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Agnosticism is the view that the truth values of certain claims – especially metaphysical and religious claims such as whether God, the divine or the supernatural exist – are unknown and perhaps unknowable.〔 (page 56 in 1967 edition)〕 According to the philosopher William L. Rowe: "In the popular sense of the term, an agnostic is someone who neither believes nor disbelieves in the existence of God, while a theist believes that God exists, an atheist disbelieves in God." 〔 Agnosticism is a doctrine or set of tenets rather than a religion as such. Thomas Henry Huxley, an English biologist, coined the word "agnostic" in 1869. Earlier thinkers, however, had written works that promoted agnostic points of view, such as Sanjaya Belatthaputta, a 5th-century BCE Indian philosopher who expressed agnosticism about any afterlife;〔Bhaskar (1972).〕 and Protagoras, a 5th-century BCE Greek philosopher who expressed agnosticism about "the gods". The Nasadiya Sukta in the Rigveda is agnostic about the origin of the universe. In the time since Huxley coined the term, many other thinkers have written extensively about agnosticism. ==Defining agnosticism== Being a scientist, above all else, Huxley presented agnosticism as a form of demarcation. A hypothesis with no supporting objective, testable, evidence is not an objective, scientific, claim. As such, there would be no way to test said hypotheses, leaving the results inconclusive. His agnosticism was not compatible with forming a belief as to the truth, or falsehood, of the claim at hand. Huxley came up with this term at a time when narrow definition atheism (the belief that no gods exist) was, by far, the most popular definition of the word. Karl Popper would also describe himself simply as an agnostic.〔Edward Zerin: Karl Popper On God: The Lost Interview. ''Skeptic'' 6:2 (1998)〕 According to philosopher William L. Rowe, in this strict sense, agnosticism is the view that human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist.〔 Others have redefined this concept, making it compatible with forming a belief, and only incompatible with absolute certainty. George H. Smith, while admitting that the narrow definition of atheist was the common usage definition of that word,〔George H. Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God, pg. 9〕 and admitting that the broad definition of agnostic was the common usage definition of that word,〔George H. Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God, pg. 12〕 promoted broadening the definition of atheist and narrowing the definition of agnostic. Terms such as agnostic atheism (the view of those who do not ''believe'' in the existence of any deity, but do not claim to ''know'' if a deity does or does not exist) and agnostic theism (the view of those who do not claim to ''know'' of the existence of any deity, but still ''believe'' in such an existence), are then used to distinguish between the two.〔 〕〔 〕〔 〕 Smith's terminology hadn't caught on by the time Antony Flew came along, also promoting a broader definition of atheism, and also bringing into question the definition of agnosticism. Most recently, the terms apathetic and pragmatic agnosticism have been coined with regard to the view that there is no proof of either the existence or non-existence 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 and that their existence therefore has little to no impact on personal human affairs and should be of little theological interest.〔Rauch, Jonathan, ''Let It Be: Three Cheers for Apatheism'', ''The Atlantic Monthly'', May 2003〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Agnosticism」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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