fundamental question of philosophy - whether the world is knowable?Can we get objective information about the world using the best of our senses?There is a theoretical doctrine, which answers the question in the negative - agnosticism.It is a philosophical doctrine is typical for representatives of idealism and even some materialists and declares principle unknowable being.
What does it mean to know the world
goal of any knowledge - to reach the truth.Agnostics doubt that it is possible in principle because of the limited human ways of knowing.To get to the truth - means to obtain objective information, which will be a pure knowledge.In practice, it turns out that any phenomenon, fact, observation is subject to the influence of subjective and can be interpreted with a completely opposite points of view.
history and essence of agnosticism
appearance of agnosticism officially refers to 1869, the authorship belongs T.G.Geksli - English naturalist.However, similar ideas can be found in the era of Antiquity, namely the theory of skepticism.From the beginning, the history of knowledge of the world, it was found that the picture of the universe can be interpreted in different ways, and each point of view of the various facts relied on, had some arguments.Thus, agnosticism - a rather ancient doctrine that fundamentally denies the possibility of penetration of the human mind to the essence of things.The most famous representatives of agnosticism - Immanuel Kant and David Hume.
Kant of knowledge
Kant's doctrine of ideas, "things in themselves", which are outside the human experience, characterized by an agnostic character.He believed that these ideas are, in principle, impossible to fully know through our senses.
Agnosticism
Hume Hume also believed that the source of our knowledge - this is an experience and since it can not be put to the test, it is therefore impossible to assess compliance with the data and experience of the objective world.Developing the ideas of Hume, we can conclude that a person does not simply reflect the reality for what it is, and exposes its processing by means of thought, which is the cause of various distortions.Thus, agnosticism - is the study of the influence of the subjectivity of our inner world on the phenomenon under consideration.
Criticism agnosticism
The first thing that should be noted: agnosticism is not an independent scientific concept, but merely expresses a critical attitude to the idea of the knowability of the objective world.Consequently, the agnostic may be representatives of different philosophical trends.Criticized agnosticism primarily advocates of materialism, such as Vladimir Lenin.He believed that the agnosticism - a kind of oscillation between the ideas of materialism and idealism, and therefore, the introduction to the science of the material world insignificant traits.Agnosticism also criticized by representatives of religious philosophy, such as Leo Tolstoy, who believed that this trend in scientific thinking - nothing more than a simple atheism, the denial of the idea of God.
