(October 4, 2014 at 5:20 pm)Pickup_shonuff Wrote: Outside of intentional design in the internal structure of the physical Universe, which would seem to imply a mind somehow analogous to a human mind, and that has free will in the indeterminate sense and utilizes thought in bringing about a subsequent result through purposeful action, as in God, I can conceive of no other possibility for what might be considered objective meaning, purpose, or value.
Even this possibility is insufficient - if the result of human existence is brought about by god's will then the purpose, meaning or value of human life would be subject to god's will. That makes it subjective. Going by this definition, nihilism should be the logical extreme of theism, not atheism.
(October 4, 2014 at 5:20 pm)Pickup_shonuff Wrote: I think "atheism implies or necessitates existential nihilism" is a fair statement; as to whether or not God solves the existential problem is another matter
Buddhism provides an adequate counter-argument to that. Buddhists don't believe in a gos, but they believe in the law of Karma - a universal moral law inherent and intrinsic to human nature and one that provides your life with objective purpose, meaning and value. That is the problem with "atheism implies nihilism" argument - it assumes god can be the only possible source of objective meaning etc. whereas we know there are many alternate sources.
