RE: Why Atheism is Incoherent & You Aren't as Smart as You Think You Are
March 2, 2021 at 11:16 pm
(This post was last modified: March 2, 2021 at 11:27 pm by vulcanlogician.)
I actually have a soft spot for pantheism, but I must say, your OP is a piss poor advertisement of it. Who begins his grand essay on pantheism with, "You atheists think you've got it all figured out, don't you?"...???
What about determinism suggests purpose? Purpose is a vague word. What do you mean by "purpose"? Something separate from teleology? And if so, how so?
I think it's interesting to imagine the entire universe as having (or being) a will. That our ordinary willful actions (like those we commit ourselves) are perhaps not fundamentally different than, say, the orbiting of the planets is also an interesting idea.
But you've got to be careful about assuming too much. It's an interesting question, and one that pantheists can perhaps say more about than "traditional" atheists can (or care to). But, Pantheism (by and large) doesn't pretend to know more about reality than atheism. It's an interpretive mode rather than a theory about what God (or the universe) actually is.
(March 2, 2021 at 9:55 pm)Seax Wrote: No, nature is deterministic overall. This is true whether we are talking about natural selection or the orbit of planets.
I am saying that if nature is deterministic, then it can be said to have purpose, one probably unknowable to us, but purpose and meaning nonetheless. Where there is purpose there is will.
What about determinism suggests purpose? Purpose is a vague word. What do you mean by "purpose"? Something separate from teleology? And if so, how so?
I think it's interesting to imagine the entire universe as having (or being) a will. That our ordinary willful actions (like those we commit ourselves) are perhaps not fundamentally different than, say, the orbiting of the planets is also an interesting idea.
But you've got to be careful about assuming too much. It's an interesting question, and one that pantheists can perhaps say more about than "traditional" atheists can (or care to). But, Pantheism (by and large) doesn't pretend to know more about reality than atheism. It's an interpretive mode rather than a theory about what God (or the universe) actually is.
