Abstract

At the close of the last century, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx's brilliant colleague and friend, subjected philosophical agnosticism to systematic criticism in a number of his writings that have since become classics. This theory, paradoxical as it may appear, became widely disseminated in capitalist society during the period of great scientific discoveries and outstanding technological triumphs. Engels exposed the ideological function of agnosticism and thoroughly revealed its roots in theory and epistemology. Today, when science and progress in science and technology testify to a greater extent than ever before to the fact that humanity is capable of understanding the laws of nature and society and of mastering their operation, agnosticism fulfills to an even greater degree the ideological function of discrediting the significance of science in relation to a world view. The deep analysis of this reactionary philosophical theory that we find as early as in the works of Engels equips us ideologically in the struggle against proponents of modern capitalism who deal in philosophy