- [UNTITLED]
- Acknowledgements
- List of Contributors
- Introduction: The Study of Atheism
- Defining ‘Atheism’
- The Case Against Atheism
- Critiques of Theistic Arguments
- Arguments for Atheism
- The Problem of Evil
- Atheism and Morality
- Atheism and the Meaningfulness of Life
- Aquinas and Atheism
- From the Pre-Socratics to the Hellenistic Age
- The First Millennium
- The Medieval Period
- Renaissance and Reformation
- The Age of Enlightenment
- The (Long) Nineteenth Century
- The Twentieth Century
- New Atheism
- Humanism
- Existentialism
- Marxism
- Analytic Philosophy
- Jewish Atheism
- Buddhism
- Jainism
- Hinduism
- Naturalism and the Scientific Method
- Atheism and the Rise of Science
- Atheism and Darwinism
- Atheism and the Physical Sciences
- Atheism and the Secularization Thesis
- The Psychology of Atheism
- Atheism and Cognitive Science
- Atheism and Societal Health
- Atheism, Gender, and Sexuality
- Atheism, Health, and Well-Being
- Conversion and Deconversion
- A World of Atheism: Global Demographics
- Western Europe
- North America
- Central and Eastern Europe
- The Islamic World
- India
- Japan
- Literature
- The Visual Arts
- Music
- Film
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
Both theists and atheists have attempted to show that their opponent’s orientation towards religion prevents them from living truly meaningful lives. But exclusivists on both sides are wrong. For neither atheists nor theists are necessarily committed to meaninglessness. This essay focuses attention on two key components of theistic meaning of life theories that theists argue are importantly missing from atheistic theories, immortality and a Divine Plan. It also considers atheistic alternatives to theistic accounts of meaningfulness that involve subjectivism, intrinsic values, and Susan Wolf’s hybrid theory of meaning. We come to see that genuine meaning for either theists or atheists requires some conceptual commitments, and the dispute about which side can live meaningfully is yet another case of the two sides talking past each other. Alternatively, if we allow for the different kinds and degrees of meaning we may conclude that both theists and atheists are able to offer rationally acceptable theories of life’s meaning(s).
Keywords: atheism, theism, meaningfulness, meaning of life, divine plan, immortality, meaninglessness, subjectivism, Susan Wolf, intrinsic values
Kimberly Blessing is Chair and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Buffalo State College, Buffalo, New York. She is the co-editor o Movies and the Meaning of Life (Open Court, 2005).
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- [UNTITLED]
- Acknowledgements
- List of Contributors
- Introduction: The Study of Atheism
- Defining ‘Atheism’
- The Case Against Atheism
- Critiques of Theistic Arguments
- Arguments for Atheism
- The Problem of Evil
- Atheism and Morality
- Atheism and the Meaningfulness of Life
- Aquinas and Atheism
- From the Pre-Socratics to the Hellenistic Age
- The First Millennium
- The Medieval Period
- Renaissance and Reformation
- The Age of Enlightenment
- The (Long) Nineteenth Century
- The Twentieth Century
- New Atheism
- Humanism
- Existentialism
- Marxism
- Analytic Philosophy
- Jewish Atheism
- Buddhism
- Jainism
- Hinduism
- Naturalism and the Scientific Method
- Atheism and the Rise of Science
- Atheism and Darwinism
- Atheism and the Physical Sciences
- Atheism and the Secularization Thesis
- The Psychology of Atheism
- Atheism and Cognitive Science
- Atheism and Societal Health
- Atheism, Gender, and Sexuality
- Atheism, Health, and Well-Being
- Conversion and Deconversion
- A World of Atheism: Global Demographics
- Western Europe
- North America
- Central and Eastern Europe
- The Islamic World
- India
- Japan
- Literature
- The Visual Arts
- Music
- Film
- Index