Zaehet Strife
Well-Known Member
I think nihilism is indeed a natural consequence of atheism.
If there is no god or indeed no higher power/creator that defines what is right and wrong, just and unjust, then we can assume that the morality we feel comes simply from the wiring of our own minds.
It is evident that humans (and other species) must have developed a sense of morality (via evolution) in order to allow cooperative communities to form easily. (i.e. those individuals who where able to cooperate survived and passed their morality to their offspring whose successive generation added to in the same manner).
This explains why we feel the moral urges we do and where they come from. We can see that a bad thing is only considered bad because we are "programmed" to avoid it because it is (or was) disadvantageous to our survival.
In reality a bad thing is not judged as bad by anything but ourselves and can be disregarded.
On the topic of existence itself, it can also be disregarded because it simply exists and nothing more, there is no divine creator who can ascribe reason and purpose to anything.
So I think all atheists will eventually become nihilists. If they don't know it then they just haven't been introduced fairly to what nihilism is and/or haven't thought about it.
All my opinion.
ni·hil·ism/ˈnīəˌlizəm/
Noun:
1. The rejection of all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless.
2. Extreme skepticism, according to which nothing in the world has a real existence.
If there is no god or indeed no higher power/creator that defines what is right and wrong, just and unjust, then we can assume that the morality we feel comes simply from the wiring of our own minds.
It is evident that humans (and other species) must have developed a sense of morality (via evolution) in order to allow cooperative communities to form easily. (i.e. those individuals who where able to cooperate survived and passed their morality to their offspring whose successive generation added to in the same manner).
This explains why we feel the moral urges we do and where they come from. We can see that a bad thing is only considered bad because we are "programmed" to avoid it because it is (or was) disadvantageous to our survival.
In reality a bad thing is not judged as bad by anything but ourselves and can be disregarded.
On the topic of existence itself, it can also be disregarded because it simply exists and nothing more, there is no divine creator who can ascribe reason and purpose to anything.
So I think all atheists will eventually become nihilists. If they don't know it then they just haven't been introduced fairly to what nihilism is and/or haven't thought about it.
All my opinion.
ni·hil·ism/ˈnīəˌlizəm/
Noun:
1. The rejection of all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless.
2. Extreme skepticism, according to which nothing in the world has a real existence.
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