Nihilism & Agnosticism

[Gun]

The question is simple; Can Nihilism & Agnosticism coexist? The answer however might be difficult.

Nihilism as a philosophical position argues that the world, and especially human existence, is without objective meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, or essential value. Nihilists generally believe all of the following: God does not exist, traditional morality is false, and secular ethics are impossible; therefore, life has no meaning, and no action is preferable to any other.

Agnosticism is the philosophical view that the truth or falsity of certain claims—particularly theological claims regarding the existence of God or gods—is unknown, unknowable, or incoherent. Some agnostics infer from this that these claims are irrelevant to life.

I am for some time now both a nihilist and a agnostic (though tending to Existentialism). The question that has been going through my mind is that of whether or not those two can coexist without being a hypocrit. Without being a person who stays in the middle to afraid to look around and take a look at things from a different angle. Without being a person to afraid to leave its own cave.

Nihilism in short says nothing has meaning. Agnosticism says the meaning or existence of God is unknown and perhaps unknowable or even irrelevant. In my eyes those can not coexist.

What do you think?

[Dead & Grateful]

Obviously your definitions answer the question itself. They cannot coexist. While a Nihilist is more like an Atheist in saying there is no meaning in anything, Agnostics are content with the idea that discovering the existence or non-existence of a meaning is a joke.

I don't think you can be both at the same time. In many ways, Nihilism and Atheism are nothing like Agnosticism.

[Yuki-onna]

Nihilism claims nothing has any meaning, agnostism claims you can't prove any of the truth of things that seem to make our lives meaningful.

Two colors of the rainbow, coexistant, but not the same. That's what I got out of it.

[Jin]

I would say that being a nihilist and an agnostic is no different than being a theist and an agnostic.

You can believe in a power but also believe it to be impossible to prove/know for sure, just as you can believe nothing has purpose, while at the same time believing that there is absolutely no way to prove your view or to be certain about it. Really, it depends on how you define yourself as an agnostic.

[Dead & Grateful]

Originally Posted by Jintatsu

I would say that being a nihilist and an agnostic is no different than being a theist and an agnostic.

You can believe in a power but also believe it to be impossible to prove/know for sure, just as you can believe nothing has purpose, while at the same time believing that there is absolutely no way to prove your view or to be certain about it. Really, it depends on how you define yourself as an agnostic.

I have to disagree with this. I don't think you can be a theist and an agnostic at the same time. A monotheist (for an example, let's say a Christian) believes in a power but cannot prove it. That's any monotheist. The difference between an agnostic and a theist is the belief. You cannot believe in a power and call yourself an agnostic at the same time. A lot of people mistakenly believe (yeah, I've heard this plenty of times) that an agnostic is someone who believes but doesn't go to church and/or doesn't know why. That's not true.

The definition of agnosticism is that you do not choose to believe one way or the other. People sometimes try to bend the definition to better describe themselves, but they're not really agnostic. As soon as you form a belief, you are lumped into a different group other than agnosticism, most likely being atheism or theism.

[Jin]

That is true, however most agnostics usually have a leaning one way or another. It's difficult to be completely neutral. Myself for example am of the leaning that god probably doesn't exist, but if it turns out he/she/it does exist, it really wouldn't surprise me at all. Do I believe it's impossible to determine, and sometimes completely pointless to attempt? Yes.

[Dead & Grateful]

Ok, that makes sense. I'm the same way, but the difference between us and atheists (or at least me and an atheist) is that I don't believe there isn't a power. Maybe I just misundertood your earlier post. "Believe" is a tricky word. I don't put faith in either the existence or nonexistence of a god, which makes me agnostic. To have faith makes us something else.