An Agnostic Manifesto (Agnosticism)

by David Turell , Saturday, August 07, 2010, 17:20 (5221 days ago) @ dhw


> Rosenbaum's statement is true of some atheists ... very often the most strident and aggressive ... but it is perfectly possible for someone to be convinced that there is no such thing as God (= atheism), and at the same time to acknowledge that science does not have all the answers and may never have them. 
> 
> Rosenbaum takes up Wilkins' suggestion that agnosticism is concerned with just two questions: whether God exists or not, and whether we can know the answer, and he talks of "the courage to admit we don't know and may never know what we don't know." Although he says this is "complicated", in my view it's an over-simplification, but perhaps again this is a matter of language. A common definition of agnosticism is "the belief that it is impossible to know whether God exists or not",-All of this is taken care of by Godel's Incompleteness Theorem, baasically, we can never prove everything. So I go back to Adler: proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Agnostics will not choose atheism or theism unless there is absolute proof and that is impossible. Agnosticism is therefore an emotional choice, recognizing that since there are no absolutes, they will stay content with never knowing. If they can comfortable with that, fine. Both atheists and theists are satisfied with their choices, even though both are based on faith, pure and simple. George must admit that both of us are equals, following belief systems we have chosen. Both systems are reasonable, in the view that proof is impossible.