KingEbukasBlog:


OK



OK

Okay so are you backpedalling now or?

LightandDarkness:


Okay so are you backpedalling now or?

Its apparent you are intentionally misrepresenting my views .

KingEbukasBlog:


Its apparent you are intentionally misrepresenting my views .

It's literally what you said..

LightandDarkness:


It's literally what you said..

Do you believe that life is meaningless ?

KingEbukasBlog:


Do you believe that life is meaningless ?

Nope

LightandDarkness:


Nope

You are an atheist ?

KingEbukasBlog:


You are an atheist ?

Yes

LightandDarkness:


Yes

You do realize that denying the existence of a conscious intelligent creator of the universe actually means that you believe that life is meaningless.

KingEbukasBlog:


You do realize that denying the existence of a conscious intelligent creator of the universe actually means that you believe that life is meaningless.

It really doesn't. You are free to determine the meaning of your own life for yourself, everyone does, and you don't need a "creator" to do that.

LightandDarkness:


It really doesn't. You are free to determine the meaning of your own life for yourself, everyone does, and you don't need a "creator" to do that.

That is existential nihilism - it posits that everyone invents his own meaning to life . See ?

You can see the picture is getting clearer .

@LightandDarkness:

KingEbukasBlog:


Existential nihilism accepts the notion that the world is without meaning or purpose. But the individual tends to give his own meaning to life .
Its like saying 'hey man I know life has no meaning or purpose but I'm gona just live and try to do something with my life' .

But the existential nihilist sees everything , even his own efforts as illusions and if these are abandoned , life is revealed as nothing . Also , the existential nihilist can show extreme pessimism . Plus if an existential nihilist is overwhelmed by life's vicissitudes , he is likely not going to cope with it emotionally of course this can lead to depression , anger , bitterness and in most cases suicide .

The foundation is still the fundamental principles of nihilism , there's nothing spectacular about it .Some believe existential nihilism is impossible .

WTF?!

KingEbukasBlog:
@LightandDarkness:

KingEbukasBlog:

That is existential nihilism - it posits that everyone invents his own meaning to life . See ?
You can see the picture is getting clearer .

Actually what I described is existentialism not existential nihilism which are different philosophical thoughts.

Existentialism is the belief that through a combination of awareness, free will, and personal responsibility, one can construct their own meaning within a world that intrinsically has none of its own. Existentialism states that existence precedes essence, which means that first individuals are independently acting and responsible, conscious beings ("existence"—rather than what labels, roles, stereotypes, definitions, or other preconceived categories the individuals fit ("essence". The actual life of the individuals is what constitutes what could be called their "true essence" instead of there being an arbitrarily attributed essence others use to define them.

Nihilism on the other hand is first and foremost a philosophical doctrine that suggests the lack of belief in one or more reputedly meaningful aspects of life. There are different types of nihilism such as moral nihilism which argues that morality does not exist and existential nihilism. Existential nihilism arguess that life and existence has no intrinsic value BUT that is pointless and futile to try and create a purpose.

An atheist can believe in existentialism or [b]some[/b]of its concepts and argue that while there may not be an intrinsic purpose and meaning to life we are free to create our own. An atheist can also believe in any of the schools of nihilism if they so wish. However being an atheist doesn't automatically mean you are an existential nihilist, a moral nihilist, an existentialist etc. You can infact be an existentialist and a Christian at the same time.

Thank you so much for this. You certainly cleared up some confusion about the various categories for me.

Do you think it could be argued that any christian that has any ambition with his life besides getting to heaven is actually in effect an existentialist? After all they say that the purpose of life is to worship God and to get to heaven, so to have any other purpose, i.e to build a hospital to save lives etc, is in fact a purpose that they've created for themselves hence they are existentialists.

If that works I'll remember that for next time a christian tries to question the validity of someone else's morality or purpose.

LightandDarkness:



Actually what I described is existentialism not existential nihilism which are different philosophical thoughts.

Existentialism is the belief that through a combination of awareness, free will, and personal responsibility, one can construct their own meaning within a world that intrinsically has none of its own. Existentialism states that existence precedes essence, which means that first individuals are independently acting and responsible, conscious beings ("existence"—rather than what labels, roles, stereotypes, definitions, or other preconceived categories the individuals fit ("essence". The actual life of the individuals is what constitutes what could be called their "true essence" instead of there being an arbitrarily attributed essence others use to define them.

Nihilism on the other hand is first and foremost a philosophical doctrine that suggests the lack of belief in one or more reputedly meaningful aspects of life. There are different types of nihilism such as moral nihilism which argues that morality does not exist and existential nihilism. Existential nihilism arguess that life and existence has no intrinsic value BUT that is pointless and futile to try and create a purpose.

An atheist can believe in existentialism or [b]some[/b]of its concepts and argue that while there may not be an intrinsic purpose and meaning to life we are free to create our own. An atheist can also believe in any of the schools of nihilism if they so wish. However being an atheist doesn't automatically mean you are an existential nihilist, a moral nihilist, an existentialist etc. You can infact be an existentialist and a Christian at the same time.

LightandDarkness:



Actually what I described is existentialism not existential nihilism which are different philosophical thoughts.

Existentialism is the belief that through a combination of awareness, free will, and personal responsibility, one can construct their own meaning within a world that intrinsically has none of its own. Existentialism states that existence precedes essence, which means that first individuals are independently acting and responsible, conscious beings ("existence"—rather than what labels, roles, stereotypes, definitions, or other preconceived categories the individuals fit ("essence". The actual life of the individuals is what constitutes what could be called their "true essence" instead of there being an arbitrarily attributed essence others use to define them.

Nihilism on the other hand is first and foremost a philosophical doctrine that suggests the lack of belief in one or more reputedly meaningful aspects of life. There are different types of nihilism such as moral nihilism which argues that morality does not exist and existential nihilism. Existential nihilism arguess that life and existence has no intrinsic value BUT that is pointless and futile to try and create a purpose.

An atheist can believe in existentialism or [b]some[/b]of its concepts and argue that while there may not be an intrinsic purpose and meaning to life we are free to create our own. An atheist can also believe in any of the schools of nihilism if they so wish. However being an atheist doesn't automatically mean you are an existential nihilist, a moral nihilist, an existentialist etc. You can infact be an existentialist and a Christian at the same time.

interesting

PastorAIO:
Thank you so much for this. You certainly cleared up some confusion about the various categories for me.

Do you think it could be argued that any christian that has any ambition with his life besides getting to heaven is actually in effect an existentialist? After all they say that the purpose of life is to worship God and to get to heaven, so to have any other purpose, i.e to build a hospital to save lives etc, is in fact a purpose that they've created for themselves hence they are existentialists.

If that works I'll remember that for next time a christian tries to question the validity of someone else's morality or purpose.

No not necessarily. I think a christian existentialist, like all existentialists, must believe that it is impossible to rationally find inherent meaning in the world and any attempt to do so will fail. These links explain the ideas of christian existentialism http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/christian-existentialism-faq.htm and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_existentialism#Major_premises. This is interesting because if you are an atheist but also a rationalist you cannot actually be a pure existentialist so to speak in that rationalism believes humanity and the world can be rationally understood which existentialism believes to be impossible.

I would try and do a bit more reading on it, in all honesty it took me a while to get my head around it.

Grizzlybear promised me not to deactivate his account, he went back on that promise

hopefulLandlord:
Grizzlybear promised me not to deactivate his account, he went back on that promise

LightandDarkness:

[b]
No not necessarily. I think a christian existentialist, like all existentialists, must believe that it is impossible to rationally find inherent meaning in the world and any attempt to do so will fail. [/b]These links explain the ideas of christian existentialism http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/christian-existentialism-faq.htm and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_existentialism#Major_premises. This is interesting because if you are an atheist but also a rationalist you cannot actually be a pure existentialist so to speak in that rationalism believes humanity and the world can be rationally understood which existentialism believes to be impossible.

I would try and do a bit more reading on it, in all honesty it took me a while to get my head around it.

I get that, but I'm compartmentalising it. Where an existentialist may believe that it is impossible to find meaning anywhere in the world, I divide the world into compartments where the Christians finds meaning in the worship of God and trying to 'make heaven', while elsewhere (e.g like with civic duties, filial obligations etc) they do not find inherent meaning. So within the compartment, or limits, of Civic duty, say, they don't believe in inherent meaning so they are existentialists when they impute meaning to it.