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Agnostic AtheismAgnostic atheism is the philosophy that encompasses both atheism and agnosticism. Due to definitional variance, an agnostic atheist does not believe in God or gods and by extension holds true one or more of these statements: - The existence and nonexistence of deities is absolutely or currently unknowable.
- Knowledge of the existence and nonexistence of deities is irrelevant or unimportant.
- Abstention from claims of knowledge of the existence and nonexistence of deities is optimal.
While the concepts of atheism and agnosticism occassionally overlap, they are distinct because atheism is generally defined as a condition of being without theistic beliefs while agnosticism is usually defined as an absence of knowledge (or any claim of knowledge); therefore, an agnostic person may also be either an atheist, a theist, or one who endorses neither position. It is therefore possible to hold a position of "agnostic theism," in which one disavows knowledge of God's existence, but chooses to believe in God in spite of this. However, this is much less common than agnostic atheism, perhaps because Occam's Razor provides a persuasive argument that assuming the nonexistence of a thing is the better "default position" to take when one has no other rational means of taking a position on that thing's existence.
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