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Bringing you atheist articles and building active godless communities takes hundreds of hours and resources each month. If you find any joy or stimulation at Atheist Republic, please consider becoming a Supporting Member with a recurring monthly donation of your choosing, between a cup of tea and a good dinner.
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Bringing you atheist articles and building active godless communities takes hundreds of hours and resources each month. If you find any joy or stimulation at Atheist Republic, please consider becoming a Supporting Member with a recurring monthly donation of your choosing, between a cup of tea and a good dinner.
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@quip Re: "I'll keep my condoms and 3-in-one in the glove box."
Oooooo.... 3-in-one oil?.... My favorite....*waggling eyebrows*... Oh, and don't worry about the condoms. I've been neutered.
Tin-Man, re: your edit on a post you made about "pulling out on the first date".
Your edit is really uncalled for. Can you please stop with the smack talk about your genitals, and give us a break? Geesch. Now, go to room, and there's no TV for you for a week.
Quip: "I was an atheist for years....it's just that the neanderthal world-view/"
What fundamental world view. There are probably not two people on the site who share fundamental world views. As for you once being an atheist, everyone was once an atheist. So what. Do you know that atheism is. Atheist is a derogatory word given to us by religion. The Pagans once called the Christians Atheists. Synonyms for Atheist include, heathen, skeptic, non-believer, sinner (original meaning - separation from god), infidel and others. People without a belief in god or gods are by "THE CHURCH'S DEFINITION" Atheists. Atheists are people who do not believe in god or gods. THAT IS NOT A WORLD VIEW.
Atheism, in and of itself perhaps not, though it seems quite integral to the world-view you've molded for yourself....evidenced by your butthurt list of religious admonition and disparagement.
Quip: Can you answer the question or not. "Atheism" is a label we use for people who do not believe in God or Gods. It says nothing about a world view. Are you able to articulate what you think the world view of atheists is or are you simply going to engage in ad homonym attacks and avoidance. What do you think is an Atheist "World View."
More than likely materialistic...in the philosophical sense. No doubt your view resides strictly within the naive reality realm.
WYSWYG....correct?
@quip
Are you saying all atheist are: "More than likely materialistic...in the philosophical sense."
Poor sentence structure I assume you are trying to say: "No doubt your view resides strictly within the reality realm. A realm I consider to be naive."
A view you are certainly welcome to have, sweeping statements like: "all atheist are likely to be materialistic" is more inaccurate then they are accurate, it would be a bit like me saying: "more than likely all theist are child molesters."
You are allowed to consider what ever you want to be naive, but for people to take you opinions seriously you usually want to be able to substantiate the claim. How do you substantiate that a view that resides strictly within the reality realm is naive? Are you saying having at least some views that are not within the reality realm is how a person avoids your opinion of them being naive?
Do you really think this through? It can easily be interpreted what you are saying is: People that have at least some views that are not within reality are the only people that are not naive..... People that believe in at least some not ("fake?") reality are the ones that are NOT naive.
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▮ I am an atheist that always likes a good debate. ▮
▮ Please include @LogicFTW in responses directed to me. ▮
▮ Useful list on forum usage. A.R. Member since 2016. ▮
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@LogicFTW
Look up the general concept of naive-realism yourself (on Wiki) if so inclined.
P.S. I should've put a hyphen between naive and reality. Sorry for the confusion.
"Are you familiar with the philosophical concept known as naive realism?"
Let me take a wild guess, we are all deceiving ourselves, but you are alone are able to be objective. I'm dubious...Also what do you mean you WERE an atheist? You claimed you you're not a theists and don't believe in any deity.
@quip
Thank you.
I apologize, I read in your original post: "WHY do you exist?" Which I took as what is the meaning of life? Seems like a fairly common way to interpret the question. In your original post you also stated near the end "experiencing existence through your particular lens?" Is that not consciousness you are referring to? What "lens" are we talking about then?
"There are a lot of long words in there, Miss; we're naught but humble pirates"... err I mean atheist! (Pirates of the Caribbean quote from Barbossa)
I had to look up ratiocination and I consider myself reasonably well read. Anyways...
Roughly translated to little words this humble atheist can respond to, I translate that to: (and correct me if I am wrong!)
You are asking atheist via the process of exact thinking/reasoning, to defend their wholesale denial of the possibility of a thing or event that existed before or logically precedes another, in terms of one's own particular affirmation of the existence of (existential) experience.
Ugh the above is a mess translated/defined like that, is there a good reason you could not ask this question simply? Were you hoping we would see a lot of big words and just... not bother, scared away by big rarely used words?
Lets try a less exact definition translation of your statement..
You are asking atheist to defend how can we completely deny the possibility of existence before we "experience" and/or after our "experience" ends. If that is your question I will be happy to give you my own answer.
It is true, we can not comfortably apply the rigors of logic and reasoning to the unknowable, untestable, unfalsifiable concept, idea or theory.
To me: truly the only logical/reasonable answer is: it is unknown and no conclusions or useful data can be drawn from it. Certainly not a reason for human worship of various human created deity ideas, or human written/spoken conclusions (such as commandments) drawn from the "unknown." Congratulations you just pigeonholed your own god idea to "god of the gaps." Like so many theistic apologist before you.
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▮ I am an atheist that always likes a good debate. ▮
▮ Please include @LogicFTW in responses directed to me. ▮
▮ Useful list on forum usage. A.R. Member since 2016. ▮
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I understand and no need to apologize, simply temporarily suspend yourself from the stranglehold of logic....because it holds no answer to the question at hand...QED.
Logic is an invaluble tool yet, it's only but a tool. You wouldn't employ a saw at making lemonade would you? Though, it's indespensible at making that birdhouse for the misses! (Enjoy your lemonade after.) :-)
Just open up. 'Tis all I ask.
@quip
Perhaps it got lost in the shuffle, but what is the question at hand again?
Just to clarify, you mean open up in the terms of: "logic does not answer everything"
...so open yourself to other answers? I am fine with solid evidence based answer even if it seemingly contradicts a logic based answer. My feelings of love and so much more towards my wife and others very close to me is not very logical at all, but my feelings of love towards these people are powerfully evidenced to me every day.
I have found no such powerful evidence for the various god concepts people have come up with however.
When I first seriously pondered what my beliefs are years ago, I feel like I very openly looked for something I may have missed so far, after all so many people strongly believe in their god concepts including members of my own immediate family. To this day I still openly look for information I missed, for answers, better answers than the ones I already have. I am very aware there are certain things I believe that are likely to be wrong.
I just looked up common myths. I found one belief of mine that is apparently a myth (I have not yet extensively researched the veracity of this claim.) Anyways the myth is: "Sugar makes children hyperactive." When apparently the reality is while sugar may have a small effect on overall mood of children, other factors make much larger contributions to a child's hyperactivity to the point it can entirely eclipse what sugar does.
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▮ I am an atheist that always likes a good debate. ▮
▮ Please include @LogicFTW in responses directed to me. ▮
▮ Useful list on forum usage. A.R. Member since 2016. ▮
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Yes. That is false. Sugar does NOT make children hyperactive. Sugar mearly fuels it.
rmfr
Quip
You could use the saw to cut lemons in half to make the lemonade.
@xenoview
I suppose you could but its not an optimal use of the tool. To the larger point: asserting logic as an abnegation from asking "Why?" is not an optimal use of logic.
Yeah, using a saw to make lemonade IS pretty dumb. Personally, I use a sledge hammer and a riding lawnmower to make lemonade. I'm all about efficiency.
I disagree, there is nothing rational about specious theological assumptions that life has a purpose, even if you masquerade them as introspection.
Asking why life exists doesn't remotely demonstrate there is a why.
I limit myself to possible explanations.
Why place limits upon yourself? Or the universe...for that matter?
Rather sad.
Not sad, realistic.
rmfr
I would only be truly limiting myself if I spent time on impossible explanations. You should be more open-minded to what is possible.
No one is placing limits on themselves, you either can demonstrate evidence that life has a purpose or you can't. So far nada.
Accepting the current limits of our knowledge is not the same as not wanting an answer. You were told this right at the start of your specious enquiry.
Show one post by one atheists stating anything is impossible? You love to accuse people of making assumptions but you are the only one doing this. Again then since you have ignored it, no one is rejecting rational inquiry into anything, your question was and is fallacious, get it? Your question contain fallacies and is therefore by definition irrational.
As I said, putting a question mark at the end of a sentence doesn't make it rational inquiry.
Why are mermaids so shy?
Good post.
I give my own life meaning day by day, hour by hour, and minute by minute, what gives my life meaning are the people I love and have loved, and those who love and have loved me. Enjoying small achievements, and minor successes, and overcoming minor failures and disappointments. Striving to find pleasure in the most mundane tasks, and to appreciate how much I have, because one day I will die, and then my life will no longer have any meaning for me, but if I have achieved anything it may briefly still hold some meaning for others I have known and cared for, just as the lives of those who cared for me but have now gone, still hold meaning for me. To marvel at and enjoy my grandchildren, the company of friends, and the family that remain, this is what gives my life meaning. To hope for a little more is fine, but to expect to survive my own death in any meaningful way is to me absurd egotism.
@Sheldon
Thanks! I spend sometimes entirely to much time on these post and it helps me a lot that other people read and can even agree with some of it.
You and I have very similar views on this, where we give our own lives meaning instead of letting some human created deity idea decide what our life meaning is.
Never considered you as a grandparent, probably because I considered you to be roughly the same age as the actor that plays Sheldon in big bang theory, funny how much we associate people here based on their avatar choice, even though we know avatar choice may have little to no bearing on who the person is that chose the avatar.
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▮ I am an atheist that always likes a good debate. ▮
▮ Please include @LogicFTW in responses directed to me. ▮
▮ Useful list on forum usage. A.R. Member since 2016. ▮
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@Sheldon
Fantastic post. Took the words right out of my mouth.
Sheldon: A man with all his priorities straight in his mind. Life is simple.
Many people discover a lot about why they are as they are when they research their ancestry.
Both my paternal and maternal lines lead back to a couple who were born during the time Oliver Cromwell was in power.
The life experiences of William Mills and Mary Kent of Lavenham in Suffolk have passed down to me.
Epigenetics provides some insight into how our ancestors' experiences influence us.
Why?
Interesting philosophical question... from the biological stand point... as a sperm I'd clearly done my cardio and was in a determined mood perhaps.
Why am I who I am? I would say we are all individually shaped via our parents, education, the morals we are raised with and societal conditioning.
@Quip: Why do you exist in the here and now, rather than in the near or distant past/future, why now as a male or female, specific culture or race
Like Jehovah and Popeye, my only answer to that is: I am what I am.
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