Agnosticism In Victorian Literature

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Victorian literature and the mechanistic view of the world
Throughout the Victorian era, the effect of Darwinism and the new science made people question their existence and how the world and nature were related to their religious faith (Altick, 1973, p. 232). The idea of evolutionary progress was not new to the Victorian people, but Darwin’s explanation of it was new. He explained evolution as a process where the strong and the weak of a species are pitted against the environment, and that that will determine which individuals would live and die. This explanation was acknowledged much because of the evidence Darwin provided in form of studies, and it further devastated the mythical past defined by religious faith (Altick, 1973, p. 226-228). The scientific developments and a growing support of the mechanistic view of the world, lead to a growing doubt of religious and moral beliefs (ibid. p. 230). The previous, most widespread understanding of human life, the world, universe and nature collapsed, and people …show more content…

Agnosticism, according to Huxley, “expresses absolute faith in the validity of a principle which is as much ethical as intellectual” (Huxley, 1889, p. 937). The whole essence of agnosticism is that they require evidence of what they ought to believe. They do not, however, claim with absolute certainty that God does not exist, but since there is no evidence of God’s existence, they cannot believe it. Agnosticism has no quarrel with scientific theology. In fact, Huxley claim that there is a mutual respect between the two and their different opinions (ibid. p. 940). Huxley and agnostics do not respect ecclesiasticism because of their inability to understand the agnostic point of view, and because of their argument that it is morally wrong to not believe in certain propositions, no matter what scientific investigation of these propositions find (ibid. p.

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