Agnosticism

Year 2012, Volume: 11 Issue: 21, 5 - 28, 01.06.2012

Ferit Uslu

https://doi.org/10.14395/jdiv80

Cited By: 3

Abstract

Although agnosticism as a term has got nearly one and a half century past, nowadays it becomes more common than atheism as a philosophical thought. Because of the importance ascribed to agnosticism, it deserves not only sociological and psychological researches but also philosophical and epistemological analyses. The study of agnosticism involves many topics; the definition of agnosticism, its history, its types and the differences from atheism etc. Also, there are some more problematical issues about agnosticism which should be discussed through an epistemological point of view like its philosophical grounds and discussion of those grounds. However, within the limits of an article it could not seem possible to put forward distinguishing characters of agnosticism together with its epistemological grounds. Therefore, in this article we only deal with its meaning, its background, its types and differences from atheism as a philosophical approach.

Keywords

Agnosticism, atheism, Thomas Huxley, theism.

Agnostisizm

Abstract

Yaklaşık birbuçuk asırlık geçmişi olan bir terim olmasına rağmen agnostisizm, günümüzde bir felsefî görüş olarak ateizmden neredeyse daha yaygın hale gelmiştir. Bu öneminden dolayı agnostisizm, sosyolojik, psikolojik incelemeleri hak ettiği kadar felsefî ve epistemolojik açıdan da incelemeyi hak etmektedir. Agnostisizmin felsefî incelemesi birçok konuyu içerir: Bunlar arasında tanımı, tarihçesi, çeşitleri, ateizmden farkları gibi agnostisizmi tanımaya yönelik konular olduğu gibi, felsefî dayanakları ve bunların tartışılması gibi epistemolojik açısından ele alınması gereken problematik konular da vardır. Bununla birlikte bir makalenin sayfa sınırları içinde hem agnostisizmi tanıtmak hem de onun epistemolojik dayanaklarını ortaya koyup tartışmak mümkün gözükmüyor. Bu nedenle biz, bu makalede yalnızca agnostisizmin tanımı, tarihçesi, çeşitleri ve felsefî bir tutum olarak ateizmden farkları konularını ele alacak ve inceleyeceğiz.

Keywords

Agnostisizm, ateizm, Thomas Huxley, teizm.

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