If God is rational and created an orderly universe and human beings in His image, we can study the universe. Without these assumptions, there is no reason to assume the world is knowable or that humans are able to know. By rejecting God, scientists undercut the foundations for their work.

In 1869, at a meeting of the Metaphysical Society in London, English biologist and anthropologist Thomas Huxley coined the term “agnostic” to describe those who, like himself, were neither theists nor atheists. Claiming instead intellectual ‘humility,’ Huxley claimed to know that anything unknowable to science could not bereal knowledge since it could not be empirically verified. This included the existence of God, the ultimate nature of reality, and anything immaterial.

The word “agnostic” is constructed from Greek, beginning with the “a-,” which means without or not, and gnostos or gnosis, which refers to what is known or knowledge. Huxley contrasted “agnostic” with gnostic, a word that refers to secret, mystical, or spiritual knowledge. In other words, for the agnostic, truth about life,God, and supernatural realities are unknowable.

An assumption built into the word agnostic is that the only way to know is through empirical evidence. In other words, agnosticism is a kinder and gentler version of positivism, the idea that only what is empirically verifiable or logically necessary can qualify as knowledge. Anything not empirically verifiable or logically necessary is unknowable and, according to Huxley, ultimately meaningless.

Of course, the assumption that science is the only route to real knowledge is a statement that cannot be proven scientifically. Thus, by the agnostic’s own standard, science cannot be the only way to know things because science cannot prove that science is the only way to know things. As the Greeks might say, “Oh, the irony!”

Read More