Atheism Stack Exchange Archive

Are there any non-theistic philosophy which expound on an external source of meaning in life?

• posted by: blueberryfields on 2011-01-04
• tagged: philosophy, meaning
• score: 2

Are there any non theistic philosophies which still assume an external source of meaning or purpose in life?

Answer 1937

• posted by: Ustice on 2011-01-04
• score: 2

There are several that I can think of:

• Fatalism as fate doesn't have to be determined by a god.
• You could possibly consider Nihilism, although that has similar problems as considering atheism a religion.
• As has been discussed elsewhere several forms of Buddhism which lack a deity.
• As Borror0 mentioned, Naturalistic Pantheism might be as well, though it still worships an ideal.
• It might be a bit derivative, but there is the Jedi too. </ul></p>

  This list is far from exhaustive.

  ## Answer 1941 - posted by: [Rob Schneider](https://stackexchange.com/users/-1/149-rob-schneider) on 2011-01-04 - score: 1 **Altruism?** One might argue that the dyed-in-the-wool altruist derives/divines purpose by looking exclusively externally. What do others want me to do for them. ## Answer 1933 - posted by: [Borror0](https://stackexchange.com/users/-1/484-borror0) on 2011-01-04 - score: 0

  Depending on how you define non theism, you could argue that naturalistic pantheism falls into that category since their definition of god pretty much is "nature" and doesn't make any supernatural claims. To naturalistic pantheists, the meaning of life is the care and appreciation of nature.

  That's about the only one that I can think of though. All the other non-theistic philosophies I know of usually claims that there is no meaning in life or attribute the meaning of life to an internal factor.

  ## Answer 1940 - posted by: [ObdurateDemand](https://stackexchange.com/users/-1/524-obduratedemand) on 2011-01-04 - score: 0 External? What do you mean by that? All meaning is a function of language. You could take all the matter in the universe and chop it up into finer and finer bits ... and for the purposes of this explanation, all the way down to messing it about in a particle accelerator, and you'd never find a 'meaning' particle. (But, if you did... you have to cite me as prior art in your Nobel speech) So what do you mean by external? "Life" as an object, IE all of reality is meaningless (per above) and it's meaningless (external to self) that it's meaningless. Meaning exists in language, yours and others. So do you mean a source of meaning outside human language? ## Answer 1949 - posted by: [mfg](https://stackexchange.com/users/-1/135-mfg) on 2011-01-04 - score: 0

  Utilitarianism is a moral/ethical code that extends beyond the self for meaning or purpose. By definition, Utilitarianism includes the individual, but only as a part of the whole collective (the arbiter of consequential value). It, along with Pragmatism, are among the most common-sensical (i.e. they make intuitive sense, or they survive because they are useful) codes of conduct or evaluators of action.

  Utilitarianism (also: utilism) is the idea that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its usefulness in maximizing utility/minimizing negative utility (utility can be defined as pleasure, preference satisfaction, knowledge or other things) as summed among all sentient beings. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome. The most influential contributors to this theory are considered to be Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. wikip

  In terms of bringing them in line with some greater meaning to life (in general) neither one are particularly meant for that application. However, in terms of any philosophy, each is an application of thought, not a generator of greater value beyond isolated acts.

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