A questions for Agnostics

[scottlittlefield17]

How is an Agnostic defined. I would define one as someone who says that there very well may be a God, they don't know. But if there is he takes little to no interest in the affairs of men. Is that a fair definition? I am not quoting anybody with that definition. That is just the impression I got and was wondering if it was accurate.

[Coyotero]

Your description is more of a deist (God exists but doesn't care about us, or at least doesn't get directly involved.).

An agnostic is simply someone who refuses to make a commitment either way. To them, the existence of Gods is a non-issue. Maybe there's something out there, maybe there's not, it makes no difference to us either way, so why worry about it?

[Goat]

How is an Agnostic defined. I would define one as someone who says that there very well may be a God, they don't know. But if there is he takes little to no interest in the affairs of men. Is that a fair definition? I am not quoting anybody with that definition. That is just the impression I got and was wondering if it was accurate.

It is someone who doesn't know one way or another. In fact, many agnostics believe it is impossible to have knowledge about God.

[elle]

I'm an agnostic non-theist. I use the agnostic label because I don't definitively know whether or not god or gods exist. I do not think it is necessarily impossible to have knowledge about god(s) but I think that it's quite possible that we can't.

[McCulloch]

Agnostic was introduced by Thomas Huxley in 1860 to describe his philosophy which rejects Gnosticism, by which he meant more than just the early 1st millennium religious groups, but all claims to spiritual or mystical knowledge.

Agnosticism can be subdivided into several subcategories. These categories are not necessarily complete or exclusive. Recently suggested variations include:

1. Strong agnosticism (also called "hard," "closed," "strict," or "permanent agnosticism")
   
   the view that the question of the existence or nonexistence of a deity or deities and the nature of ultimate reality is unknowable by reason of our natural inability to verify any experience with anything but another subjective experience. A strong agnostic would say, "I cannot know whether a deity exists or not, and neither can you."
2. Weak agnosticism (also called "soft," "open," "empirical," or "temporal agnosticism")
   
   the view that the existence or nonexistence of any deities is currently unknown but is not necessarily unknowable, therefore one will withhold judgment until/if any evidence is available. A weak agnostic would say, "I don't know whether any deities exist or not, but maybe one day when there is more evidence we can find something out."
3. Apathetic agnosticism (also called Pragmatic agnosticism)
   
   the view that there is no proof of either the existence or nonexistence of any deity, but since any deity that may exist appears unconcerned for the universe or the welfare of its inhabitants, the question is largely academic.
4. Agnostic atheism
   
   the view of those who do not claim to know of the existence of any deity, and do not believe in any.
5. Agnostic theism (also called spiritual agnosticism or Partial Agnosticism)
   
   the view of those who do not claim to know of the existence of any deity, but still believe in such an existence. Søren Kierkegaard believed that knowledge of any deity is impossible, and because of that people who want to be theists must believe: "If I am capable of grasping God objectively, I do not believe, but precisely because I cannot do this I must believe."
6. Ignosticism
   
   the view that a coherent definition of a deity must be put forward before the question of the existence of a deity can be meaningfully discussed. If the chosen definition isn't coherent, the ignostic holds the noncognitivist view that the existence of a deity is meaningless or empirically untestable. A.J. Ayer, Theodore Drange, and other philosophers see both atheism and agnosticism as incompatible with ignosticism on the grounds that atheism and agnosticism accept "a deity exists" as a meaningful proposition which can be argued for or against. An ignostic cannot even say whether he/she is a theist or a nontheist until a better definition of theism is put forth.

[Scotracer]

I'm on the border of "Weak Agnosticism" and "Agnostic Atheist" - We don't know if a god exists or not but maybe one day we will be able to say more definitely...but I don't think one exists at the moment.

[Miles]

Agnostic was introduced by Thomas Huxley in 1860 to describe his philosophy which rejects Gnosticism, by which he meant more than just the early 1st millennium religious groups, but all claims to spiritual or mystical knowledge.

Agnosticism can be subdivided into several subcategories. These categories are not necessarily complete or exclusive. Recently suggested variations include:

1. Strong agnosticism (also called "hard," "closed," "strict," or "permanent agnosticism")
   
   the view that the question of the existence or nonexistence of . . .
   
   
   
   . . . as a meaningful proposition which can be argued for or against. An ignostic cannot even say whether he/she is a theist or a nontheist until a better definition of theism is put forth.

Probably want to cite the source of your quotes to avoid being tagged a plagiarizer and hauled off to prison.

[T-mash]

How is an Agnostic defined. I would define one as someone who says that there very well may be a God, they don't know. But if there is he takes little to no interest in the affairs of men. Is that a fair definition? I am not quoting anybody with that definition. That is just the impression I got and was wondering if it was accurate.

In my eyes "agnostic" is a nonsensical word except in reference to agnostic theists (saying you don't know god exists but still you believe in him anyway). No educated atheist would say that they know no god exists. We can however say that god is highly improbable, but everything you make up has a probability to exist. Atheists are often criticised by agnostics for being an atheist. They claim that there is no way to proof or disproof god therefore making a statement about the existence, either by being a theist or an atheist is both equally silly. This of course comes from the wrong assumption that atheists base their view on active belief that there is no god, which is false. I'm an atheist because the existence of a god has never been verified, let alone the existence of a specific god (Christian god, Allah etc). In the same way the existence of fairies has never been verified and in the same way the existence of UFOs making crop-circles has never been verified. I'm a non-believer when it comes to Fairies, but I am also an agnostic because I don't think I can proof a 100% that fairies don't exists and I don't think you can either. Every atheist that I know of is an agnostic. Theists are either agnostic and therefore, since they know they can't proof god, have it on faith and belief that he exists or they are misguided or delusional, thinking evidence for their god exists but they aren't able to present it when asked for. We're all agnostic, except for the few that claim to have evidence for the existence of a god of their preference.

[JBlack]

Weak agnosticism (also called "soft," "open," "empirical," or "temporal agnosticism")

the view that the existence or nonexistence of any deities is currently unknown but is not necessarily unknowable, therefore one will withhold judgment until/if any evidence is available. A weak agnostic would say, "I don't know whether any deities exist or not, but maybe one day when there is more evidence we can find something out."

That's my position.

An agnostic, more generally, can be defined as anyone who answers "I don't know" to the question of "Is there a God?"

In my eyes "agnostic" is a nonsensical word except in reference to agnostic theists (saying you don't know god exists but still you believe in him anyway). No educated atheist would say that they know no god exists.

Whether educated or not, some atheist do take the position that they know no God exist. There are both agnostic atheists and gnostic atheists.

[BwhoUR]

How is an Agnostic defined. I would define one as someone who says that there very well may be a God, they don't know. But if there is he takes little to no interest in the affairs of men. Is that a fair definition? I am not quoting anybody with that definition. That is just the impression I got and was wondering if it was accurate.

In my eyes "agnostic" is a nonsensical word except in reference to agnostic theists (saying you don't know god exists but still you believe in him anyway). No educated atheist would say that they know no god exists. We can however say that god is highly improbable, but everything you make up has a probability to exist. Atheists are often criticised by agnostics for being an atheist. They claim that there is no way to proof or disproof god therefore making a statement about the existence, either by being a theist or an atheist is both equally silly. This of course comes from the wrong assumption that atheists base their view on active belief that there is no god, which is false. I'm an atheist because the existence of a god has never been verified, let alone the existence of a specific god (Christian god, Allah etc). In the same way the existence of fairies has never been verified and in the same way the existence of UFOs making crop-circles has never been verified. I'm a non-believer when it comes to Fairies, but I am also an agnostic because I don't think I can proof a 100% that fairies don't exists and I don't think you can either. Every atheist that I know of is an agnostic. Theists are either agnostic and therefore, since they know they can't proof god, have it on faith and belief that he exists or they are misguided or delusional, thinking evidence for their god exists but they aren't able to present it when asked for. We're all agnostic, except for the few that claim to have evidence for the existence of a god of their preference.

Ditto (nicely done). Athiests get a bad rap, that's why some atheists are trying to come up with other words to describe ourselves. Humanist, non-theist, freethinker...I just use atheist or heathen (sp?) depending on if I'm talking to my mother-in-law or my friends.