Agnosticism (from the
Greek a, meaning "without", and
gnosticism or
gnosis, meaning "knowledge") is the
philosophical view that the
truth value of certain claims—particularly
metaphysical claims regarding
theology,
afterlife or the existence of
God,
gods,
deities, or even ultimate
reality—is unknown or, depending on the form of agnosticism, inherently unknowable due to the nature of subjective experience.
Agnostics claim either that it is not possible to have
absolute or
certain knowledge of the existence or nonexistence of God or gods; or, alternatively, that while individual certainty
may be possible, they personally have no knowledge. Agnosticism in both cases involves some form of
skepticism. There are, however, some agnostics who believe in a god.
Demographic research services normally list agnostics in the same category as
atheists and
non-religious people,
[1] although this can be misleading depending on the number of
agnostic theists who identify themselves first as agnostics and second as followers of a particular religion.