Do you wish there's a god?

[Acrobat]

I don’t see what nihilism has to do with atheism or theism. In fact, I find nihilism to be a meaningless term.

What is it referring to?

If it’s saying there is no subjective meaning/purpose, that no one finds any meaning in anything, then that’s clearly false. To be "a nihilist" under these conditions would just be denying basic evidence.

If it’s saying there’s no objective meaning/purpose, then I’d say such a thing is impossible anyway. You always have to create some sort of filter or reference point for which to determine the meaning or purpose of something. Even if this is a purpose which relates to something outside of our section of reality (a god or whatever), it is still a subjective purpose, to that god. That’s no more objective than me finding meaning or purpose.

So basically, I find the term redundant. It’s either trivially true or trivially false, depending on how you define the terms. The only thing that makes sense is to apply it to yourself only: "I find no meaning or purpose in anything", or something like that. This doesn’t say anything about meaning or purpose in general. Adding or subtracting a god wouldn’t add or subtract any meaning or purpose for me. It’s irrelevant. I already have things which give me meaning and purpose. If someone else finds those things meaningless, that doesn’t make me a nihilist.

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PS: I thought of another way of representing what people sometimes mean by it.

"I find the way other people attribute meaning/purpose to be meaningless."

In other words, if I set the standards for what counts as meaning or purpose, then I can use that to deny anyone else’s attempts to find it, thus resulting in "nihilism".

When in doubt of what something means, use wikipedia:

"Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism, which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.[1] Moral nihilists assert that there is no inherent , and that accepted moral values are abstractly contrived. "

You suggest there's no relationship between existential nihilism and atheism, yet most self identifying atheists seem to subscribe to some form of existential nihilism, while hardly any theist does. I'm guessing you think this is just coincidental?

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You’re right about one thing. That we perceive a reality as product of purpose, that it possess a meaning, and that recognition is observed even in toddlers, even among those not raised in a children’s home.

That is because it is an early stage of human development.

But it’s false that most people outgrow this perception,

Actually we usually move beyond that stage at about five years old.

when in fact this perceptions just matures and grows as we get older. The only people that don’t believe this are a minority,

In more backwards societies perhaps, but only due to the infantilising effect of religion.

Are you that out of touch? The vast majority of people view life as possessing some ultimate purpose and meaning, regardless of whether you think that's the result of religion or not. I mean who do you think the "we", who move beyond this is? What percentage of humanity, both past and present would you say believe life possess no intrinsic meaning or purpose? I'd say it's pretty close to 0%, since most of the world over has in some form or the other held a religious or teleological view of life.


It's also a bit odd, that you seem aware that toddlers and young children perceive reality as possessing purpose, even when raised in non-religious homes, which indicates this seems to by intuitive, natural perception of reality. Do you think this early intuition is a product of our evolution? And that religions just sort of preserves it much longer than it would have been able to survive on its own?