'''Agnosticism''' (from the Greek a, meaning "without", and gnosticism or gnosis, meaning "knowledge") is the philosophical view that the truth value of certain claims - particularly metaphysical claims regarding theology, afterlife or the existence of God, gods, deities, or even ultimate reality - is unknown or, depending on the form of agnosticism, inherently unknowable due to the nature of subjective experience{{Infobox_Contents |topic_name = Agnostic |subtopics = ... |opinion_pieces = {{short_opinions}} |}}
Agnostics claim either '''Agnosticism''' is the philosophical view that it is not possible to have absolute or the truth value of certain knowledge of claims - the existence of an afterlife or nonexistence of God - is unknown, or gods; or, alternatively, even inherently unknowable due to the nature of subjective experience. Essentially agnostics believe that while individual certainty may their might possibly be possible, they personally have no knowledge. Agnosticism in both cases involves some form of skepticisma God.
Demographic research services normally list agnostics in the same category as atheists and non-religious people, although this can be misleading depending on the number of agnostic theists who identify themselves first as agnostics and second as followers of a particular religion. === Categories ===
Agnosticism can be subdivided into several subcategories. Recently suggested variations include:
*Ignosticism - the view that a coherent definition of God must be put forward before the question of the existence of God can meaningfully be discussed. If the chosen definition isn't coherent, the ignostic holds the noncognitivist view that the existence of God is meaningless or empirically untestable. It should be noted that A.J. Ayer, Theodore Drange, and other philosophers see both atheism and agnosticism as incompatible with ignosticism on the grounds that atheism and agnosticism accept "God exists" as a meaningful proposition which can be argued for or against. The ignostic would say, "I don't know what you're talking about when you refer to God. Unless we first figure that out, debates whether god exists are meaningless."
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{{returnto}} [[Irreligion]]
[[Category:Religions]]