I’m confused by this question too. You are saying that looking for a “transcendent” purpose will make someone be “less selfish, more giving/ caring while also making him / her strive towards excellence”, but that humanistic philosophies will not. However, every humanistic philosophy I’ve ever heard of has, at it’s core, the stated intent of inspiring it’s adherent to be “less selfish, more giving/ caring while also making him / her strive towards excellence”.

So how does the question make sense?

Posted: August 18th 2010

See all questions answered by Blaise

You write, “[higher] purposes may make the individual less selfish, more giving / caring while also making him / her strive towards excellence, more knowledge etc.” In other words, you say non-humanistic values are good because they promote humanistic values. What other kind of goodness is there? Sure, if your belief in Zeus leads you to feed the hungry, that’s great. Belief in a nonexistent higher power is valuable only insofar as it betters the real world.

Atheism is about accepting what is instead of what would be nice. A purpose “higher” than life on earth certainly sounds nice (it’s higher by definition), but where’s the evidence that this purpose is anything but pure fantasy? Should I believe in a higher purpose without regard for whether such belief is justified? Is it better to believe in things because you want them to be true or is it better to believe in things because you think they are true?

You don’t say exactly what you mean by “humanistic”, but I wanted to add that there’s more to life than humanity. (I’m talking about plants and animals here, not angels and demons.)

Posted: August 16th 2010

See all questions answered by George Locke

What’s with the weird assumption that humanistic ideals are mundane and not ennobling?

Posted: August 14th 2010

See all questions answered by Mike the Infidel

I considered myself a spiritual atheist until about several years ago. I am entering my seventh decade soon and have been an atheist since earliest memories from the age of seven, that is, I have no god belief and can’t be bothered with gods. I gave up being an spiritual atheist, one that saw everyone connected to each other (yes, there are similarities, but really, we are all alone, we come into the world in that state, and we leave it in that state), where the common good was more important than individual desires (I now go for enlightened self interest, thinking about the group only works if you think about yourself also), because another atheist simply asked me if I believe in cabbage spirituality also! So funny, and so true.

Spirituality is special pleading for humans. We humans are such inflated creatures, we just can’t give up thinking that we are special. We just can’t accept reality and work with what we got. It is about time that we do.

Take it for what it’s worth, but I am much happier not being a spiritual atheist. I worry much less now. I focus on evidence and learning from my mistakes. Really that is all I need. The spirituality probably was derived from my being raised in a religious family/community where woo was embraced, instead of evidence, where one was encouraged to go with the heart/gut over thinking, where one’s self is considered to be unimportant, etc. In other words, it was just baggage for me, and I feel so much lighter without it. I help people better now because I think more clearly and my suggestions are based on reality.

The aspects of myself that I cherish is my empathy, my sense of irony, my love for metaphor, my ability to appreciate others, myself, and the 'littler’ aspects of living, my love for learning/learning from my mistakes, and my ability to understand non-verbal communication. These are not spiritual features, but they are good as gold.

Posted: August 13th 2010

See all questions answered by logicel