AGNOSTICISM, is a form of skepticism that
maintains that the human mind lacks the information or rational
capacity to make judgments about ultimate reality, and in
particular about the existence or nature of God. The word was
coined by T.H. Huxley about 1869 from the Greek negative prefix
a and the verb gignoskein (to know). Unlike atheism,
agnosticism does not deny the reality of God or offer any
alternative to theism. It suspends judgment, maintaining that man
does not know.
不可知论是怀疑论的一种形式，认为人类的头脑缺乏对终极实现进行判断的信息或理性能力，尤其是关于自然或上帝的存在。大约在1869年T.H.
赫胥黎首次创造了源自希腊语否定前缀a以及动词gignoskein（知道）的这个词。与无神论不同，不可知论并不否认上帝的真实性，也不为有神论提供任何替代物。它暂停了判断，认为人无法知道。
Actually the agnostic tradition precedes by many centuries
the origin of the word. Some of the pre-Socratic philosophers, as
well a
s the Sophists in the time of Plato, raised the basic agnostic
questions. The ancient Skeptics—including especially Pyrrho (c.
360—c. 270 B.C.) and Sextus Empiricus (d3 century A.D.) denied the
possibility of any certain knowledge and formulated most of the
specific doubts and questions that modern agnostics were to
use.
事实上，不可知论的传统要早于该词许多世纪。一些苏格拉底以前的哲学家，以及柏拉图时代的诡辩家，已提出了基本的不可知论的问题。古代的怀疑论者---尤其是皮洛（公元360年至公元前270年）和塞克斯都·恩披里柯（公元3世纪）否认任何确定知识的可能性，并论证了现代不可知论者使用的大多数特定的疑问和问题。
Modern agnosticism became a self-conscious movement in the
18th and 19th centuries. David Hume, the
great Scottish skeptic, seeking to trace all knowledge to sense
IMRESSIONS, denied the validity of any metaphysics. In particular
he rejected the adequacy of evidence for belief in God, miracles,
and immortality. Consistent with his method, Hume avoided any claim
to prove that there is no God. Proving the negative case would
require as much evidence as proving the positive case. Apparently
with tongue in cheek, Hume suggested that faith might be maintained
independently of empirical evidence. Hume’s own advice was to
suspend judgment on all beliefs that could not be empirically
grounded. But the obvious effect of his argument upon such beliefs
was negative, insofar as he insisted that they were not and could
not be verified.
在18和19世纪，现代不可知论已成为了一种自觉运动。大卫·休谟，著名的苏格兰怀疑论者，试图将所有知识都归结为感觉印象，否认任何形而上学的可能性。尤其是，他排斥对上帝、奇迹以及不朽信仰的充足证据。用相同的方法，休谟也避免了任何证明上帝不存在的主张。证明否定的案例与证明肯定的案例一样都需要同样多的证据。这显然是在开玩笑，休谟认为信念可独立于经验的证据而保持。休谟自己的建议是暂停对所有那些不能以经验为基础的信仰进行判断。但他对这些信仰论述的影响明显是负面的，因为在他坚持的范围内，它们不是，而且不可能被证实。
19th century Agnosticism.
England in the latter half of the 19th century was the
scene of great agnostic crusade. Herbert Spencer, the influential
philosopher of evolution, developed an elaborate metaphysic,
contrary to Hume’s skepticism. Spencer, however, rejected the
traditional doctrines of God and referred everything in the last
analysis to “the Unknowable.” He held that “the power which the
Universe manifests to us is utterly inscrutable” (First
Principles, 1862). Although he maintained a kind of religious
piety toward the Unknowable, more radical agnostics were quick to
point out that there was little point in talking about any power
that is completely unknowable.
19世纪的不可知论。19世纪后半叶的英格兰是杰出的不可知论者运动的事发地。赫伯特·斯宾塞，有影响力的进化论哲学家，发展了一种与休谟怀疑论不同的，复杂的形而上学。然而，斯宾塞拒绝了有关上帝的传统学说，说到底将一切都归因于“不可知”。他认为“宇宙展现给我们的力量完全是不可理解的”。（《第一原理》，1862年）。尽管他对不可知保持着一种宗教的虔诚，但更激进的不可知论者很快就指出，谈论任何完全不可知的力量没有什么意义。
Thus the time was ripe for Huxley to invent the word
“agnosticism” and to argue its case. First introducing the word in
conversations, then developing its implications in writings, Huxley
argued strenuously against accepting any beliefs without adequate
evidence. Huxley insisted that his position was not a dogmatic
denial of any belief. In fact, his “scientific Naturalism” was
avowedly open to the possibility that an omnipresent, practically
omniscient intellect might exert indefinably great power within the
universe. But he saw no evidence to verify such a conjecture, so he
answered all ultimate questions with the confession of ignorance.
To the assertions of conventional believers he opposed the agnostic
motto, “not proven.”
因此，对赫胥黎来说，发明“不可知论”一词并为其提出理由的时机已经成熟。首先在谈话中引入了该词，然后在写作中发展了它的含义，赫胥黎坚称他的立场不是对任何信仰的怀疑论的否认。事实上，他的“科学自然主义”公然承认了一种无处不在的可能性，实际上，无所不知的智慧可能在宇宙中发挥着无法定义的巨大力量。但他没有看到证明这种猜想的任何证据，所以他用承认无知来回答了所有终极问题。对于普通信徒的断言，他反对不可知论者的座右铭是“证据不足”。
Major Roots. The agnostic case has two
major roots. The first is epistemological, involving an appeal to
science as the model of all knowledge. Here the standard is an
intellectual method that proceeds by the examination of evidence
and suspends judgment on all propositions for which adequate
evidence is lacking.
主要根源。不可知论的情况有两个主要根源。第一是认识论的，包括呼吁将科学作为所有知识的模型。这里的标准是一种理智的方法，以至于要从检验证据开始，并对所有缺乏充分证据的命题暂停判断。
The second root is moral. The agnostic, who in his moral
judgments is often as passionate as any believer, considers it
immoral to hold convictions that are not adequately supported by
evidence. Huxley, insisting that his case was “as much ethical as
intellectual,” said: “it is wrong for a man to say that he is
certain of the objective truth of any proposition unless he can
produce evidence which logically justifies that certainty”
(Essays upon
Controverted Questions, 1892). W.K. Clifford, one of
the most militant of the agnostics, wrote: “It is wrong always,
everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient
evidence” (“The Ethics of Belief,” 1879). Such a belief, even if it
should be true, is “sinful,” said Clifford.
第二个根源是道德上的。不可知论者，在其道德判断上通常与任何信徒一样狂热，认为持有无充分证据支持的信念是不道德的。赫胥黎坚信，他的案子既“符合伦理，也符合智慧”，他说：“一个人除非他能拿出证据，从逻辑上证明那种确定性，否则说他确信任何命题的客观真理就是错误的”（《有关争议问题的论文》，1879年）。.
W.K克利福德，一位不可知论最激进的分子，写道：“无论何时，何地以及何人，在没有充分证据的情况下相信任何事都是错误的”（“信仰的伦理学”，1879年）。克利福德说，这样一种信仰，即使它应该是真的，也是“罪恶的”。
In its moral aspects agnosticism tends to depart from its
original position of suspended judgment. On metaphysical questions
it moves from a tentative position (“we deny nothing; we simply say
we do not know”) to what amounts to a practical negation (“we do
not know; but it is immoral to believe”). In its ethical judgments
it abandons the skepticism of Hume for the moral certainty that
Huxley called an “absolute faith” in the agnostic
principle.
在其道德方面，不可知论试图背离它暂不判断的原先立场。在形而上学的问题上，它偏离了试探性的立场（“我们不否认任何事；我们只是说我们不知道）相当于实际的否定（“我们不知道；但相信是不道德的”）。在其伦理的判断中，它放弃了休谟对道德确定性的怀疑论，以至于赫胥黎称其为不可知论原则中的“绝对信念”。
William James, the American psychologist and philosopher,
pointed out this discrepancy between the tentative theoretical
stance of agnosticism and its practical certitude. He held that the
agnostic moral faith rested upon a passional rather than a
scientific decision. Challenging Clifford’s position, James argued
for a willingness to risk error rather than to give up the
aspiration for truth. And he held that religious belief was more
akin to the moral decision than to scientific inquiry (The Will
to Believe, 1897).
美国心理学家和哲学家，威廉·詹姆斯指出了在不可知论的试探性理论立场与它的实际确定性之间的这种差异。他认为，不可知论的道德信念取决于热情，而非科学的决定。为挑战克利福德的地位，詹姆斯支持甘冒风险，而不是放弃对真理的渴望。而且他认为，宗教信仰更类似于道德决定，而不是科学探究（《信仰的意志》，1897年）。
The 20th Century. In the
20th century, agnosticism remains a widely held
position. Its adherents have less fervor than its 19th
century partisans, but agnosticism is more diffused. Some of its
skepticism has been taken up by logical positivism, which even more
emphatically denies the possibility of metaphysical knowledge. But
whereas agnosticism holds that the metaphysical questions are real,
even though we cannot know the answers, logical positivism
maintains that they are pseudo-questions, which analysis shows to
be meaningless.
20世纪。在20世纪，不可知论依然是一种普遍持有的立场。其追随者虽然没有19世纪的坚定支持者那么狂热，但不可知论传播得却更为广泛。它的一些怀疑态度已被逻辑实主义所接采纳，甚至更加强调否认形而上学知识的可能性。但不可知论认为，形而上学的问题是实际存在的，虽然我们不知道答案，而逻辑实证主义认为，它们都是伪问题，分析表明它们是无意义的。
Meanwhile, religious thinkers often incorporate a
considerable element of agnosticism within their thought. They are
less likely than in many periods of the past to take science as a
model for religious thought and verification. They are more than
many of their forebears in elaborating metaphysical systems. And
they draw upon those elements of the religious traditions that
always have insisted that the believer, confronting the divine
mystery, will be both wise and reverent if he frequently says “I do
not know,” even as he makes his confession of faith and his
commitment.
与此同时，宗教思想者常常在他们的思想中加入相当多的不可知论的元素。但比起过去的许多时期他们不太可能将科学作为一种宗教思想和验证的模式。在阐释形而上学体系时，他们比他们的祖先更为谦逊。而且他们利用了宗教传统的那些元素，以至于一直坚持认为，信徒在面对神圣的神秘时，如果他经常说“我不知道”，既明智又虔诚，即使他承认他的忠诚和承诺。
ROGER L. SHINN, Union
Theological Seminary
罗杰
L. 希恩，联合神学院
2022年5月14日译
（译者注：该词条位列《大美国百科全书》1985年版，第1卷，第337页）
