Question I am an Atheist, and a teacher of mine, got me to meditate on a paper-clip, his point being, that if you don't believe in an upper power, then unlike the paper-clip, which has a purpose, the human race is ultimately pointless. You live to die basically. What I want to know is, how would I combat such an argument? Thanks. Mark S.

Accepted:
November 17, 2007

Comments

Your teacher seems to have some argument such as the following in mind:

1) Things have a purpose only if some being gives them that purpose.
2) Therefore, humanity ("the human race") has a purpose only if someone gave it that purpose.
3) Only an "upper power" could give humanity a purpose.
4) Therefore, if there is no upper power, humanity has no purpose.

1) isn't as obvious as it seems, but let that pass for now. It would be odd to think that the human race has some purpose quite apart from anyone's intentions, and so 2) may be alright on its own. Even at that, 3) isn't altogether obvious. Groups can adopt purposes without someone imposing them, and so it could be that humanity -- the human race -- sets its own purpose, though there are some puzzles here. But of course, even if we grant the whole argument, all that follows is a hypothetical: if there is no higher power, then humanity as such doesn't have a purpose. If not, it's not clear that believing otherwise is a good thing.

There's more. Whatever might be said about the collective human race, we're autonomous agents taken one by one. Even if some being created us with a particular purpose in mind, it wouldn't follow that we should go along with it. At the very least, it would surely depend on the purpose! And if we can reject such externally-created purposes, they can't settle who we are. (This seems to be part of what thinkers such as Sartre had in mind.)

At least as important, we can create our own purposes. Even if we arose out of the slime of a godless universe, we do things for reasons, and some of those reasons can be good ones. HUMANITY doesn't need to have a purpose for YOU to have one.

Your teacher might reply that even if we can choose our own purposes, unless the right sort of Being exists, it will all eventually come to naught. Our goals and triumphs will all be forgotten as the universe glides to a frozen death. That may be so. But if it's so, wishing it isn't won't make it otherwise.