What is the nature of agnostic conviction?

[jmca_online]

hehehe i am still kinda new to this place i was just trying to move the thread into the agnostic forum so i just decided to cut and paste and you know...as for standing_alone:

you have to understand that there are differing degrees of agnosticism...for instance there are people that can only be defined as agnostic-theistics; (i realise that this is a paradox - perhaps because of the absolute connotations of these terms) agnostics who remain skeptical but are more biased towards the prospect of God (and all that higher power stuff) than not. I guess this may be because humans are complex beings and its really unfair to reduce them to absolute categories. You might say that these people are only in a temporal transitionary stage....i would argue that there are some who have held this disposition for pretty much since their realisation of reason.

Alternatively...there are some that belief that agnosticism can be reduced to any level of doubt...and according to some guy (cant really remember)...agnosticism is a necessary process undergone before a meaningful and deep religion can be attained

this is why i tried to stress not to worry too much about the actual meaning of the word agnosticism but rather...explain YOUR agnosticism (what is your outlook as an agnostic? i.e. are you more biased towards science or God or is it 50/50?) and then think about where this conviction originated from...

n.b. at its maximum potential every word can have as numerous interpretations as there is reasoning and thinking people

 

[jmca_online]

btw please keep the posts coming even if you dont really answer my question directly...maybe you could raise issues that i have overlooked. Appreciate everything posted so far

 

[michel]

I hope you realise that now the thread is in "Discuss Individual Religions" no one except agnostics may respond, or comment ?

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

I am a student and am currently investigating the reasons for secular beliefs, in specific agnosticism.

Agnosticism is not a secular belief - the fideist, for example, could properly be categorized as an agnostic theist, and one could easily extract agnosticism from the text of the Tao Te Ching.

The word 'agnosticism' was coined by Thomas Henry Huxley (1825 - 1895), who wrote:

Agnosticism, in fact, is not a creed, but a method, the essence of which lies in the rigorous application of a single principle. That principle is of great antiquity; it is as old as Socrates; as old as the writer who said, 'Try all things, hold fast by that which is good'; it is the foundation of the Reformation, which simply illustrated the axiom that every man should be able to give a reason for the faith that is in him, it is the great principle of Descartes; it is the fundamental axiom of modern science. Positively the principle may be expressed: In matters of the intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, without regard to any other consideration. And negatively: In matters of the intellect, do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable. That I take to be the agnostic faith, which if a man keep whole and undefiled, he shall not be ashamed to look the universe in the face, whatever the future may have in store for him. [Agnosticism, 1889]

That it is wrong for a man to say he is certain of the objective truth of a proposition unless he can provide evidence which logically justifies that certainty. This is what agnosticism asserts and in my opinion, is all that is essential to agnosticism. [Agnosticism and Christianity, 1889]​

Though the vernacular tends to equate agnosticism with 'uncertainty', agnosticism is first and foremost an an epistemology.

I realise that a great deal of agnostic uncertainty or certainty in the inherently unknowable is due to the weakness of the theistic case, but if there are any other reasons that might account for this conviction please reply (its for an assignment).

The inherent unknowability of supernatural agencies is fundamental and cancerous. Not only are there no verifiable protocols for obtaining knowledge of the supernatural, once you accept a Deity that can "harden Pharoahs heart", you abdicate all right to have confidence in your beliefs or observations.