Personal Anti-Theism and the Meaningful Life Argument

Abstract

In a recent paper, Guy Kahane asks whether God's existence is something we should want to be true. Expanding on some cryptic remarks from Thomas Nagel, Kahane's informative and wide-ranging piece eventually addresses whether personal anti-theism is justified, where personal anti-theism is the view that God's existence would make things worse overall for oneself. In what follows, I develop, defend, but ultimately reject the Meaningful Life Argument, according to which if God's existence precludes the realization of certain goods that seem to an agent to constitute a meaningful life, it is rational for an agent both to believe that personal anti-theism is true and to prefer that God not exist.

The axiological solution to divine hiddenness

“…Privacy has been used to defend personal anti‐theism in the context of its connection to a meaningful life (Kahane ; Penner ; Lougheed ; Penner, forthcoming). If privacy is so intimately connected to the meaning of an individual's life, then if God exists her life would lose (or have less) meaning.…”

“… My claim is in the context of rejecting some of Myron A. Penner's () criticisms of Kahane's () Meaningful Life Argument. Penner claims that many of the goods associated with a meaningful life on atheism still obtain to a certain extent on theism.…”

“…Defenses of narrow anti‐theism typically focus on certain goods that only obtain in a full and complete sense on atheism. Sometimes these goods are explicitly connected to a meaningful life, such that one's life might lose meaning if it turns out God exists (Kahane, ; Penner, ; Lougheed, ). But the success of such arguments does not depend on the goods connection to meaning.…”

“…The goods discussed in relation to atheism often include things like privacy, independence, autonomy, and certain types of dignity (Kahane, ; Penner, ; Lougheed, ; Penner, forthcoming). I argue even if it is true that these goods only obtain at all or in an important sense on atheism, they can still be experienced on theism provided that God is sufficiently hidden.…”

Antitheism and Gratuitous Evil

“…Thus, it's rational for S to prefer that God doesn't exist. 11 (Where Ms refers to a set of subjective moral goods the obtaining or pursuing elements of which is essential for the life of some moral agents to become meaningful.) Premise (1) is obtained from the definition of Ms.…”