http://www.inosr.net/inosr-arts-and-management/ Tallulah and Mishka INOSR ARTS AND MANAGEMENT 2(1): 1-7, 2016. ©INOSR PUBLICATIONS International Network Organization for Scientific Research ISSN: 2705-1668

Comparison between Atheism, Agnosticism and Humanism

Tallulah Rebecca and Mishka Joshua

Department of religious studies, Faculty of Theology and Religion University of Pretoria, South Africa Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT This article reviews the Comparison thinking and evidence (rationalism and between Atheism, Agnosticism and empiricism) over acceptance of dogma or Humanism. Atheism is, in the broadest superstition. The words atheist and sense, an absence of belief in the existence agnostic conjure up a number of different of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a perceptions and meanings. When it comes rejection of the belief that any deities exist. to questioning the existence of gods, the Agnosticism is the view that the existence subject is a tricky one that is often of God, of the divine or the supernatural is misunderstood. No matter what their unknown or unknowable. Humanism is a reasons or how they approach the philosophical and ethical stance that question, agnostics and atheists are emphasizes the value and agency of fundamentally different, but also non- human beings, individually and exclusive. collectively, and generally prefers critical Keywords: Comparison, Atheism, Agnosticism, Humanism. INTRODUCTION Atheism is, in the broadest sense, an themselves using the word atheist lived in absence of belief in the existence of the 18th century during the Age of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a Enlightenment. The French Revolution, rejection of the belief that any deities noted for its "unprecedented atheism," exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism witnessed the first major political is specifically the position that there are movement in history to advocate for the no deities. Atheism is contrasted with supremacy of human reason. Arguments theism, which, in its most general form, is for atheism range from philosophical to the belief that at least one deity exists. social and historical approaches. The etymological root for the word Rationales for not believing in deities atheism originated before the 5th century include arguments that there is a lack of BCE from the ancient Greek atheos, empirical evidence, the problem of evil, meaning "without god(s)". In antiquity, it the argument from inconsistent had multiple uses as a pejorative term revelations, the rejection of concepts that applied to those thought to reject the cannot be falsified, and the argument gods worshiped by the larger society, from nonbelief. Nonbelievers contend those who were forsaken by the gods, or that atheism is a more parsimonious those who had no commitment to belief in position than theism and that everyone is the gods. The term denoted a social born without beliefs in deities; [1] category created by orthodox religionists therefore, they argue that the burden of into which those who did not share their proof lies not on the atheist to disprove religious beliefs were placed. The actual the existence of gods but on the theist to term atheism emerged first in the 16th provide a rationale for theism. [2] century. With the spread of freethought, Although some atheists have adopted skeptical inquiry, and subsequent secular philosophies, [3] there is no one increase in criticism of religion, ideology or code of conduct to which all application of the term narrowed in atheists adhere. Since conceptions of scope. The first individuals to identify atheism vary, accurate estimations of

1 http://www.inosr.net/inosr-arts-and-management/ Tallulah and Mishka INOSR ARTS AND MANAGEMENT 2(1): 1-7, 2016. 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 freedom and progress. It views According to these polls, Europe and East humans 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 China 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 European Union (EU) non-religious movements aligned with reported that 20% of the EU population secularism, and today humanism may claimed not to believe in "any sort of refer to a nontheistic life stance centred spirit, God or life force". on human agency and looking to science Agnosticism is the view that the existence rather than revelation from a supernatural of God, of the divine or the supernatural source to understand the world [9]. is unknown or unknowable. Another Brief History of Atheism definition provided is the view that Western atheism has its roots in pre- "human reason is incapable of providing Socratic Greek philosophy, 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 ancient Greece. Pre- belief that God does not exist." The Socratic Atomists such as Democritus English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley 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 believes that which he phenomena, but did not explicitly deny has no scientific grounds for professing the gods' existence. Anaxagoras, 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 sun 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 divinity of the celestial bodies agnosticism about any afterlife; [5] and [10]. During the Early Middle Ages, the Protagoras, 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 agnostics with regard to the existence of atheists, including Muhammad al Warraq anything beyond and behind material (fl. 9th century), Ibn al-Rawandi (827– phenomena or to knowledge of a First 911), Al-Razi (854–925), and Al-Maʿarri Cause or God, [6] and is not a religion. (973–1058). Al-Ma'arri wrote and taught that religion itself was a "fable invented

2 http://www.inosr.net/inosr-arts-and-management/ Tallulah and Mishka INOSR ARTS AND MANAGEMENT 2(1): 1-7, 2016. by the ancients" and that humans were "of other French materialists. John Locke in two sorts: those with brains, but no contrast, though an advocate of tolerance, religion, and those with religion, but no urged authorities not to tolerate atheism, brains." Despite their being relatively believing that the denial of God's prolific writers, little of their work existence would undermine the social survives, mainly being preserved through order and lead to chaos [16]. quotations and excerpts in later works by The philosopher David Hume developed a Muslim apologists attempting to refute skeptical epistemology grounded in them [11]. Other prominent Golden Age empiricism, and Immanuel Kant's scholars have been associated with philosophy has strongly questioned the rationalist thought and atheism as well, very possibility of a metaphysical although the current intellectual knowledge. Both philosophers atmosphere in the Islamic world, and the undermined the metaphysical basis of scant evidence that survives from the era, natural theology and criticized classical make this point a contentious one today arguments for the existence of God [12]. Brief History of Agnosticism [13] wrote that the Reformation had paved Throughout the history of Hinduism there the way for atheists by attacking the has been a strong tradition of philosophic authority of the Catholic Church, which in speculation and skepticism [17]. The Rig turn "quietly inspired other thinkers to Veda takes an agnostic view on the attack the authority of the new Protestant fundamental question of how the universe churches". Deism gained influence in and the gods were created. Nasadiya France, Prussia, and England. The Sukta (Creation Hymn) in the tenth philosopher Baruch Spinoza was chapter of the Rig Veda says: "probably the first well known 'semi- But, after all, who knows, atheist' to announce himself in a Christian and who can say whence it land in the modern era" according to [14]. all came, and how creation [15] believed that natural laws explained happened? The gods the workings of the universe. In 1661 he themselves are later than published his Short Treatise on God. creation, so who knows Criticism of Christianity became truly whence it has arisen? increasingly frequent in the 17th and 18th Whence all creation had its centuries, especially in France and origin, He, whether he England, where there appears to have fashioned it or whether he been a religious malaise, according to did not, He, who surveys it contemporary sources. Some Protestant all from highest heaven, He thinkers, such as Thomas Hobbes, knows - or maybe even he espoused a materialist philosophy and does not know. skepticism toward supernatural [18] presented arguments attempting to occurrences, while Spinoza rejected rationally prove the existence of God. The divine providence in favor of a skeptical empiricism of David Hume, the panentheistic naturalism. By the late 17th antinomies of Immanuel Kant, and the century, deism came to be openly existential philosophy of Søren espoused by intellectuals such as John Kierkegaard convinced many later Toland who coined the term "pantheist". philosophers to abandon these attempts, The first known explicit atheist was the regarding it impossible to construct any German critic of religion Matthias unassailable proof for the existence or Knutzen in his three writings of 1674. He non-existence of God. was followed by two other explicit atheist Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) declared writers, the Polish ex-Jesuit philosopher Why I Am Not a Christian in 1927, a Kazimierz Łyszczyński and in the 1720s classic statement of agnosticism. He calls by the French priest Jean Meslier. In the upon his readers to "stand on their own course of the 18th century, other openly two feet and look fair and square at the atheistic thinkers followed, such as Baron world with a fearless attitude and a free d'Holbach, Jacques-André Naigeon, and intelligence".

3 http://www.inosr.net/inosr-arts-and-management/ Tallulah and Mishka INOSR ARTS AND MANAGEMENT 2(1): 1-7, 2016. In 1939, Russell gave a lecture on the one's reason tends to lead them in existence and nature of God, in which he the wrong direction. characterized himself as an atheist. He 2. Beyond what can be measured with said: scientific tools, there are other The existence and nature of types of perception, such as one's God is a subject of which I ability know another human can discuss only half. If one through loving. One's loves cannot arrives at a negative be dissected and logged in a conclusion concerning the scientific journal, but we know first part of the question, them far better than we know the the second part of the surface of the sun. They show us question does not arise; and an undefinable reality that is my position, as you may nevertheless intimate and have gathered, is a negative personal, and they reveal qualities one on this matter. lovelier and truer than detached However, later in the same lecture, facts can provide. discussing modern non-anthropomorphic 3. To be religious, in the Christian concepts of God, Russell states: sense, is to live for the Whole of That sort of God is, I think, Reality (God) rather than for a not one that can actually be small part (gods). Only by treating disproved, as I think the this Whole of Reality as a person— omnipotent and benevolent good and true and perfect—rather creator can. than an impersonal force, can we Bell believed that there were two other come closer to the Truth. An ways that humans could perceive and ultimate Person can be loved, but a interact with the world. Artistic cosmic force cannot. A scientist experience was how one expressed can only discover peripheral meaning through speaking, writing, truths, but a lover is able to get at painting, gesturing any sort of the Truth. communication which shared insight into 4. There are many reasons to believe a human's inner reality. Mystical in God but they are not sufficient experience was how one could "read" for an agnostic to become a theist. people and harmonize with them, being It is not enough to believe in an what we commonly call love [19]. In ancient holy book, even though summary, man was a scientist, artist, and when it is accurately analyzed lover. Without exercising all three, a without bias, it proves to be more person became "lopsided." Bell considered trustworthy and admirable than a humanist to be a person who cannot what we are taught in school. rightly ignore the other ways of knowing Neither is it enough to realize how [20]. However, humanism, like probable it is that a personal God agnosticism, was also temporal, and would have to show human beings would eventually lead to either scientific how to live, considering they have materialism or theism. He lays out the so much trouble on their own. Nor following thesis: is it enough to believe for the 1. Truth cannot be discovered by reason that, throughout history, reasoning on the evidence of millions of people have arrived at scientific data alone. Modern this Wholeness of Reality only peoples' dissatisfaction with life is through religious experience. The the result of depending on such aforementioned reasons may warm incomplete data. Our ability to one toward religion, but they fall reason is not a way to discover short of convincing. However, if Truth but rather a way to organize one presupposes that God is in our knowledge and experiences fact a knowable, loving person, as somewhat sensibly. Without a full, an experiment, and then lives human perception of the world, according that religion, he or she

4 http://www.inosr.net/inosr-arts-and-management/ Tallulah and Mishka INOSR ARTS AND MANAGEMENT 2(1): 1-7, 2016. will suddenly come face to face Yet in seeking to restrict the meaning of with experiences previously humanitas to literary education this way, unknown. One's life becomes full, Gellius was not advocating a retreat from meaningful, and fearless in the political engagement into some ivory face of death. It does not defy tower, though it might look like that to us reason but exceeds it. [22]. He himself was involved in public 5. Because God has been experienced affairs. According to legal historian through love, the orders of prayer, Richard Bauman, Gellius was a judge as fellowship, and devotion now well as a grammarian and was an active matter. They create order within participant the great contemporary debate one's life, continually renewing the on harsh punishments that accompanied "missing piece" that had previously the legal reforms of Antoninus Pius (one felt lost. They empower one to be these reforms, for example, was that a compassionate and humble, not prisoner was not to be treated as guilty small-minded or arrogant. before being tried). "By assigning pride of 6. No truth should be denied place to Paideia in his comment on the outright, but all should be etymology of humanitas, Gellius implies questioned. Science reveals an that the trained mind is best equipped to ever-growing vision of our handle the problems troubling society universe that should not be In 1941, the American Humanist discounted due to bias toward Association was organised. Noted older understandings. Reason is to members of The AHA included Isaac be trusted and cultivated. To Asimov, who was the president from 1985 believe in God is not to forego until his death in 1992, and writer Kurt reason or to deny scientific facts, Vonnegut, who followed as honorary but to step into the unknown and president until his death in 2007. Gore discover the fullness of life. Vidal became honorary president in 2009. Brief History of Humanism Robert Buckman was the head of the The word "humanism" is ultimately association in Canada, and is now an derived from the Latin concept honorary president [23]. humanitas. It entered English in the After World War II, three prominent nineteenth century. However, historians Humanists became the first directors of agree that the concept predates the label major divisions of the United Nations: invented to describe it, encompassing the Julian Huxley of UNESCO, Brock Chisholm various meanings ascribed to humanitas, of the World Health Organization, and which included both benevolence toward John Boyd-Orr of the Food and Agriculture one's fellow humans and the values Organization. imparted by bonae litterae or humane In 2004, American Humanist Association, learning (literally "good letters" along with other groups representing [21] says that in his day humanitas is agnostics, atheists, and other commonly used as a synonym for freethinkers, joined to create the Secular philanthropy or kindness and Coalition for America which advocates in benevolence toward one's fellow human Washington, D.C., for separation of beings. Gellius maintains that this church and state and nationally for the common usage is wrong, and that model greater acceptance of nontheistic writers of Latin, such as Cicero and Americans [24]. The Executive Director of others, used the word only to mean what Secular Coalition for America is Larry T. we might call "humane" or "polite" Decker. learning, or the Greek equivalent Paideia. DISCUSION AND CONCLUSION The words atheist and agnostic conjure No matter what their reasons or how they up a number of different perceptions and approach the question, agnostics and meanings. When it comes to questioning atheists are fundamentally different, but the existence of gods, the subject is a also non-exclusive. Many people who tricky one that is often misunderstood. adopt the label of agnostic

5 http://www.inosr.net/inosr-arts-and-management/ Tallulah and Mishka INOSR ARTS AND MANAGEMENT 2(1): 1-7, 2016. simultaneously reject the label of atheist, specifically, about what you don't know. even if it technically applies to them. In An atheist doesn't believe in any gods. An addition, there's a common agnostic doesn't know if any gods exist or misconception that agnosticism is not. These can be the exact same person, somehow a more ―reasonable‖ position but need not be. In the end, the fact of the while atheism is more ―dogmatic,‖ matter is that a person is not faced with ultimately indistinguishable from theism the necessity of only being either an except in the details. This is not a valid atheist or an agnostic. Not only can a argument because it misrepresents or person be both, but it is, in fact, common misunderstands everything involved: for people to be both agnostics and atheism, theism, agnosticism, and even atheists or agnostics and theists. An the nature of belief itself. The difference agnostic atheist won’t claim to know for between being an atheist and an agnostic sure that nothing warranting the label should be pretty clear and easy to ―god‖ exists or that such cannot exist. remember. Atheism is about belief or, And yet, they also don’t actively believe specifically, what you don't believe. that such an entity does indeed exist. Agnosticism is about knowledge or, REFERENCES 1. A. C. Crombie, Historians and the 10. Huxley, Henrietta A. Scientific Revolution, p. 456 2004. Aphorisms and in Science, Art and Nature in Reflections (reprint ed.). Kessinger Medieval and Modern Publishing. pp. 41–42. ISBN 978-1- Thought (1996). 4191-0730-6. 2. Alleby, Brad 2003. 11. Joshi, L.R. 1966. "A New "Humanism". Encyclopedia of Interpretation of Indian Atheism". Science & Religion. 1 (2nd ed). Philosophy East and West. 16 (3/4): Macmillan Reference USA. pp. 426– 189–206. 28. ISBN 0-02-865705-5. 12. Kenneth Kramer 1986. World 3. Antony Scriptures: An Introduction to Flew. "Agnosticism". Encyclopædia Comparative Religions. Paulist Press. Britannica. Retrieved December pp. 34–. ISBN 978-0-8091-2781-8. 15, 2011. 13. Kristeller, "Humanism" in The 4. Bauman, Human Rights in Ancient Cambridge History of Renaissance Rome, p. 1. Philosophy, p. 114. 5. Dasgupta, Surendranath 1992. A 14. Levy, Sophie Woodrooffe and Dan history of Indian philosophy, 2012. "What Does Platform Agnostic Volume 1. Motilal Banarsidass. p. Mean?". Sparksheet. Archived from 258. ISBN 978-81-208-0412-8. the original on July 14, 2014. 6. David Christian 2011. Maps of Time: Retrieved November 15, 2013. An Introduction to Big History. 15. Oppy, Graham 2006. Arguing about University of California Press. pp. Gods. Cambridge University Press. 18–. ISBN 978-0-520-95067-2. pp. 15 ISBN 978-1-139-45889-4. 7. Dixon, Thomas 2008. Science and 16. Os Guinness, The Dust of Death: A Religion: A Very Short Introduction. Critique of the Establishment and Oxford: Oxford University Press. the Counter Culture and the p. 63. ISBN 978-0-19-929551-7. Proposal for a Third Way(Intervarsity 8. Gottlieb, Anthony 2000. The Dream Press, 1973) p. 5. of Reason: a history of western 17. Pandian 1996. India, that is, sidd. philosophy from the Greeks to the Allied Publishers. p. 64. ISBN 978-81- Renaissance. New York: W. W. Norton 7023-561-3. & Company. pp. 410–11. 18. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and 9. Hume, David, "An Enquiry Charles A. Moore. A Sourcebook in Concerning Human Understanding" Indian Philosophy. (Princeton (2008) University Press: 1957, Twelfth

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