agnostic--I always like to be a little pedantic with philistines--now I
shall add that, more than this, I am a dogmatophagist.

My first impulse in the presence of a dogma, whether it be political,
moral, or religious, is to cast about for the best way to masticate,
digest, and dispose of it.

The peril in an inordinate appetite for dogma lies in the probability of
making too severe a drain upon the gastric juices, and so becoming
dyspeptic for the rest of one's life.

In this respect, my inclination exceeds my prudence. I have an incurable
dogmatophagy.

Ignoramus, Ignorabimus

Such are the words of the psychologist, DuBois-Reymond, in one of his
well-known lectures. The agnostic attitude is the most seemly that it is
possible to take. Nowadays, not only have all religious ideas been
upset, but so too has everything which until now appeared most solid,
most indivisible. Who has faith any longer in the atom? Who believes in
the soul as a monad? Who believes in the objective validity of the
senses?

The atom, unity of the spirit and of consciousness, the validity of
perception, all these are under suspicion today. _Ignoramus,
ignorabimus_.