Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T13:56:37.107Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Anti-Theism and the Objective Meaningful Life Argument

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2017

KIRK LOUGHEED*
Affiliation:
McMaster University

Abstract

Philosophers of religion have begun to explore the value question of whether God’s existence would add to, detract from, or have no impact on the value of our world. The Meaningful Life Argument is one of the most promising arguments in support of the view that God’s existence would make the world worse, at least for certain individuals. I offer an objectivized version of the Meaningful Life Argument and show why recent objections leveled against it by Myron A. Penner do not apply to this version.

Les philosophes de la religion ont récemment commencé à se demander si l’existence de Dieu ajouterait ou enlèverait de la valeur à notre monde, ou encore si elle n’aurait aucun impact sur sa valeur. De plus en plus populaire, l’argument du sens de la vie (Meaningful Life Argument) soutient que l’existence de Dieu rendrait le monde pire, du moins pour certains individus. Dans cet article, j’offre une adaptation objectivée de l’argument du sens de la vie et je démontre que les objections formulées par Myron A. Penner ne s’appliquent plus.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Philosophical Association 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baggini, Julian 2004 What’s It All About?: Philosophy and the Meaning of Life. London: Granta Books.Google Scholar
Baier, Kurt 1957 “The Meaning of Life.” Reprinted in The Meaning of Life. 2 nd Edition, edited by Klemke, E.D.. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ballantyne, Nathan 2014 “Counterfactual Philosophers.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research LXXXVIII (2): 368387.Google Scholar
Davis, Stephen T. 2014 “On Preferring that God Not Exist (or that God Exist): A Dialogue.” Faith and Philosophy 31 (2): 143159.Google Scholar
Fried, Charles 1970 An Anatomy of Values: Problems of Personal and Social Choice. USA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hepburn, R.W. 1966 “Questions about the Meaning of Life.” Reprinted in The Meaning of Life. 2 nd Edition. Edited by Klemke, E.D., 261-276. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, Jeffery L. 1989 “Privacy and Judgment of Others.” Journal of Value Inquiry 23 (2): 157168.Google Scholar
Johnson, Jeffery L. 1992 “A Theory of the Nature and Value of Privacy.” Public Affairs Quarterly 6 (3): 271288.Google Scholar
Joske, W.D. 1974 “Philosophy and the Meaning of Life.” Reprinted in The Meaning of Life. 2 nd Edition. Edited by Klemke, E.D., 283–294. New York: Oxford University Press. 283294.Google Scholar
Kahane, Guy 2011 “Should We Want God to Exist?” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 82 (3): 674696.Google Scholar
King, Nathan L. 2016 “Religious Skepticism and Higher-Order Evidence.” Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion. Volume 7. Edited by Kvanvig, Jonathan L., 126156. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kitcher, Philip 2014 “Chapter One: Doubt Delineated.” In Life After Faith, 125. USA: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Kornblith, Hilary 2010 “Belief in the Face of Controversy.” In Disagreement. Edited by Feldman, Richard and Warfield, Ted A., 2952. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kraay, Klaas, and Dragos, Chris 2013 “On Preferring God’s Non-Existence.” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 43 (2): 157178.Google Scholar
Kurtz, Paul 1974 The fullness of Life. New York: Horizon Press.Google Scholar
Lackey, Douglas P. 1985 “Divine Omniscience and Human Privacy.” Philosophy Research Archives 10: 383391.Google Scholar
Mawson, Tim 2012 “On Determining How Important it is Whether or Not there is a God.” European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 4 (4): 95105.Google Scholar
Metz, Thaddaeus 2013 Meaning in Life. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mugg, Joshua 2016 “The Quietest Challenge to the Axiology of God: A Cognitive Approach to Counterpossibles.” Faith and Philosophy 33 (4): 441460.Google Scholar
Murphy, Jeffrie 1982 Evolution, Morality, and the Meaning of Life. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Penner, Myron A. 2015 “Personal Anti-Theism and the Meaningful Life Argument.” Faith and Philosophy 32 (3): 325337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penner, Myron A., and Lougheed, Kirk 2015 “Pro-Theism and the Added Value of Morally Good Agents.” Philosophia Christi 7 (1): 5369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plantinga, Alvin 2001 God, Freedom, and Evil. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Pruss, Alexander R. 2012 “A Counter-Example to Plantinga’s Free Will Defense.” Faith and Philosophy 29 (4): 400415.Google Scholar
Rachels, James 1975 “Why Privacy is Important.” Philosophy & Public Affairs 4 (4): 323333.Google Scholar
Rescher, Nicholas 1990 “On Faith and Belief.” In Human Interests: Reflections on Philosophical Anthropology. Edited by Rescher, Nicholas, 166178. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Schellenberg, John L. 2006 Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Schellenber, John L. 2015 The Hiddenness Argument: Philosophy’s New Challenge to Belief in God. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, Irving 1996 Meaning of Life, Volume 1: The Creation of Value. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar