What is Ignosticism?

[robvalue]

No, it’s not a device for me. To answer a question accurately, I must understand what I’m being asked.

I can, of course, just decide for myself what I’m being asked and give an answer to that question. I can insert what I expect the other person is thinking about, or I can provide a multitude of possible definitions and answer each question differently.

The point is that my answer will vary depending on what someone means. It will vary significantly. I can give a breakdown of the most popular definitions I’m going to face, but even then, individual theists come up their own ideas that never quite conform to anything. I can’t stop them doing that, precisely because the word means nothing to begin with. There is no common theme to the word that isn’t disregarded by at least one popular definition.

How do you determine what a person means on other questions not having to do with God?

For example, if someone asks you, "Do you own a chair?" then how do you determine what they mean by a chair?

Do you ever discuss politics, philosophy, anything where words are not clearly defined?

From my experience, everyone I have ever met means the same thing by "chair". The same goes for many other concepts. There are some words, however, that people vastly disagree about, and it’s those that I require clarification on. The irony is that even after years and years pursuing this question, that 4 part dissection is the best I can do. Most theists don’t even try to define it, in my experience, expecting me to debate myself I suppose!