Why do people separate agnostics from atheists when one requires the other?

Question

According to the definitions from the Oxford English Dictionary, I am an agnostic atheist:

atheism - Disbelief in, or denial of, the existence of a god.

disbelieve - 1. trans. Not to believe or credit; to refuse credence to: a. a statement or (alleged) fact: To reject the truth or reality of.

agnostic - A. sb. One who holds that the existence of anything beyond and behind material phenomena is unknown and (so far as can be judged) unknowable, and especially that a First Cause and an unseen world are subjects of which we know nothing.

If someone is agnostic, holding that nothing is or can be known about a first cause and an unseen world, they, by default, would reject theism altogether, which is the nature of atheism.

"I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being." (Albert Einstein)

Not that Einstein used agnostic and atheist as though they were synonyms.

Answer 1

I am also an Agnostic Atheist.



Atheism is merely the complete the denial of the existence of God whereas Agnosticism does not assert the same position but rather states that it is unknowable to know that God does not exist.



Therefore the positions are different but it is true that agnosticism is leaning towards atheism.

Answer 2

Note that Einstein never said being childlike was bad. It isn't. Being childISH is bad. Being childlike is good. Children are humble, an attitude Einstein promoted with his admission that humans do not have all the answers and are actually rather foolish. Einstein was a theist. Deist at worst.



Ahem. Anyway, let's look at the etymology of "atheist" and "agnostic," shall we? Both words originate in Greek.



Theist comes from the Greek word theos, meaning "god."



Gnostic comes from the Greek word gnos, meaning "to know." In fact, you'll notice the similar sounds and spelling between our English word "know," and the Greek word "gnos."



The "a" prefix makes the word its opposite or absence. For instance, when you add "a" to "muse" (meaning "to think"), you get "amuse" (which literally means "to NOT think"). So a theist believes in God; an atheist believes in no God. A gnostic knows something; an agnostic knows nothing.



Long story short, what separates an atheist from an agnostic is that an atheist claims there is no God, while an agnostic claims not to know whether there is a God or not.

Answer 3

When I look that the Greek, they are not the same, and the only attitude conveyed for atheist is an attitude of an existent God with a negative particle to modify the actor. So, "Away from God" or "Without God". So "God" is included in the word. It tells of the relationship of the actor to God automatically. The point being; it's inclusive of a god who is involved in the relationship, even though by the negative particle which is the "a", the actor's relationship is without.



Concerning agnosticism, attitude is now applied in the definition, whereas the attitude was not literally there. The attitude I'm referring to is "and (so far as can be judged) unknowable". That attitude is artificial if the basic meaning of the word is defined. To me, it takes away from the clarity of the discussion to include that modern attitude.

Answer 4

Is that really the definition of agnostic? Seems like there's an awful lot added to the traditional definition of someone who says the existence of God and the supernatural is simply unknowable.



Anyway, the reason the distinction occurs (rightly or wrongly) is because there are agnostic theists (who feel it is impossible to know, but believe anyway), and agnostics who are in the zone of uncertainty, unwilling to say they believe there is no God as agnostic atheists are.



Agnosticism - about knowledge.

Atheism/Theism - about belief.

Answer 5

if life were a word toud have it figured out