- Dec 3, 2020
- 11
- 2
Post moved to the appropriate section of the forum.
Hi AB.. I can't wrap my head around this. Atheism is a position on the existence of God. That's it! You are making a statement as if it involves politics. Do you agree that it doesn't?Can an atheist be agnostic?
Again, if we're considering the fullest sense of the word agnostic, which involves being anti-dogmatic, then the answer to the question is no. But if we're considering a limited sense of agnosticism that only deals with God's existence (as opposed to all intellectual matters), then yes, an atheist can also be agnostic.
When it comes to the first scenario (the fullest sense of the word agnostic), the first thing to consider in answering the question is if atheists are dogmatic. By definition, positive or strong atheists are dogmatic when they believe that God doesn't exist. Negative atheists are usually not dogmatic when it comes to God's existence, however, that alone does not make them an agnostic in the fullest sense of the word. The reason is because an agnostic has to be non-dogmatic on all intellectual areas and not just towards religion or God's existence. One good way I look at it is that an agnostic has to be scientific-minded when it comes to religion, politics, philosophy, and any other area where the intellect can be applied. While negative atheists are scientific-minded when it comes to God, but oftentimes you find them becoming dogmatic when it comes to philosophy and politics (e.g. many atheists are liberal when it comes to politics).
*When I bring up the fullest sense of the word agnosticism, I'm referring to what it meant to Thomas Huxley when he coined the word.
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