Philosophy & ThoughtGreek → English
Agnosticism
/æɡˈnɒstɪsɪzəm/noun
The position that whether any god exists is not known, and may not be knowable.
The Greek roots
ἀ-
a-
not, without
γνωστός
gnōstós
known, knowable
Literally: “the not-known”
The story of the word
Thomas Huxley coined agnostic in 1869, by his own account because everyone else at the Metaphysical Society had an -ism to stand under and he had none. He took the word from Paul's sermon at Athens, where the apostle finds an altar inscribed to the unknown god, ἀγνώστῳ θεῷ. Huxley meant a method rather than a mood: do not claim certainty that the evidence cannot carry.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → English coinage
- First recorded
- 1869
Same family
diagnosisprognosisgnosticphysiognomy
In a sentence
His agnosticism annoyed both sides of the argument equally.
She describes herself as raised Orthodox and settled into agnosticism somewhere around university.