How do agnostics live? (Introduction)

by Mark , Thursday, June 05, 2008, 16:32 (6013 days ago)

dhw says in the Introduction to An Agnostic's Brief Guide:
"Agnosticism, in contrast to atheist assumption and religious dogma, only believes what is known, and admits to ignorance of the rest."

I judge from the rest of this essay that by "known" dhw means known according to a scientific process of observation and reason. "Believe" is clearly being used to mean something different from "know". I take it that the distinction is to do with commitment and trust. For a Christian, belief in God is not merely intellectual assent to his existence. It implies a pledge which will make a radical difference to how the person will live, by acting on his word. An atheist will live as if God does not exist, i.e. without religious observance and without relying on the texts or leaders of any religion for moral guidance. - I wonder though how agnostics live? It is possible to suspend conscious intellectual commitment, but it is not possible to suspend life. Can an agnostic really only believe what is known (in the above sense of "known")? - I suspect that most agnostics are atheist in practice, but perhaps not all are fully so. Some attend church from time to time.