One Claiming Uncertainty of All Knowledge

One claiming uncertainty of all knowledge crossword clue. TWO SPEED crossword question in The Courier-Mail on Monday, 19 Jun 2017. 8 letters

The cryptic clue: Seen coasting but hard to convince

Answer: AGNOSTIC

Agnosticism is the view that the existence of God or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable.

According to the philosopher William L. Rowe, “agnosticism is the view that human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist”. Agnosticism is a doctrine or set of tenets rather than a religion.

English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley coined the word “agnostic” in 1869. Earlier thinkers, however, had written works that promoted agnostic points of view, such as Sanjaya Belatthaputta, a 5th-century BCE Indian philosopher who expressed agnosticism about any afterlife; and Protagoras, a 5th-century BCE Greek philosopher who expressed agnosticism about the existence of “the gods”. The Nasadiya Sukta in the Rigveda is agnostic about the origin of the universe.