Are all atheists nihilists?

Tim the Skeptic · Post by **Tim the Skeptic** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 3:26 pm

Got this from Widipedia:

Nihilism as a philosophical position argues that the world, and especially human existence, is without objective meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, or essential value. Nihilists believe either (1) nothing exists (all there is is nothing); (2) the reality we humans experience does not exist at all as we see it; or (3) reality is unknowable, and thus understanding externality will always be practically fruitless and theoretically pointless.

My first thought is that all nihilists must be atheists, but not all atheists are nihilists. But I'm not sure why I feel that way. Any thoughts?

Grumpy · Post by **Grumpy** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 5:46 pm

Cathar1950

Don't panic!

Grumpy

Cathar1950 · Post by **Cathar1950** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 7:12 pm

I loved the book. liked the tv show very much and liked the movie.
I like the whale that is created by the improbility drive.

Grumpy · Post by **Grumpy** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:12 pm

Cathar1950

Douglas Adams was one of the greatest, if underrated, thinkers of our age. His books have an honored place on my shelf, though they are dog eared from multiple readings. Right up there with Red Dwarf and Buffy the Vampire Slayer(the series not the movie) for having hard nuggets of wisdom wrapped in a tasty sugar coating, yummy!!!

Just remember 42!!!

Grumpy

McCulloch · Post by **McCulloch** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:24 pm

I loved his "The Salmon of Doubt".

Cathar1950 · Post by **Cathar1950** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:51 pm

He is a classic. I like Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. too.
I was reading "time quake" and in it he say when speaking of his children "I know they call me Jr. behind my back".

Did we ever find out if atheist were nihilist?
What do they call people who think every one is going to be anialated
because they didn't perform some magic after being elected?
Optimist?

Grumpy · Post by **Grumpy** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 9:04 pm

Cathar1950

I don't know if this has anything to do with the topic(probably not) but my all time favorite author was Isaac Asimov. I met him about 5 years before he died and when I told him I had read all his fiction and about half of his non-fiction, he told me he didn't understand how I had any time for anything else. I bought him dinner and have never had a more interesting evening in my life. One of the towering intellects of our time, I cried like a baby when I heard his sickness had won.(I get verklempt just thinking about it)

Grumpy

Cathar1950 · Post by **Cathar1950** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 10:03 pm

He is a class act. Isaac Asimov I almost grew up with his work. I recommend his books on the bible.
I once got drunk with Marshall Mcluhan In Canada during the 70's at a conference. He died a few years later after a stroke.

Cephus · Post by **Cephus** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:11 pm

Grumpy wrote:I don't know if this has anything to do with the topic(probably not) but my all time favorite author was Isaac Asimov. I met him about 5 years before he died and when I told him I had read all his fiction and about half of his non-fiction, he told me he didn't understand how I had any time for anything else. I bought him dinner and have never had a more interesting evening in my life. One of the towering intellects of our time, I cried like a baby when I heard his sickness had won.(I get verklempt just thinking about it)

The funny thing is, one of my ex-girlfriends almost got delivered as a baby by Isaac Asimov. Her parents were good friends of his and when her mother went into labor at a convention, they weren't sure if they were going to get to the hospital on time and he was the only one with any sort of medical training.

Luckily, they made it.

Grumpy · Post by **Grumpy** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:09 pm

Cephus

The funny thing is, one of my ex-girlfriends almost got delivered as a baby by Isaac Asimov. Her parents were good friends of his and when her mother went into labor at a convention, they weren't sure if they were going to get to the hospital on time and he was the only one with any sort of medical training.

Luckily, they made it.

Yeah,but what a story that would have made!!!(assuming everything came out all right)

Grumpy

Cephus · Post by **Cephus** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 11:01 am

Grumpy wrote:Yeah,but what a story that would have made!!!(assuming everything came out all right)

Yeah, everything came out fine. They always had a bunch of stories like that, like hot-tubbing with Anne McCaffrey, etc. I ended up meeting a bunch of people through them.