The Origins of Agnosticism

Victorian Unbelief and the Limits of Knowledge
Erscheinungsjahr 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4214-3140-6
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press

Buch, Englisch, 264 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 434 g

Originally published in 1987. The Origins of Agnosticism provides a reinterpretation of agnosticism and its relationship to science. Professor Lightman examines the epistemological basis of agnostics' learned ignorance, studying their core claim that "God is unknowable." To address this question, he reconstructs the theory of knowledge posited by Thomas Henry Huxley and his network of agnostics. In doing so, Lightman argues that agnosticism was constructed on an epistemological foundation laid by Christian thought. In addition to undermining the continuity in the intellectual history of religious thought, Lightman exposes the religious origins of agnosticism.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lightman, Bernard

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Alternative Glaubensformen Agnostizismus, Atheismus, Säkularer Humanismus

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction. The Power of Modern Agnosticism
Chapter 1. The Agnostic Conundrum
Chapter 2. Mansel and the Kantian Tradition
Chapter 3. Herbert Spencer and the Worship of the Unknowable
Chapter 4. Disillusionment with and Attack on Orthodoxy
Chapter 5. Religion, Theology, and the Church Agnostic
Chapter 6. The New Natural Theology and the Holy Trinity of Agnosticism
Conclusion. The Tragedy of Agnosticism
Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Lightman, Bernard
Bernard Lightman is a professor of the history of science at York University. He specializes in the relationship between science and unbelief in the Victorian era, and he is a former president of the History of Science Society.