I would like to discuss an idea that Marc brought up in
Creationists think Evolutionists think like Creationists. about the meaning of life for Atheists.
I would like to argue the position that Atheism* is actually a philosophy of meaninglessness.
Well, actually, no... no, I wouldn’t.
Rather, I would like to argue that what Atheism calls meaning is fundamentally different from what Theism calls meaning, such that the common line that Atheism has meaning is really just a semantic point.
The word meaning is like the words science and sport: society perceives these words are badges of honor or legitimacy, so every intellectual pursuit wants to be called a science, and every competitive pursuit wants to be called a sport; and it’s taken (and often intended) as an insult when the badge is not given.
But, as is generally the case, the words themselves are not literarily badges of honor or legitimacy. Our tendency to perceive them as such has often caused us to lump things into unnatural groupings, and to consequently fail to recognize important distinctions between different things.
For a religious person, like myself (sometimes), meaning implies an
actual purpose or significance in the grand scheme of things. This is a purpose or significance that is defined externally (by some outside agent), and could (if it were true) be objectively verified by other observers.
For a non-religious person, like the other (smaller) half of me, meaning implies a
feeling or
sense of purpose or significance. This is a purpose or significance that is defined internally, and could exist even if no other observers could verify it objectively.
I’ll grant that, from the Atheist’s perspective, religious meaning is also just a feeling or sense of meaning. But, from the Theist’s perspective, this amounts to a denial that Theistic meaning exists, accompanied by a redefinition of the word meaning to reflect that denial. There is something beneath the feeling of significance in the Theist’s view.
For the Theist, an actual meaning causes one to have a sense of significance.
But, for the Atheist, nothing external is claimed to be the cause of the sense of significance, so there is no equivalent concept in Atheism to what the Theist calls meaning.
Thus, I don’t think Theists are strictly wrong when they say that Atheism is meaningless: it’s just offensive to say it because of the emotional value we place on the word meaning.
*I will capitalize "Atheism" and "Theism" because it makes them easier to distinguish, so readers won't get confused.
-Bluejay (a.k.a. Mantis, Thylacosmilus)
Darwin loves you.
™ Version 4.2