What if God was all of us? Why the definition of ‘God’ matters in analytic discussions of meaning in life

IF 0.5 2区哲学 0 RELIGION

RELIGIOUS STUDIES Pub Date : 2023-10-06 DOI:10.1017/s0034412523000859

Asheel Singh

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract Contemporary analytic treatments of meaning in life in the English-speaking Anglo-American-Australasian tradition have largely proceeded from the atheistic and naturalistic assumptions common to the sciences. With the recent publication of Seachris and Goetz's God and Meaning (2016), T. J. Mawson's God and the Meanings of Life (2016), and Thaddeus Metz's God, Soul and the Meaning of Life (2019), more analytic philosophers might be drawn to (re)examining what role, if any, God might play in life's meaning. But the focus tends to be on ‘God’ as understood in the Abrahamic faiths. Examining meaning in the light of another concept of God, familiar to billions of individuals in various Eastern religions and intellectual traditions, might offer useful insights. I have two principle aims in this article. First, I describe an ancient Indian concept of ‘God’, showing how it radically differs from the concept of God currently under examination by philosophers of meaning. Second, I offer a novel case for why and how this concept of ‘God’ could fruitfully contribute to analytic discussions on God's possible role in life's meaning.

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如果上帝就是我们所有人呢?为什么“上帝”的定义在生命意义的分析讨论中很重要

在英语-盎格鲁-美国-澳大拉西亚传统中，当代对生活意义的分析处理在很大程度上是从科学中常见的无神论和自然主义假设出发的。随着最近Seachris和Goetz的《上帝与意义》(2016)、t.j. Mawson的《上帝与生命的意义》(2016)和Thaddeus Metz的《上帝、灵魂与生命的意义》(2019)的出版，更多的分析哲学家可能会被吸引去(重新)研究上帝在生命的意义中可能扮演的角色(如果有的话)。但重点往往是在亚伯拉罕信仰中理解的“上帝”。从另一种上帝的概念来审视意义，这种概念为各种东方宗教和知识传统中的数十亿人所熟悉，可能会提供有用的见解。我写这篇文章有两个主要目的。首先，我描述了一个古印度的“上帝”概念，展示了它与目前意义哲学家所研究的上帝概念有何根本不同。其次，我提供了一个新颖的案例，说明“上帝”这个概念为什么以及如何能够有效地促进对上帝在生命意义中可能扮演的角色的分析讨论。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

RELIGIOUS STUDIES RELIGION-

CiteScore

1.20

自引率

33.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Religious Studies is an international journal devoted to the problems of the philosophy of religion as they arise out of classical and contemporary discussions and from varied religious traditions. More than 25 articles are published each year, and the journal also contains an extensive book review section.