WESTERN
Definitions of Atheism
Thomas Huxley on agnosticism
...When I reached intellectual maturity and began to ask myself whether I was an
atheist, a theist, or a pantheist; a materialist or an idealist; a
Christian or a freethinker; I found that the more I learned and reflected, the
less ready was the answer; until, at last, I came to the conclusion that I had
neither art nor part with any of these denominations, except the last. The one
thing in which most of these good people were agreed was the one thing in which I
differed from them. They were quite sure they had attained a certain
"gnosis"--had, more or less successfully, solved the problem of existence; while
I was quite sure I had not, and had a pretty strong conviction that the problem
was insoluble. And, with Hume and Kant on my side, I could not
think myself presumptuous in holding fast by that opinion. On the contrary I had,
and have, the firmest conviction that I never left the verace via--the
straight road; and that this road led nowhere else but into the dark depths of a
wild and tangled forest. And though I have found leopards and lions in the path;
though I have made abundant acquaintance with the hungry wolf, that "with privy
paw devours apace and nothing said," as another great poet says of the ravening
beast; and though no friendly spectre has even yet offered his guidance, I was,
and am, minded to go straight on, until I either come out on the other side of
the wood, or find there is no other side to it, at least, none attainable by
me.
This was my situation when I had the good fortune to find a place among the
members of that remarkable confraternity of antagonists, long since deceased, but
of green and pious memory, the Metaphysical Society. Every variety of
philosophical and theological opinion was represented there, and expressed itself
with entire openness; most of my colleagues were -ists of one sort or
another; and, however kind and friendly they might be, I, the man without a rage
of a label to cover himself with, could not fail to have some of the uneasy
feelings which must have beset the historical fox when, after leaving the trap in
which his tail remained, he presented himself to his normally elongated
companions. So I took thought, and invented what I conceived to be the
appropriate title of "agnostic." It came into my head as suggestively
antithetic to the "gnostic" of Church history, who professed to know so
much about the very things of which I was ignorant; and I took the earliest
opportunity of parading it at our Society, to show that I, too, had a tail, like
the other foxes. To my great satisfaction, the term took; and when the Spectator
had stood godfather to it, and suspicion in the minds of respectable people, that
a knowledge of its parentage might have awakened was, of course, completely
lulled.
This is the history of the origin of the terms "agnostic" and "agnosticism"; and
it will be observed that it does not quite agree with the confident assertion of
the reverend Principal of King's College, that "the adoption of the term agnostic
is only an attempt to shift the issue, and that it involves a mere evasion" in
relation to the Church and Christianity. (Report of the Church Congress,
Manchester 1888, p 252) ...
If any one had preferred this request to me, I should have replied that, if he
referred to agnostics, they have no creed; and, by the nature of the case, cannot
have any. Agnosticism, in fact, is not a creed, but a method, the essence
of this 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 to 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 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. ... 44
Thomas Henry Huxley, "Agnosticism"
in Gordon Stein, editor, An anthology of atheism and rationalism, with
introduction (Prometheus Books: Buffalo NY 1980) 43-44
Madalyn Murray O'Hair on agnosticism
|
|