Philosophy of Religion Research

Optimistic Naturalism and the Meaning of Life

Document Type : Original Research

Author

PhD Student of Philosophy of Religion, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Theories of the meaning of life can be classified into naturalistic and not-naturalistic ones. One of the most popular objections to the naturalistic ones is that they have no way to escape from the problem of the Absurd. But the optimistic naturalism as an idea that can be claimed on the basis of scientific progress and technological achievements, and also with commitment to naturalism, was to get rid of the problem of the Absurd. In this paper, with respect to Leo Tolstoy’s and Thomas Nagel’s views about the Absurd, optimistic naturalism, as Dan Weijers has theorized, is explained in an argumentative form. Also for evaluating Optimistic Naturalism in solving the problem of the Absurd, I have analyzed the sematic, epistemological and anthropological bases of the theory and shown that, contrary to Weijers, it cannot solve the problem of the Absurd. Rather, it can be counted as an evidence for verifying that Naturalism is incapable of coping with the problem.

Keywords

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Philosophy of Religion Research
Volume 14, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
May 2016
Pages 143-164