an anencephalic god
Sep. 20th, 2007 01:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eiriasH0: Atheists have no values.
We can dispense with this straightaway, because everyone (within a reasonable margin of error*) values chocolate ice cream.
H1: Atheists have no absolute values.
This is seductive, because justifying absolute morality is really very difficult, and anybody who has argued about it with a theist will have noted that the core of that argument is "God says so." But as this is a proposition whose truth value cannot be determined, it does not actually add much to the argument -- pointing to God does not solve the problem.
H2: Atheists may have absolute values, but they are unjustified.
I think I like this hypothesis best. If theists don't have to justify their values, why should atheists have that burden? Put another way, the mere fact that a philosophy is illogical does not automatically make it theistic.
On the other hand, it does make an interesting metaphor: god as the set of unjustified propositions about the universe that a person believes in. Not god the creator, necessarily -- god the glue. A depersonate god, a sterile god. An anencephalic god.
*(Hi,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
leora.)
We can dispense with this straightaway, because everyone (within a reasonable margin of error*) values chocolate ice cream.
H1: Atheists have no absolute values.
This is seductive, because justifying absolute morality is really very difficult, and anybody who has argued about it with a theist will have noted that the core of that argument is "God says so." But as this is a proposition whose truth value cannot be determined, it does not actually add much to the argument -- pointing to God does not solve the problem.
H2: Atheists may have absolute values, but they are unjustified.
I think I like this hypothesis best. If theists don't have to justify their values, why should atheists have that burden? Put another way, the mere fact that a philosophy is illogical does not automatically make it theistic.
On the other hand, it does make an interesting metaphor: god as the set of unjustified propositions about the universe that a person believes in. Not god the creator, necessarily -- god the glue. A depersonate god, a sterile god. An anencephalic god.
*(Hi,
leora.)