Should I be agnostic about dragons, too?

Question

If we accept that it's impossible to have total knowledge of the existence or non-existence of God - and thus take it upon ourselves to suspend judgement - should we do the same about dragons too? Unicorns? The Loch Ness Monster? Christian piety?

Okay, I'm agnostic myself but what the hell. Let's be critical in our approach to everything, right?

myriad_soul, you watch interesting TV channels.

Answer 1

Agnosticism is a sop to aggressive, usually American, theists who have persuaded themselves and some others that the only way to be an atheist is if you can PROVE that there is no god. But this isn't true, quite apart from the fact that it is philosophically absurd to prove a negative - to be an atheist you merely need to be satisfied in your own mind that there is definitely no god, and this is straightforward enough for most of us because the default position is non-belief. No theist alive today would have "found" God/Allah/Yaweh if another human being hadn't introduced them to the idea early in their life. We learn to believe things as we grow and mature, and some of these may be true and some may be false, but the enquiring mind demands evidence for abstract propositions like fairies, dragons and gods, before they can be satisfied that they are the ONLY answer to the question of their existence. When we have evidence - the fossil record, for instance, indicating the dominance of dinosaurs on Earth for millions of years before humans evolved; or the observations of Darwin regarding the corresponence between a pigeon-breeder's "selection" of pigeons and nature's "selection" of finches in accordance with the rigours of their environment indicating evidence for evolution - then we may start to believe (remember, I'm talking about people who don't just "believe" because a scary relative shouted at them when they were a toddler). It is nevertheless important to remain skeptical and critically-minded, or your brain can become as atrophied as any hardcore theist. I don't believe in dragons and I am not agnostic about them, but like most atheists I would be persuaded as soon as the evidence is placed before me. Similarly, as soon as god starts to make the sort of regular, publicity-seeking appearances he did with such frequency to the people who wrote the Old Testament, I'll be perfectly happy to believe in him. Until then the default position of not believing remains in place.

The short version: no, you should not be agnostic about dragons, and you should not be agnositic about gods either.

Answer 2

Heh, heh.
Nah, not Nessie! I lived near the banks of Loch Ness for some time and never saw anyone allowing their elephants to swim in the deep waters. Had I have done, I'm sure I would have witnessed the same sight as that which was first photographed and called a "monster"! Crivvens!!!

As for Dragons, well! I've seen "Reign of Fire" where there was a Dragon discovered in London who then went on to destroy the world, only to be killed in the end by a group of hardy human survivors, therefore they MUST be real...I saw it on TV!

Unicorns and christian piety? Sorry, they are too ridiculous for me to warrant the possibility of belief in(well, ok...mabe unicorns USED to exist...)


;)

Answer 3

Hi,
I love dragons, have a big collection of them at home all shapes and sizes.

As for our belief in the existence or non-existence of God, dragons, unicorns etc because we can't prove they're there - who cares! - I think you have to be happy with yourself first, the rest is imagination.

I was brought up a Catholic but have long since lapsed as if there was really a God he would not be so cruel. I also think religion should be banned all over the world as it is the biggest cause of wars, terrorism and cruelty on this planet.

So I guess I am saying if you want to believe in dragons, believe in them, believe in whatever you want to if it makes you happy.

Take care,

Muffymermaid

Answer 4

do u consider ur self an intelligent creature? if u do then u should not worry or care what could be true . but be happy w/the what is. the believer's in some kind of diety are simple , yet dependent animal that still feels the need to suckle. oh, i all most forgot. i seriously doubt that myriad soul evn knows what the word means let alone comprehend the inner mean-ings of a T.V.

Answer 5

Perhaps.

You see , Dragons are not totally imaginary after all. Fossils of Archaeopteryx look like dragon. Birds are supposed to have evolved from reptiles.

Some other dinosaur fossils might have been found by our ancestors and yeah , they tried to explain it their way.

Images of flying Snakes are common in many different cultures.
In Indian folk lores a snake who lives up to age of 1000 years, learns to fly and is imagined as one who can change its form n can turn human as its wish n again turn back.

It is seen as mysterious creatures and were supposed to have some magical qualities by many in different cultures. Simply because I guess they were kind of "feathered snakes" , which we do not see exactly anywhere in present era yet there are mysterious remains(fossils) here n there. And people tried to explain their non existent existence.

Human imagination is most extraordinary thing. It has powers to turn imagination into reality. Its matter of faith and will power. Saw Matrix?

Answer 6

I'm an implicit atheist - I may not be able to tell for certain, but that will not stop me from making probablistic internal judgements! (One always has to anyway)

Basically, I base belief on evidence.

Lack of evidence for God means there is a lack of belief in God.

However, I do not assert that She does not exist, as I don't have evidence for that.

But it is not like we have no evidence either way.

Yay for implicit atheism! Same evidence and different conclusions to the agnostics!

Answer 7

The Bible talks about dragon, unicorn, Leviathan and Behemoth. These are all dinosaurs (the word dinosaur was not used until the 1800's). Man and dinosaurs lived together (there are places with both of their footprints in the same rock). Before the flood they lived for hundreds of years. Reptiles keep growing as long as they are alive, and so they become large dinosaurs.

Answer 8

It sounds like a logical approach. But what we must first consider, is whether there was any logic behind the initial assumption that these things exist in the first place...

Answer 9

I'll remind you that dragons have been discovered(fossils anyway). But people dont really consider it that important. It has been on tv a few times however. Around the same time as the dinosaurs.

Answer 10

Good science: Believe what we know to be untill we know better.
Most religions: Believe what I tell you with no proof.
Good philosophy: I can only know what is proven, anything else is speculation.