Is nihilism the logical extreme of atheism?

[bennyboy]

I'm sorry if I seem dense, but could someone please define nihilism for me? If it means only there's no objective purpose to life, then that doesn't really seem to be a "logical extreme," more like a statement of the obvious. And I can't imagine any atheists denying that meaning is purely subjective and largely arbitrary.

I'm probably not the best person to define it. But my reaction is similar. I would certainly agree that meaning is purely subjective. (That isn't to say you couldn't approach meaning as an objective phenomenon. But if you did I would have to say you're doing it wrong.) However I don't think it is entirely arbitrary. I think the subjective truth for many of us is fixed or at least has sufficient inertia to provide considerable stability.

It is easy to mistake that which seems arbitrarily up to you as something entirely undetermined. But I don't think we are born tabula rasa and I don't believe we respond randomly to choice. Living is an art more than a science. (Science serves the execution of that art.)

Well, it's arbitrary with the caveat that arbitrary decisions are guided, possibly deterministically, by one's genetics, development, and environment. In this context, I'd say those decisions are arbitrary which don't respond to any strong biological imperative, and which are not imposed on you by others. So Mars Bar vs. Snickers is an arbitrary choice, even though your brain and body chemistry at that given moment make your choice "inevitable." So is health food vs. junk food. But food vs. no food-- maybe not so arbitrary.