I've been thinking about this for a while now. atheists don't believe in a deity of any kind, and therefore see no reason to listen to any religious doctrine. it also occured to me that they also don't believe in life after death. so my question to any atheist who reads this is: what is the meaning of life?
when I say this I mean why are we living, and sentient beings, if there is no real reason to be one?
(I would appreciate it if my fellow religious people here didn't post on here just to give their religion's meaning of life)
No growth would've occurred from them -- the Dark Ages for example.
Now now. The dark ages were a very complex period in history. The enlightenment and age of reason brought us out of them, and dogmatism was the primary doctrine of the dark ages, but it wasn't just "religion = stagnation", because that's stupid.
Now, onto the meat of the subject: the meaning of life. I don't know. No one on this thread knows. Just read their words and see how weak they are. Where's the conviction? They just want to show that religion is not necessary for meaning, and they're right. But you know what the most powerful words on this thread are?
"The meaning of life." Just compare the answers given to that phrase -- the meaning of life -- and see how inadequate they truly are. I don't mean this as an insult to my fellow posters. Indeed, matching the weight of that phrase is no small task. Of all the phrases in this language, I have yet to hear one that can stand by its awesome power.
But I've got to believe it's out there. I'm looking -- we're all looking. And threads like these, perhaps, help us a little bit.
okay, after a week of being gone, I have reviewed what you all have said.
I have to agree with xzeno, the phrase is to big to be answered simply, but I believe that it can be answered if given enough analysis. I asked this question in the beginning to also help solve another question on my mind.
the question I want to ask now is: why is it we humans are the only sentient creatures on earth? If evolution is correct, then at least one more species other than us has the ability to become sentient like us. so why haven't they done so, even after the millions of years of existience of life after the death of the dinosuars? religion could argue that since god made us lords over the fish of the sea, the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the air; god wouldn't allow anything to surpass us (this could be a basis of religion, but thats just semantics). but if religion isn't real, why isn't there another sentient species on earth that could prove this to us?
If evolution is correct, then at least one more species other than us has the ability to become sentient like us. so why haven't they done so, even after the millions of years of existience of life after the death of the dinosuars?
Because of humans. We have killed off quite a few species, domesticated many of them, drove the rest into a few wild areas left. We kind of messed up evolution. For example, we out competed and killed off the Neanderthals.
There are species that have developed a degree of intelligence, but they don't have the body combinations that we have (walking upright, digits, etc) to fully match us.
but if religion isn't real, why isn't there another sentient species on earth that could prove this to us?
It's not an if A isn't real, B isn't too argument. First off, not all religions teach that, so how can we be sure which is the truth? Second of all, the fact that there aren't any sentient species on Earth has no correlation to religion whatsoever as much as biology does.
why is it we humans are the only sentient creatures on earth?
I believe a lot of people consider monkeys sentient species, for their brain has practically the same abilities as the human brain. Note: I said practically, not equal. And also dolphins. (Someone will want a source on this, well I can't find it currently, just snoop around Google a little)
[...]but if religion isn't real[...]
If religion was real, there would still be only 1 sentient species on this earth. I remember not that anywhere in the Bible it said that there is another sentient species on Earth
the question I want to ask now is: why is it we humans are the only sentient creatures on earth? If evolution is correct, then at least one more species other than us has the ability to become sentient like us.
Well we're not the only sentient ones. Dolphins, Apes, and I think elephants are very similar.
Well we're not the only sentient ones. Dolphins, Apes, and I think elephants are very similar.
I think what he means would be why no other species has developed an intelligence on par with us, or advanced thus far, created civilizations, cultures and the lot.
Sentience can have multiple meanings, 18th century philosophers used the concept to distinguish think from feel, modern philosophy denotes it as the ability to have sensations and experiences, whilst animal rights activist consider it a central idea because sentience entails being able to suffer. More or less, all vertebrates are able to feel pain and sensations, so if you don't give us a more refined definition, we won't head anywhere.
why is it we humans are the only sentient creatures on earth? If evolution is correct, then at least one more species other than us has the ability to become sentient like us. so why haven't they done so, even after the millions of years of existience of life after the death of the dinosuars?
Well, the vast majority of living things are plants and insects, which do not have very large brains at all. Since we do know that our brains are our conciousness, we have to look at a few animals that have rather large brains. I believe some are Elephants, as well as Dolphins and whales, and some species of Great Apes, all have shown signs of intelligence.
One of the more notable examples are Great Apes who have been taught sign language.
Also, there then begs the question of whether we can recognize and understand the intelligence or even conciousness of other species aside from our own. If it's different and we're looking for something like our own, it would be doubtful that we would find it while looking for those conditions.
Well we're not the only sentient ones. Dolphins, Apes, and I think elephants are very similar.
I mean able to build, able to create, to actually control nature (to some degree) and not be subjuct to it. why is it none of the other species you mentioned at the same level we are?
we are considered sentient because we show thought that goes beyond the need for survival and procreation that was genetically bred into us. other species don't have that, but can be trained to have some bit of concious thought.
I know I sound kinda crazy for going on like this, but it is one of the many thoughts that have been eating at me since I was 14
we are considered sentient because we show thought that goes beyond the need for survival and procreation that was genetically bred into us. other species don't have that, but can be trained to have some bit of concious thought.
Because we just happened to evolve in a way that allows us extra time and resources other than staying alive to develop in other areas. As mentioned earlier, the Neanderthals and earlier primate-humans did, but we wiped them out.
I mean able to build, able to create, to actually control nature (to some degree) and not be subjuct to it.
And how would you, with intelligence that is far above all other animals so far as we know, make anything as a Dolphin or a whale? Nose it around at the bottom of the sea? Scoop it up in your fins? A large part of where we are today comes from not only our intelligence but our opposable thumbs as well.
Anyways, we are probably just a few million years further along in development than those species which I mentioned. We developed fast because we had to for survival. We couldn't climb trees to escape tigers, and bare hands against fangs doesn't go over so well. So we learned that if we pick up a stick or throw a rock we have a better chance of survival.
Think of it this way. If you left a newborn in the woods and it somehow survived, would it act any differently really than another animal? Sure you might say that it would do smarter actions, but then you have to compare those actions to that of other animals which are considered smarter than average. A very, very, very large part of what we consider to be human is just taught.
I mean able to build, able to create, to actually control nature (to some degree) and not be subjuct to it. why is it none of the other species you mentioned at the same level we are?
Why would they need to? We just happened to be very curious creatures who needed to make things to suvive. Because our lives were very hard considering we werent't really as stong as a gorrilla. We weren't as big as Elephant either. So we made things to be able to do what other animals could. This is what we have become along the way. I don't see how religion needed to play a part for it to happen. There are plenty of other possible reasons, but religion doesn't need to be the only one.
mean able to build, able to create, to actually control nature (to some degree) and not be subjuct to it. why is it none of the other species you mentioned at the same level we are?
Even crows can fashion create tools, Ants build huge colonies and farm them. At actually in some points in our history there were different "ancestors" but we either breed together or just killed each other off leaving either a different race or one that was evolutionary superior compared to the others. All other animals have been controlled by us so nothing has had a chance to evolved since we are artificially selecting them for different aspects.
we are considered sentient because we show thought that goes beyond the need for survival and procreation that was genetically bred into us. other species don't have that, but can be trained to have some bit of concious thought.
The assumption you make is that we are so much different than other animals. Fact is we really aren't. All we do involves social groups, procreation and survival.
we are considered sentient because we show thought that goes beyond the need for survival and procreation that was genetically bred into us. other species don't have that, but can be trained to have some bit of concious thought.
What definition of sentient are you using here?
1: responsive to or conscious of sense impressions <sentient beings> 2: aware 3: finely sensitive in perception or feeling
Other animals are quite capable of all the above. If you mean in the sense used in sci-fi where another species has similar qualities to humans or the Eighteenth century philosophers used it to distinguish the ability to use reason instead of feeling, animals are also able to do this as well.
Anyways, we are probably just a few million years further along in development than those species which I mentioned.
That's actually a bit of a misconception in evolution. We aren't further along than other animals, we simply evolved differently. In our case we got an overly developed brain in comparison to other animals while they in turn developed other features to achieve it's survival.
