I have experimented with such deflationist views myself in the past.īut maybe there is no need for naturalists to be so deflationary when it comes to meaning? Dan Weijers makes this argument in his recently-published article “ Optimistic Naturalism: Scientific Advancement and the Meaning of Life”. Thus are told we have to “create our own meaning” or that we have to “make do with worldly goods”. Though the former option is, for many, more welcoming than the latter, it is still typically thought to require some re-orientation or re-conceptualisation of what meaningful life is: wholly naturalistic meaning is possible, but it is deflationary, and somehow less than supernaturalistic meaning. With their rejection of supernaturalism, and its associated religious doctrines, naturalists are forced to abandon this conception of meaning.īut where does that leave them? Two options seem to arise: (i) they can embrace the possibility of meaning without the supernatural or (ii) they can reject the possibility of meaning outright. That is to say: meaning has only been thought possible if there is a supernatural realm in which we can achieve eternal salvation, or from which a divine being bestows meaning upon our mortal human lives. Historically, the possibility of true meaning in life has been tied to the religious worldview. Robert McCall the Prologue and the Promise
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