Personal Anti-Theism and the Meaningful Life Argument

Faith and Philosophy 32 (3):325-337 (2015)
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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.

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Myron A Penner
Trinity Western University

References found in this work

Should We Want God to Exist?Guy Kahane - 2010 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 82 (3):674-696.

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