tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post4904413908539329380..comments2023-10-24T04:29:23.693-06:00Comments on Atheist Ethicist: A Purpose to Life: Choosing a PurposeAlonzo Fyfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05687777216426347054noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-75050627467078787812009-08-04T10:26:24.384-06:002009-08-04T10:26:24.384-06:00A lot of equivocation goes on in these discussions...A lot of equivocation goes on in these discussions, regarding the use of the words "meaning" and "purpose." I think this post is true for one use of the word "purpose," but not for others. <br /><br />What one focuses one's life on (if one does such a thing), is real. The value that one places on one's own life and its impact on the larger world is real. These are both things that can be chosen. These are both things that some call "meaning" or "purpose."Jamiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16478237863350039791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-88190416396200641052009-07-31T14:47:01.766-06:002009-07-31T14:47:01.766-06:00Alonzo, your preamble to this website smacks of se...Alonzo, your preamble to this website smacks of self-derived purpose. You decided that you wanted to make the world a better place than you left it. That is as much of a purpose as, "Praising and following the words of Jesus Christ." The difference is instead of reading a book to find purpose, you're writing one.<br /><br />This all goes back to the neurological fact that, as humans, we can not make a majority of our choices with out an appeal to our emotions. The modern world simply presents too many possibilities for reason to work on its own. The emotional need for purpose (a 'reason' to be) serves an important role by using narrowing down our choices to ones we can manage. <br /><br />Atheists are just just as needy for this emotional satisfaction as anyone else- even when that satisfaction comes from their exercise of reason.MIkenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-58449003908617931822009-07-30T16:36:20.746-06:002009-07-30T16:36:20.746-06:00The point is, you can't praise people for choo...The point is, you can't praise people for choosing their life purpose as fighting poverty and then turn around and say there is no reason why a person should choose that as their life's purpose.<br /><br />If people are "creating" meaning by choosing to value the elimination of poverty, then we are creating a fiction. Surely, the elimination of poverty is valuable to the people in poverty already before it is valued by those who want to eradicate it.<br /><br />So, it must be discovered what purposes are worthwhile to people as a whole. I can't just randomly decide a worthwhile cause is to increase poverty. I can believe it is the case, sure but that doesn't make it the case.<br /><br />So, in deciding what purposes are worth our efforts, we can't just decide willy-nilly but instead look at the desires that exist in the world around us.Andyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14389298711813091852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-49345102080079831892009-07-30T10:52:13.100-06:002009-07-30T10:52:13.100-06:00This seems to be a purely semantic argument, and d...This seems to be a purely semantic argument, and delivered, it seems, with a bit of umbrage. The semantic point is in the lack of differentiation between the implied poles of universal purpose and personal purpose. It is clearly possible, in the process of discovering what the world has to offer, to react by defining your own personal purpose, ie., as mentioned, fighting poverty, etc. To recast this in terms of a fiction on par with the great sky-god makes no sense whatsoever, except as a bit of a bitter diatribe.Jess Johnsonhttp://h2oweb.infonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-27250559794956506292009-07-30T10:28:59.292-06:002009-07-30T10:28:59.292-06:00Are you then , creating another "fictitious&q...Are you then , creating another "fictitious" purpose to life according to YOUR own belief and likes ? If so, it should be then "a purpose to YOUR life" not "a purpose to life". Also, are you then, upon your belief, creating a "fictitious" religion of your own?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-77875108511200235572009-07-30T10:22:19.610-06:002009-07-30T10:22:19.610-06:00and who is your source that God is a tyrant to mak...and who is your source that God is a tyrant to make you an "unwitting slave to his own interests?"-if so, what difference is God to the devil?<br />i doubt you even know God's purpose and interest hence, merely a sweeping statement. <br /><br />If one could be ever so grateful to the parents who feed them why not one could be more grateful to God who created them ?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-30917326318814817732009-07-30T04:41:04.503-06:002009-07-30T04:41:04.503-06:00I'm not sure I agree,
First of all, what does...I'm not sure I agree,<br /><br />First of all, what does "meaning of life" mean in the first place? This question is far from trivial, and I expect quite a bandwidth of varying answers from adherents of different philosophies, including, e.g., "something for us to strive for" and "fulfilment found through dedication to a cause." In any case, however, I would suggest that the notion of a "meaning of life" is closely related to the concept of "value."<br /><br />Now, if there is a meaning of life, it can come either from within ourselves, or from outside sources. However, how could the latter be the case if there is no god, and no intrinsic value? If I have not misunderstood you, it is your opinion that value is something we assign to things/ideas/etc. But if that is the case, and the meaning of our life is dependent on what has value to us, then arguably we do make our own life's meaning.<br /><br />There is one third option that comes to my mind just as I am writing this - that the meaning of our life is determined by the value it has for <i>other people</i>. This would be consistent with both the nonexistence of intrinsic value and your proposition that we cannot choose our own meaning.<br /><br />Anyway, whatever they are, I assume you are going to publish your own thoughts about the meaning of life here soon enough - I'm certainly looking forward to read them.Ulrichnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-52686808439400212892009-07-29T21:15:02.710-06:002009-07-29T21:15:02.710-06:00Agreed. So an atheist get's one idea right, t...Agreed. So an atheist get's one idea right, the illusion of self, of control and many other still permeate may hypnotize her greater that the simple idea of a controlling diety.Sabio Lantzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12963476276106907984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-72420690155935179272009-07-29T10:48:05.572-06:002009-07-29T10:48:05.572-06:00I'm failing to understand something. Why isn&#...I'm failing to understand something. Why isn't it possible for someone to make it their purpose to fight poverty, or bring joy to sick children, or even to erradicate from the world all the "lesser races"?Eneasznoreply@blogger.com