The Origins of Agnosticism
Victorian Unbelief and the Limits of Knowledge
- Publisher
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Initial publish date
- Dec 2019
- Category
- General, History, Agnosticism
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781421431406
- Publish Date
- Dec 2019
- List Price
- $61.95
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Description
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.
About the author
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.
