
French agnostics
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. Another definition provided 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."The English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley coined the word agnostic in 1869, and said "It simply means that a man shall not say he knows or believes that which he has no scientific grounds for professing to know or believe." 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".
2 episodes
Episodes in this category also belong to the following categories:
Pierre-Simon Laplace
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great French mathematician who tackled questions on the stability of the Solar System and planet rotation and devised the basis for metrication
8 April 2021
Featuring: Marcus du Sautoy, Timothy Gowers, Colva Roney-Dougal
HistoryFellows of the American Academy of Arts and SciencesFrench physicistsLinear algebraistsFellows of the Royal SocietyGrand Officers of the Legion of HonourMembers of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and SciencesFrench agnosticsFrench fluid dynamicists, French mathematicians, French probability theoristsMembers of the Académie Française18th-century French mathematiciansMembers of the Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesMembers of the French Academy of SciencesFrench deistsDeterministsThe Curies
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the scientific achievements of the Curie family, Marie and Pierre and their daughter Irene Joliot-Curie, all three of whom won Nobel Prizes.
26 March 2015
Featuring: Patricia Fara, Robert Fox, Steven T Bramwell
HistoryFrench atheistsNobel laureates in PhysicsFrench Nobel laureatesFormer Roman CatholicsLegion of Honour refusalsBurials at the Panthéon, ParisExperimental physicistsCorresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of SciencesNaturalized citizens of FranceNobel laureates in ChemistryFrench women physicistsWomen Nobel laureatesAcademic staff of the University of ParisCorresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917–1925)Honorary members of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Recipients of the Matteucci MedalDiscoverers of chemical elementsFrench agnostics19th-century French chemistsUniversity of Paris alumniWomen inventorsWomen nuclear physicists