r/DebateAnAtheist • u/efilist_sentientist • Sep 23 '24
Shouldn't atheists refuse meaning in life and accept its inherently bad ? Philosophy
Atheism arises from rationality i.e logic. If God doesn't exist (obviously doesn't) then you can't say there is a grand plan ! Existence is just pointless. In a pointless existence we have wars, crimes, predation, natural disasters, torture, exploitation and slavery, accidents, diseases and many more inevitable sufferings going on. Nobody can stop these these are inevitable.
Can you deny these facts ? If not then the only rational solution for existence is extinctionism. Extinction of all conscious sentient living beings. As rationalists you must agree to that ?
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u/goblingovernor Anti-Theist Sep 23 '24
Not to rain on your parade but if it's bad, then it has meaning. You contradicted yourself in the title.
"Meaning" needs to be defined. I define meaning as: A purpose, significance, justification, or reason. Is there a purpose to life? In what sense? Is there a purpose for all life? No I don't think there is. Is there a purpose for my life? No, but I can make my life have a purpose by doing some good in the world. Spreading logic and reason could be a good purpose. Does your life have significance? Of course it does. There is meaning in the significance of your experiences, the connections you build with your loved ones, etc. Do you have a justification to continue living? I assume so, we all do. It's probably rooted in our evolutionary past in which in order to survive and reproduce we needed a genetic mutation that filled us with an innate desire to be alive. It's one of the reasons death is so terrifying for us. Death being terrifying is one of the reasons people invent gods to grant us afterlifes. Is there a reason for life? Yes, you are alive because your parents reproduced. Regress that all the way to abiogenesis. Was there a reason for abiogenesis to take place? Yes. The conditions necessary for life to begin were present and life began.
Is there any cosmic/ultimate meaning? The kind of meaning theists often refer to? No. But that doesn't mean that there is no meaning. There is a lot of meaning in life. It could be argued that there would be less meaning if you had an immortal soul. It is in fact more meaningful that you have a short number of years to exist and you can fill that time with significant experiences and connections with other mortals. If you have a soul that lives on forever, your life has a lot less meaning. Afterlife has all the meaning, this is just a tiny sample before the main course.