On Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:58:05 +0200, andrel wrote:

> On 11-7-2009 9:21, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:38:32 +0200, andrel wrote:
>> 
>>> An agnost is someone who thinks that he *can* not know the answer to
>>> fundamental questions like the existence of one or more Gods. That is
>>> fundamentally different from someone who merely does not know, or
>>> doesn't care.
>> 
>> Well, yes and no.  It may be that we cannot know the answer to these
>> questions, but the acknowledgment that one doesn't know (or doesn't
>> care) is a type of manifestation of the same line of thinking, at least
>> from my point of view.
> 
> I think the difference is significant. "I don't know" implies that you
> can still look for an answer, whereas "I can't know" means that the
> search ended. 

I don't think that necessarily follows.  Just because one can't know 
something doesn't necessarily mean the search has ended - some people are 
just that stubborn. ;-)

> The former means that you are open to suggestions from
> others who claim that they know more, whereas the latter is a sound
> basis to build your own ethics.

Perhaps, I'll have to think on that some more.

> I don't like the "I don't care".

Maybe, but that doesn't mean that there aren't people who have come to 
that conclusion, either.

Jim

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