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 we do matters foreve...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2019
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| _version_ | 1826293194579509248 |
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| author | Mawson, TJ |
| author_facet | Mawson, TJ |
| author_sort | Mawson, TJ |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T03:26:21Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:b92a3518-1d7f-4648-a683-869f87157630 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T03:26:21Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:b92a3518-1d7f-4648-a683-869f871576302022-03-27T05:01:10ZDoes anything we do matter forever?Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:b92a3518-1d7f-4648-a683-869f87157630EnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordCambridge University Press2019Mawson, TJIn 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. |
| spellingShingle | Mawson, TJ Does anything we do matter forever? |
| title | Does anything we do matter forever? |
| title_full | Does anything we do matter forever? |
| title_fullStr | Does anything we do matter forever? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Does anything we do matter forever? |
| title_short | Does anything we do matter forever? |
| title_sort | does anything we do matter forever |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mawsontj doesanythingwedomatterforever |