Ignosticism

2025-07-20T13:03:55Z

2003:6:31E6:25AD:ACC4:36EE:CFAC:77FF: /* See also */

{{Short description|Idea that the question of the existence of God is meaningless}}
{{God |isms}}
'''Ignosticism''' or '''igtheism''' is the idea that the question of the [[existence of God]] is meaningless because the word "[[God]]" has no coherent and unambiguous definition.

==Terminology==
The term ''ignosticism'' was coined in 1964 by [[Sherwin Wine]], a former [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] [[rabbi]] and a founding figure of [[Humanistic Judaism]].

==Distinction from theological noncognitivism==
Ignosticism and [[theological noncognitivism]] are similar although whereas the ignostic says "every theological position assumes too much about the concept of God",<ref>{{harvnb|Lindsay|2015|page=73}}</ref> the theological noncognitivist claims to have no concept whatever to label as "a concept of God",<ref>Conifer, ''Theological Noncognitivism'': "Theological noncognitivism is usually taken to be the view that the sentence 'God exists' is cognitively meaningless."</ref> but the relationship of ignosticism to other nontheistic views is less clear. While [[Paul Kurtz]] finds the view to be compatible with both [[weak atheism]] and agnosticism,<ref>Kurtz, ''New Skepticism'', 220: "Both [atheism and agnosticism] are consistent with igtheism, which finds the belief in a metaphysical, transcendent being basically incoherent and unintelligible."</ref> other philosophers{{Who|date=March 2018}} consider ignosticism to be distinct.

==See also==
* [[Apatheism]]
* [[Apophatic theology]]
* [[Atheism]]
* [[Conceptions of God]]
* [[Epistemology]]
* [[Ietsism]]
* [[Loki's Wager]]
* [[Pantheism]]
* [[Scientific method]]
* [[Verificationism]]
* [[Agnosticism]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{Cite journal|last=Conifer |first=Steven J. |title=Theological Noncognitivism Examined |journal=The Interlocutor |volume=4 |date=June 2002 |url=http://www.sewanee.edu/philosophy/Journal/Archives/2002/Conifer.htm |access-date=24 May 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040123040516/http://www.sewanee.edu/philosophy/Journal/Archives/2002/Conifer.htm |archive-date=January 23, 2004 }}
* {{cite web |last=Drange |first=Theodore |title=Atheism, Agnosticism, Noncognitivism |url=http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theodore_drange/definition.html |year=1998 |access-date=2007-03-26 |publisher=[[Internet Infidels]] }}
* {{cite book |last=Kurtz |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Kurtz |title=The New Skepticism: Inquiry and Reliable Knowledge |year=1992 |location=[[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]] |publisher=[[Prometheus Books]] |isbn=0-87975-766-3 }}
* {{cite book |last=Lindsay |first=James A. |author-link=James A. Lindsay |date=2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=chKeCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT73 |title=Everybody is Wrong About God |publisher=Pitchstone Publishing |isbn=978-1-63431-036-9}}
* {{Cite news |last=Rauch |first=Jonathan |title=Let It Be |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |volume=291 |issue=4 |year=2003 |url=http://www.jonathanrauch.com/jrauch_articles/apatheism_beyond_religion/index.html |access-date=2007-05-24 }}
* {{cite news |last=Spiegel |first=Irving |title=Jewish 'Ignostic' Stirs Convention; Dropping of 'God' in Service Deplored and Condoned |work=[[New York Times]] |page=62 |date=1965-06-20 }}

==External links==
* {{wiktionary-inline}}

{{irreligion}}
{{Belief systems}}

[[Category:Agnosticism]]
[[Category:Criticism of religion]]
[[Category:20th-century neologisms]]
[[Category:Philosophy of religion]]

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Ignosticism