The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 11 (of 12): Dresden Edition—MiscellanyIngersoll, Robert Green
Religion
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 11 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Miscellany
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
Is there any other knowledge than a scientific knowledge? Are there
several kinds of knowing? Is there such a thing as scientific ignorance?
If a man says, "I know nothing of the unseen world because I have no
knowledge upon that subject," is the fact that he has no knowledge
absolutely irrelevant? Will the Principal of King's College say that
having no knowledge is the reason he knows? When asked to give your
opinion upon any subject, can it be said that your ignorance of that
subject is irrelevant? If this be true, then your knowledge of the
subject is also irrelevant?
Is it possible to put in ordinary English a more perfect absurdity? How
can a man obtain any knowledge of the unseen world? He certainly cannot
obtain it through the medium of the senses. It is not a world that he
can visit. He cannot stand upon its shores, nor can he view them from
the ocean of imagination. The Principal of King's College, however,
insists that these impossibilities are irrelevant.
No person has come back from the unseen world. No authentic message has
been delivered. Through all the centuries, not one whisper has broken
the silence that lies beyond the grave. Countless millions have sought
for some evidence, have listened in vain for some word.
It is most cheerfully admitted that all this does not prove the
non-existence of another world--all this does not demonstrate that death
ends all. But it is the justification of the Agnostic, who candidly
says, "I do not know."
Second.--The Principal of King's College states that the difference
between an Agnostic and a Christian "lies, not in the fact that he has
no knowledge of these things, but that he does not believe the authority
on which they are stated."
Is this a difference in knowledge, or a difference in belief--that is to
say, a difference in credulity?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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