November 21, 2012

On meaning and purpose without God

So there has been some debate on my meaning of life essay with JohnM, a YEC. He seems to think the only real purpose is an ultimate purpose, and getting through to him that this is not the case, and that ultimate purposes have no more value than subjective, instrumentalist purposes. Value system are, after all, entirely subjective affairs, by definition. After all, the Oxford Dictionary states this:  

verb (values, valuing, valued)

[with object]1 estimate the monetary worth of: his estate was valued at £45,0002 consider (someone or something) to be important or beneficial; have a high opinion of: she had come to value her privacyThe subjective notions are fairly explicit.Anywho, see what you think to this short video with DJ Grothe who works with the James Randi Educational Foundation. The idea that atheists don't have ultimate meaning seems pretty obvious to me, without an ultimate entity, so to speak. But perhaps atheists are too often scared to admit this?  

Video on Youtube