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http://www.inosr.net/inosr-applied-sciences/ Tallulah and Mishka INOSR APPLIED 1(1): 14-20, 2015 ©INOSR PUBLICATIONS International Network Organization for Scientific Research ISSN: 2705-165X

Comparison between , and

Tallulah Rebecca and Mishka Joshua

Department of , Faculty of and University of Pretoria, South Africa Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT This article reviews the Comparison thinking and evidence ( and between Atheism, Agnosticism and ) over acceptance of or Humanism. Atheism is, in the broadest . The words atheist and sense, an absence of in the agnostic conjure up a number of different of . Less broadly, atheism is a perceptions and meanings. When it comes rejection of the belief that any deities exist. to questioning the existence of , the Agnosticism is the view that the existence subject is a tricky one that is often of , of the divine or the is misunderstood. No what their unknown or unknowable. Humanism is a or how they approach the philosophical and ethical stance that question, agnostics and atheists are emphasizes the and of fundamentally different, but also non- , individually and exclusive. collectively, and generally prefers critical Keywords: Comparison, Atheism, Agnosticism Humanism INTRODUCTION Atheism is, in the broadest sense, an application of the term narrowed in absence of belief in the existence of scope. The first to identify deities. Less broadly, atheism is a themselves using the word atheist lived in rejection of the belief that any deities the 18th century during the Age of exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism Enlightenment. The , is specifically the position that there are noted for its "unprecedented atheism," no deities. Atheism is contrasted with witnessed the first major political , which, in its most general form, is movement in history to advocate for the the belief that at least one exists. supremacy of human . Arguments The etymological root for the word for atheism range from philosophical to atheism originated before the 5th century social and historical approaches. BCE from the atheos, Rationales for not believing in deities meaning "without god(s)". In antiquity, it include arguments that there is a lack of had multiple uses as a pejorative term empirical evidence, the , applied to those thought to reject the the argument from inconsistent gods worshiped by the larger society, , the rejection of concepts that those who were forsaken by the gods, or cannot be falsified, and the argument those who had no commitment to belief in from nonbelief. Nonbelievers contend the gods. The term denoted a social that atheism is a more parsimonious category created by orthodox religionists position than theism and that everyone is into which those who did not share their born without beliefs in deities; [1] religious beliefs were placed. The actual therefore, they argue that the burden of term atheism emerged first in the 16th proof lies not on the atheist to disprove century. With the spread of , the existence of gods but on the theist to skeptical inquiry, and subsequent provide a rationale for theism. [2] increase in , Although some atheists have adopted

14 http://www.inosr.net/inosr-applied-sciences/ Tallulah and Mishka INOSR APPLIED SCIENCES 1(1): 14-20, 2015 secular , [3] there is no one agnostics with regard to the existence of or code of conduct to which all anything beyond and behind material atheists adhere. Since conceptions of phenomena or to of a First atheism vary, accurate estimations of Cause or God, [6] and is not a religion. current numbers of atheists are difficult. Humanism is a philosophical and ethical According to global Win-Gallup stance that emphasizes the value and International studies, 13% of respondents agency of human beings, individually and were "convinced atheists" in 2012, 11% collectively, and generally prefers critical were "convinced atheists" in 2015, and in thinking and evidence (rationalism and 2017, 9% were "convinced atheists". empiricism) over acceptance of dogma or However, other researchers have advised superstition [7] [8]. The meaning of the caution with WIN/Gallup figures since term humanism has fluctuated according other surveys which have used the same to the successive intellectual movements wording for decades and have a bigger which have identified with it. The term sample size have consistently reached was coined by theologian Friedrich lower figures. [4] An older survey by the Niethammer at the beginning of the 19th British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in century to refer to a system of education 2004 recorded atheists as comprising 8% based on the study of classical literature of the world's population. Other older ("classical humanism"). Generally, estimates have indicated that atheists however, humanism refers to a comprise 2% of the world's population, perspective that affirms some notion of while the irreligious add a further 12%. human and . It views According to these polls, and East as solely responsible for the Asia are the regions with the highest rates promotion and development of of atheism. In 2015, 61% of people in individuals and emphasizes a concern for reported that they were atheists. man in relation to the world. In modern The figures for a 2010 Eurobarometer times, humanist movements are typically survey in the (EU) non-religious movements aligned with reported that 20% of the EU population , and today humanism may claimed not to believe in "any sort of refer to a nontheistic centred , God or life force". on human agency and looking to Agnosticism is the view that the existence rather than from a supernatural of God, of the divine or the supernatural source to understand the world [9]. is unknown or unknowable. Another Brief definition provided is the view that Western atheism has its roots in pre- "human reason is incapable of providing Socratic Greek , but atheism in sufficient rational grounds to justify the modern sense was nonexistent or either the belief that God exists or the extremely rare in . Pre- belief that God does not exist." The Socratic Atomists such as English biologist attempted to explain the world in a purely coined the word agnostic in 1869, and materialistic way and interpreted religion said "It simply means that a man shall not as a human reaction to natural say he knows or that which he phenomena, but did not explicitly deny has no scientific grounds for professing the gods' existence. , whom to know or believe." Earlier thinkers, Irenaeus calls "the atheist", was accused however, had written works that of impiety and condemned for stating promoted agnostic points of view, such as that "the is a type of incandescent Sanjaya Belatthaputta, a 5th-century BCE stone", an affirmation with which he tried Indian philosopher who expressed to deny the of the celestial bodies agnosticism about any ; [5] and [10]. During the Early , the , a 5th-century BCE Greek Islamic world experienced a Golden Age. philosopher who expressed agnosticism Along with advances in science and about the existence of "the gods". philosophy, Arab and Persian lands Agnosticism is the doctrine or tenet of produced outspoken rationalists and

15 http://www.inosr.net/inosr-applied-sciences/ Tallulah and Mishka INOSR APPLIED SCIENCES 1(1): 14-20, 2015 atheists, including al Warraq writers, the Polish ex-Jesuit philosopher (fl. 9th century), Ibn al-Rawandi (827– Kazimierz Łyszczyński and in the 1720s 911), Al-Razi (854–925), and Al-Maʿarri by the French priest . In the (973–1058). Al-Ma'arri wrote and taught course of the 18th century, other openly that religion itself was a "fable invented atheistic thinkers followed, such as Baron by the ancients" and that humans were "of d'Holbach, Jacques-André Naigeon, and two sorts: those with brains, but no other French materialists. in religion, and those with religion, but no contrast, though an advocate of tolerance, brains." Despite their relatively urged authorities not to tolerate atheism, prolific writers, little of their work believing that the denial of God's survives, mainly being preserved through existence would undermine the social quotations and excerpts in later works by order and lead to chaos [16]. Muslim apologists attempting to refute The philosopher developed a them [11]. Other prominent Golden Age skeptical grounded in scholars have been associated with empiricism, and 's rationalist thought and atheism as well, philosophy has strongly questioned the although the current intellectual very possibility of a metaphysical atmosphere in the Islamic world, and the knowledge. Both philosophers scant evidence that survives from the era, undermined the metaphysical basis of make this point a contentious one today natural theology and criticized classical [12]. arguments for the [13] wrote that the had paved Brief History of Agnosticism the way for atheists by attacking the Throughout the history of there authority of the , which in has been a strong tradition of philosophic turn "quietly inspired other thinkers to speculation and [17]. The Rig attack the authority of the new Protestant Veda takes an agnostic view on the churches". gained influence in fundamental question of how the France, Prussia, and England. The and the gods were created. Nasadiya philosopher was Sukta (Creation Hymn) in the tenth "probably the first well known 'semi- chapter of the Rig Veda says: atheist' to announce himself in a Christian But, after all, who knows, land in the modern era" according to [14]. and who can say whence it [15] believed that natural laws explained all came, and how creation the workings of the universe. In 1661 he happened? The gods published his Short Treatise on God. themselves are later than Criticism of became creation, so who knows increasingly frequent in the 17th and 18th truly whence it has arisen? centuries, especially in France and Whence all creation had its England, where there appears to have origin, He, whether he been a religious malaise, according to fashioned it or whether he contemporary sources. Some Protestant did not, He, who surveys it thinkers, such as , all from highest heaven, He espoused a materialist philosophy and knows - or maybe even he skepticism toward supernatural does not know. occurrences, while Spinoza rejected [18] presented arguments attempting to divine providence in favor of a rationally prove the existence of God. The panentheistic . By the late 17th skeptical empiricism of David Hume, the century, deism came to be openly antinomies of Immanuel Kant, and the espoused by intellectuals such as John existential philosophy of Søren Toland who coined the term "pantheist". Kierkegaard convinced many later The first known explicit atheist was the philosophers to abandon these attempts, German critic of religion Matthias regarding it impossible to construct any Knutzen in his three writings of 1674. He unassailable proof for the existence or was followed by two other explicit atheist non-existence of God.

16 http://www.inosr.net/inosr-applied-sciences/ Tallulah and Mishka INOSR APPLIED SCIENCES 1(1): 14-20, 2015 (1872-1970) declared peoples' dissatisfaction with life is in 1927, a the result of depending on such classic statement of agnosticism. He calls incomplete data. Our ability to upon his readers to "stand on their own reason is not a way to discover two feet and look fair and square at the but rather a way to organize world with a fearless attitude and a free our knowledge and intelligence". somewhat sensibly. Without a full, In 1939, Russell gave a lecture on the human perception of the world, existence and of God, in which he one's reason tends to lead them in characterized himself as an atheist. He the wrong direction. said: 2. Beyond what can be measured with The existence and nature of scientific tools, there are other God is a subject of which I types of perception, such as one's can discuss only half. If one ability know another human arrives at a negative through loving. One's loves cannot conclusion concerning the be dissected and logged in a first part of the question, scientific journal, but we know the second part of the them far better than we know the question does not arise; and surface of the sun. They show us my position, as you may an undefinable that is have gathered, is a negative nevertheless intimate and one on this matter. personal, and they reveal qualities However, later in the same lecture, lovelier and truer than detached discussing modern non-anthropomorphic facts can provide. concepts of God, Russell states: 3. To be religious, in the Christian That sort of God is, I think, sense, is to live for the Whole of not one that can actually be Reality (God) rather than for a disproved, as I think the small part (gods). Only by treating omnipotent and benevolent this Whole of Reality as a person— creator can. good and true and perfect—rather Bell believed that there were two other than an impersonal force, can we ways that humans could perceive and come closer to the Truth. An interact with the world. Artistic ultimate Person can be loved, but a was how one expressed cosmic force cannot. A scientist meaning through speaking, writing, can only discover peripheral painting, gesturing any sort of , but a lover is able to get at communication which shared insight into the Truth. a human's inner reality. Mystical 4. There are many reasons to believe experience was how one could "read" in God but they are not sufficient people and harmonize with them, being for an agnostic to become a theist. what we commonly call love [19]. In It is not enough to believe in an summary, man was a scientist, artist, and ancient holy book, even though lover. Without exercising all three, a when it is accurately analyzed person became "lopsided." Bell considered without bias, it proves to be more a humanist to be a person who cannot trustworthy and admirable than rightly ignore the other ways of knowing what we are taught in school. [20]. However, humanism, like Neither is it enough to realize how agnosticism, was also temporal, and probable it is that a would eventually lead to either scientific would have to show human beings or theism. He lays out the how to live, considering they have following thesis: so much trouble on their own. Nor 1. Truth cannot be discovered by is it enough to believe for the reasoning on the evidence of reason that, throughout history, scientific data alone. Modern millions of people have arrived at

17 http://www.inosr.net/inosr-applied-sciences/ Tallulah and Mishka INOSR APPLIED SCIENCES 1(1): 14-20, 2015 this Wholeness of Reality only common usage is wrong, and that model through . The writers of , such as and aforementioned reasons may warm others, used the word only to mean what one toward religion, but they fall we might call "humane" or "polite" short of convincing. However, if learning, or the Greek equivalent . one presupposes that God is in Yet in seeking to restrict the meaning of fact a knowable, loving person, as to literary education this way, an experiment, and then lives Gellius was not advocating a retreat from according that religion, he or she political engagement into some ivory suddenly come face to face tower, though it might look like that to us with experiences previously [22]. He himself was involved in public unknown. One's life becomes full, affairs. According to legal historian meaningful, and fearless in the Richard Bauman, Gellius was a judge as face of death. It does not defy well as a grammarian and was an active reason but exceeds it. participant the great contemporary debate 5. Because God has been experienced on harsh punishments that accompanied through love, the orders of , the legal reforms of (one fellowship, and devotion now these reforms, for example, was that a matter. They create order within prisoner was not to be treated as guilty one's life, continually renewing the before being tried). "By assigning pride of "missing piece" that had previously place to Paideia in his comment on the felt lost. They empower one to be etymology of humanitas, Gellius implies compassionate and humble, not that the trained mind is best equipped to small-minded or arrogant. handle the problems troubling society 6. No truth should be denied In 1941, the American Humanist outright, but all should be Association was organised. Noted questioned. Science reveals an members of The AHA included Isaac ever-growing vision of our Asimov, who was the president from 1985 universe that should not be until his death in 1992, and writer Kurt discounted due to bias toward Vonnegut, who followed as honorary older understandings. Reason is to president until his death in 2007. Gore be trusted and cultivated. To Vidal became honorary president in 2009. believe in God is not to forego Robert Buckman was the head of the reason or to deny scientific facts, association in Canada, and is now an but to step into the unknown and honorary president [23]. discover the fullness of life. After II, three prominent Brief History of Humanism Humanists became the first directors of The word "humanism" is ultimately major divisions of the United Nations: derived from the Latin concept of UNESCO, humanitas. It entered English in the of the World Health Organization, and nineteenth century. However, historians John Boyd-Orr of the Food and Agriculture agree that the concept predates the label Organization. invented to describe it, encompassing the In 2004, American Humanist Association, various meanings ascribed to humanitas, along with other groups representing which included both benevolence toward agnostics, atheists, and other one's fellow humans and the values freethinkers, joined to create the Secular imparted by bonae litterae or humane Coalition for America which advocates in learning (literally "good letters" Washington, D.C., for separation of [21] says that in his day humanitas is church and state and nationally for the commonly used as a synonym for greater acceptance of nontheistic or kindness and [24]. The Executive Director of benevolence toward one's fellow human Secular Coalition for America is Larry T. beings. Gellius maintains that this Decker. DISCUSION AND CONCLUSION

18 http://www.inosr.net/inosr-applied-sciences/ Tallulah and Mishka INOSR APPLIED SCIENCES 1(1): 14-20, 2015 The words atheist and agnostic conjure between being an atheist and an agnostic up a number of different perceptions and should be pretty clear and easy to meanings. When it comes to questioning remember. Atheism is about belief or, the existence of gods, the subject is a specifically, what you don't believe. tricky one that is often misunderstood. Agnosticism is about knowledge or, No matter what their reasons or how they specifically, about what you don't know. approach the question, agnostics and An atheist doesn't believe in any gods. An atheists are fundamentally different, but agnostic doesn't know if any gods exist or also non-exclusive. Many people who not. These can be the exact same person, adopt the label of agnostic but need not be. In the end, the fact of the simultaneously reject the label of atheist, matter is that a person is not faced with even if it technically applies to them. In the necessity of only being either an addition, there's a common atheist or an agnostic. Not only can a misconception that agnosticism is person be both, but it is, in fact, common somehow a more ―reasonable‖ position for people to be both agnostics and while atheism is more ―dogmatic,‖ atheists or agnostics and theists. An ultimately indistinguishable from theism agnostic atheist won’t claim to know for except in the details. This is not a valid sure that nothing warranting the label argument because it misrepresents or ―god‖ exists or that such cannot exist. misunderstands everything involved: And yet, they also don’t actively believe atheism, theism, agnosticism, and even that such an entity does indeed exist. the nature of belief itself. The REFERENCES 1. A. C. Crombie, Historians and the . New York: W. W. Norton Scientific Revolution, p. 456 & Company. pp. 410–11. in Science, Art and Nature in 9. Hume, David, "An Enquiry Medieval and Modern Concerning Human Understanding" Thought (1996). (2008) 2. Alleby, Brad 2003. 10. Huxley, Henrietta A. "Humanism". Encyclopedia of 2004. Aphorisms and Science & Religion. 1 (2nd ed). Reflections (reprint ed.). Kessinger Macmillan Reference USA. pp. 426– Publishing. pp. 41–42. ISBN 978-1- 28. ISBN 0-02-865705-5. 4191-0730-6. 3. Antony 11. Joshi, L.R. 1966. "A New Flew. "Agnosticism". Encyclopædia Interpretation of Indian Atheism". Britannica. Retrieved December Philosophy East and West. 16 (3/4): 15, 2011. 189–206. 4. Bauman, in Ancient 12. Kenneth Kramer 1986. World , p. 1. Scriptures: An Introduction to 5. Dasgupta, Surendranath 1992. A Comparative . Paulist Press. history of , pp. 34–. ISBN 978-0-8091-2781-8. Volume 1. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 13. Kristeller, "Humanism" in The 258. ISBN 978-81-208-0412-8. Cambridge History of Renaissance 6. David Christian 2011. Maps of Time: Philosophy, p. 114. An Introduction to Big History. 14. Levy, Sophie Woodrooffe and Dan University of California Press. pp. 2012. "What Does Platform Agnostic 18–. ISBN 978-0-520-95067-2. Mean?". Sparksheet. Archived from 7. Dixon, Thomas 2008. Science and the original on July 14, 2014. Religion: A Very Short Introduction. Retrieved November 15, 2013. Oxford: . 15. Oppy, Graham 2006. Arguing about p. 63. ISBN 978-0-19-929551-7. Gods. Cambridge University Press. 8. Gottlieb, Anthony 2000. The Dream pp. 15 ISBN 978-1-139-45889-4. of Reason: a history of western 16. Os Guinness, The Dust of Death: A philosophy from the Greeks to the Critique of the Establishment and

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