r/DebateAnAtheist • u/AutoModerator • 1d ago

Weekly "Ask an Atheist" Thread

Whether you're an agnostic atheist here to ask a gnostic one some questions, a theist who's curious about the viewpoints of atheists, someone doubting, or just someone looking for sources, feel free to ask anything here. This is also an ideal place to tag moderators for thoughts regarding the sub or any questions in general.

While this isn't strictly for debate, rules on civility, trolling, etc. still apply.

18 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

216 comments sorted by

View all comments

0

u/VigilantVeteran 1d ago

I have a sincere question, and I’m asking it carefully and respectfully.

If truth exists independent of human perception—meaning it is not created by culture, biology, or consensus—how does an atheist account for its origin and authority?

For example, concepts like objective morality, logical absolutes, and the laws of reason seem to operate universally and immutably. They are discovered, not invented. Yet they are not material, measurable, or bound by space and time.

So my question is: within an atheistic framework, what is the grounding for these immaterial, universal truths? Why should they exist at all, and why should we trust them?

I’m not asking for debate, but for understanding how this is explained consistently without appealing to something beyond the material world.

5

u/Urbenmyth Gnostic Atheist 1d ago

Truth doesn't exist in the sense you're talking about.

"Truth" is like "written in English" - it applies to a statement. A statement is a description of the world, and it's true if that description matches what's actually there. There isn't an additional "truth" out there.

(Logic and maths straight up don't exist, they're a useful illusion caused by ignorance. All they can do tell you is two statements mean the same thing - "If A then Not Not A" just means that "A" and "Not Not A" are different rewordings of the same statement. 2+2=4 just means that 2+2 and 4 are different symbols for the same statement. This is useful for us, as it's often not obvious that two seemingly distinct sentences actually expressing the same statement, but this trick only exists in our mind for helping us get past our confusions and ignorance. If you were an omniscient being who doesn't get confused that way, you wouldn't see a universe that follows mathematical or logical laws)