"Agnostic" -- a-gnosis -- means someone without knowledge of god(s). The
weak form of agnosticism is held by one who believes they *do not* have
knowledge of any possible god(s). The strong form is held by one who holds
the positive view that they *cannot* know whether there is a god or gods.
The strong form of agnosticism implies a certain view of human knowledge.
Essentially it implies that questions of the existence of gods lies
definitely beyond human knowledge. I suspect that many people are attracted
to this position because they equate knowledge with absolute,
non-contextual certainly. I think that equation is thoroughly wrong.
If you have a reasonable standard of knowledge, or of rational belief, then
you can look at the arguments and the evidence and conclude that there is
no reason to believe in a god. That lack of belief, that a-theism, makes
you an atheist. The agnostic, by contrast, has a standard of knowledge such
that they may think they can never know or rationally come to a conclusion
on the issue.
Max
Max More, Ph.D.
more@extropy.org
Updated website (Jan 98): http://www.primenet.com/~maxmore
President, Extropy Institute: exi-info@extropy.org, http://www.extropy.org