Polsky215 Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Is atheism inherently nihilistic? Without God can there be a morality? Please post sources if you used any. Im in debate and God is a "sin" to bring up in any round. So my plan next year is to prove that all the discussion about morality is ridiculous from an atheistic or at least agnostic perspective. Morality needs God... only i need some help explaining why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePenciledOne Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 I would say no. Don't have time for a larger explanation than that at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParadiseFound Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 I'm an atheist. I don't believe that life has any real meaning or purpose and I don't believe in objective morality; I just try to live my life by The Golden Rule. I guess that makes me a nihilist. This may sound strange, but I personally find that knowing my life is completely inconsequential and that nothing anyone on this whole planet does, has ever done or will ever do actually matters really uplifting and comforting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevil Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 I think you need to define morality before we can answer whether Atheists ascribe to morality. From an Atheist's perspective there is no objective morality. From my perspective I don't like the terms moral or immoral because to me it implies an objective morality standard. But don't confuse this to mean that Atheists do not strive to be good people. With regards to nihilism, I think this comes in many different flavours, and I would not want to come to assumptions as to what a person might mean by this so I think this needs definition too, for the purposes of this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Cat Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 No, atheism does not imply nihilism. In fact, most atheists/agnostics I know are [b]not[/b] nihilists. "[i]Divine Command[/i]" in my personal opinion is a poor, if not faulty, ethical model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevil Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Here's a pretty good article from an ex-theist. [url="http://thehiberniatimes.com/2011/06/03/atheism-is-the-true-embrace-of-reality/"]Atheism Is the True Embrace of Reality - By Paula Kirby[/url] [quote] Few atheists would be so bold as to declare the existence of any god at all utterly impossible. Atheism is, quite simply, the position that it is absurd to believe in, much less worship, a deity for which no valid evidence has been presented. Atheism is not a faith: on the contrary, it is the refusal to accept claims on faith [/quote] [quote] And atheists care about reality: not what it might be comforting to believe, or what has traditionally been believed, or what we have been instructed to believe. And this focus on reality, far from diminishing our experience of life, as so many religious people imagine, actually makes our lives all the richer: once you have faced up to the reality that there is no evidence to suggest there is another life after this one, it becomes all the more important to live this finite life to the full, learning and growing, and caring for others, because this is their only life, too, and there is no reason to believe there will be heavenly compensation for their earthly sufferings.An atheist life, well lived, leads to the only kind of afterlife there is any evidence for whatsoever: the immortality of living on in the fond memories of those who loved us. [/quote] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dairygirl4u2c Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 nihilism usually implies not giving a sh*t about anything. i dont think one could concliude that atheists are all about that. it's actuially unheard of to assume they are nihilists. ive heard a lot about how it takes faith to be an atheist etc, but to say they're nihilists is unfair and rare, and out field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polsky215 Posted June 19, 2011 Author Share Posted June 19, 2011 (edited) Stevil, thank you for your response, but keep in mind that Catholic doctrine does not preach belief in the EXISTENCE of God on faith. "Faith" in catholic teaching is not used in the sense of  "i believe it" but rather  "i believe you." I think this is a very commonly misunderstood fact. We should not believe in God for no reason because there are many gods to choose from. For me, miracles and the various arguments (not the ontological argument)  suggested through the ages are proof of God. Edited June 19, 2011 by Polsky215 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Cat Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 [quote name='dairygirl4u2c' timestamp='1308440680' post='2255753']nihilism usually implies not giving a sh*t about anything. i dont think one could concliude that atheists are all about that. it's actuially unheard of to assume they are nihilists. ive heard a lot about how it takes faith to be an atheist etc, but to say they're nihilists is unfair and rare, and out field.[/quote]Nihilism has extremes, but people who don't care can be better described as amoral, in my humble personal opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laudate_Dominum Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 My face = Nihilism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 I've always tended to hypothesize that the logical conclusion of atheism is amoral nihilism, but Sean disagrees with me, so I'm probably wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laudate_Dominum Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 [quote name='Nihil Obstat' timestamp='1308448813' post='2255814'] I've always tended to hypothesize that the logical conclusion of atheism is amoral nihilism, but Sean disagrees with me, so I'm probably wrong. [/quote] I wouldn't say that I disagree you really. It's just that without more information the term atheism is just a negative to me. I'm hesitant to judge all possible atheistic philosophies in one stroke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 [quote name='Laudate_Dominum' timestamp='1308487151' post='2255913'] I wouldn't say that I disagree you really. It's just that without more information the term atheism is just a negative to me. I'm hesitant to judge all possible atheistic philosophies in one stroke. [/quote] Yeah, I don't think I'm really considering the broadest possible meaning of atheism when I say that. However, I've always leaned towards the idea that without believing in some kind of God, any ethical theories besides relativism and hedonism and nihilism are simply inconsistent... based on half-baked concepts that don't really make sense outside of their theistic concepts. You know what I mean; you've heard the same arguments before. What sorts of atheism would you be thinking about that might logically allow a non-nihilistic mentality? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Cat Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 I wonder why more atheists are not nihilists, in any sense, if these religiously motivated assertions are true. In fact, to date, I have never met a nihilist atheist. I suppose all these atheists are just too dumb... lol, right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevil Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 [quote name='Nihil Obstat' timestamp='1308501066' post='2255953'] based on half-baked concepts that don't really make sense outside of their theistic concepts[/quote] That's actually quite insulting. Would you call the golden rule a half baked concept? How does the golden rule stack up beside the adherence to not having female preists because, through observing tradition, you don't think god wants female preists? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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