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Agnosticism is the philosophical view that the truth values of certain claimsparticularly theological claims regarding the existence of God, gods, or deitiesare unknown, inherently unknowable, or incoherent, and therefore, (some agnostics may go as far to say) irrelevant to life. The term and the related agnostic were coined by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869, and are also used to describe those who are unconvinced or noncommittal about the existence of deities as well as other matters of religion. The word agnostic comes from the Greek a (without) and gnosis (knowledge). Agnosticism is not to be confused with a view specifically opposing the doctrine of gnosis and Gnosticismthese are religious concepts that are not generally related to agnosticism.
Agnosticism is distinct from strong atheism (also called positive atheism), which denies the existence of any deities. However, the more general variety of atheism, weak atheism (also called negative atheism, and sometimes neutral atheism), professes only a lack of belief in a god or gods.
Agnostics may claim that it isn't possible to have absolute or certain spiritual knowledge or, alternatively, that while certainty may be possible, they personally have no such knowledge. Agnosticism in both cases involves some form of skepticism towards religious statements.
Some claim that there is nothing distinctive in being an agnostic because even theists do not claim to know God exists, only to believe it; and atheists do not claim to know there is no God, only to not believe in one.
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