Does anything we do matter forever?
In this article, I consider the question of whether or not any action we perform matters forever. I distinguish two senses of mattering, which I call "relative" and "non-relative" mattering; and I argue that the answers one should give to the questions of whether or not anything...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2021]
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| In: |
Religious studies
Year: 2021, Volume: 57, Issue: 1, Pages: 83-100 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Religious philosophy
/ Plot
/ Meaning
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| IxTheo Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism AD Sociology of religion; religious policy |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In this article, I consider the question of whether or not any action we perform matters forever. I distinguish two senses of mattering, which I call "relative" and "non-relative" mattering; and I argue that the answers one should give to the questions of whether or not anything we do matters forever in these senses depend on one's world-view. I thus consider the questions from an atheistic naturalistic world-view and from two variants of the theistic world-view. Finally, I argue that on any plausible variants of these world-views, we either are already in or will end up in a state where nothing we do matters forever in the non-relative sense. And I consider whether or not it matters now that this is where we are or will end up. I conclude that on atheistic naturalism and on one variant of theism, it doesn't non-relatively matter now and on another variant of theism it does non-relatively matter now. I conclude that, on both variants of theism, it relatively and non-relatively matters at the time it obtains. |
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| ISSN: | 1469-901X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religious studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0034412519000039 |
