at its heart, agnosticism is one of three philosophical positions regarding the existence of god. the other two positions, theism (the belief that there is a god) and atheism (the belief that there is no god) are pretty straightforward. the stance of the agnostic is that there may or may not be a good, or that there is no way to be certain that god exists.
as always when i write one of these, i began by reviewing the wikipedia entry.
wikipedia quoth:
agnostics claim either that it is not possible to have absolute or certain knowledge of god or gods; or, alternatively, that while certainty may be possible, they personally have no knowledge.
this is more or less consistent with the position as i learned it in high school & college. one might view theism, agnosticism and atheism as three positions on a scale regarding the belief of god and/or supernatural forces, where agnosticism is a middle position between the extreme ends of theism and atheism.
in philosophy, the ability to prove through deductive logic is what is paramount. there is, when you come right down to it, no way to prove or disprove logically the existence of god*. if there were, whole centuries of people much smarter than you or me put together have failed to find it.
but so what?
there are truths that simply transcend this limited tool that we call logic. when a child says to his mother “i love you”, we know that’s true. when a friend offers a well-timed and desperately-needed laugh, we know that friendship is a great thing. when i look at my wife in a particular way, she knows that i love her. yet, none of these can really be proven deductively. and there are a whole host of things that we know intuitively, not deductively.
one might reasonably ask, in light of the foregoing, why i am an agnostic if i accept the notion that deductive logic can be trumped, and that’s a reasonable question. i don’t know about you, but my own exposure to theism is almost exclusively in the context of christianity, and the simple truth is that every single christian i know has had a moment when they felt something that could pour a balm bountifully on the wounds upon their souls. that “thing”, for lack of a better term, is something i’ve never known. i’ve looked earnestly for it, but never once have i found it—at least, not in that way.
and this is why i’m an agnostic: i cannot prove or disprove it, and this source has never made itself known to me despite my having sought it earnestly.
so what’s your philosophical stance: theist, agnostic, atheist? does the notion of deduction being trumped make you nod or shake your head in disbelief? or perhaps i’m merely slightly hungover from last night? comment and let me know.
ed
*if you feel i’m mistaken and you have an argument grounded in deductive logic—either way—kindly make the argument. i think i’ve seen all of ‘em but hey, you never know.
