to religious beliefs, especially Christians and Catholics, it should not be confused with atheism.
Atheism consists of the denial of theism that is, it is a philosophical doctrine that denies the existence of a God or any type of divinity and rejects any mystical or religious position. On the other hand, agnosticism escapes the question about the existence of God because it maintains that these types of reasons or transcendental truths are unknowable for human beings.
Anyway, there is atheistic agnosticism which maintains that the existence of God is unverifiable by humanity, which is equivalent to saying that God does not exist. On the other hand, there is a religious agnosticism that maintains that the existence of God is unverifiable by humanity, but that does not mean that he does not exist.
famous agnostics
Some of the most famous defenders of agnosticism were:
- John Stuart Mill (1806-1873). He was an English philosopher and economist and one of the main exponents of liberalism and utilitarianism. Furthermore, he defended the idea of knowing the world through experience.
- Charles Darwin (1809-1882). He was an English naturalist, famous for having proposed the theory of the origin of species by evolution, as a consequence of natural selection.
- Herbert Spencer (1820-1903). He was an English naturalist and thinker who stood out in sociology and was one of the developers of the organic theory of society, which compared society to a biological organism. His agnosticism was based on the idea of the unknowable.
- Marie Curie (1867-1934). She was a Polish scientist who made advances in the study of radioactivity with the discovery of radium and polonium (chemical elements). He won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1903 and in chemistry in 1911.
- Carl Sagan (1934-1996). He was an American astronomer, astrophysicist and popularizer. He was one of the main enthusiasts of the SETI extraterrestrial search project and a distinguished educator on scientific issues.
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References
- “Agnosticism” in the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy.
- “Agnosticism” in Britannica.
- “Marie Curie, the woman who changed modern science” in the Argentine Ministry of Culture.
- “Thomas Henry Huxley” on BBC.
- “Snippets of history: agnosticism” (video) by Jorge Ugarte on Excélsior TV.
- “Agnosticism” in Austral Interdisciplinary Dictionary.
- “Atheism and Agnosticism” in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
