Do You Need God for Meaning and Purpose?

Authors

  • Gleb Tsipursky Ohio State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/eph.27424

Keywords:

meaning and purpose, secularism, science, naturalism

Abstract

While mainstream opinions and some scholarship suggests that we need God for a sense of meaning and purpose, this article proposes an alternative thesis. By digging into the data, it demonstrates how religious contexts provide the kind of atmosphere conducive to the development of meaning and purpose. Then, it shows that neither belief in God nor church attendance are needed for a strong sense of meaning and purpose. The article highlights how non-religious societies helped their members lead meaningful lives full of purpose. It ends with specific research-based strategies for reason-oriented people to develop a personal sense of meaning and purpose.

Author Biography

  • Gleb Tsipursky, Ohio State University

    Gleb's passion for helping people use science to find purpose and meaning, evaluate reality rationally, and make effective decisions led him and his wife, Agnes Vishnevkin, to co-found Intentional Insights in the Winter of 2014. Since that time, Gleb has collaborated with a group of like-minded enthusiasts to translate complex academic research on rational thinking and emotional intelligence into pragmatic tools and strategies relevant to a broad public. He was always excited about studying and promoting such ideas, leading him to get a PhD in history, and to research and teach students about meaning and purpose, decision making, emotions, and agency in various historical contexts. As a historian, he is in the fortunate position of having scholarly expertise in combining research from many different fields into a cohesive whole, and translation of this information for a broad audience. Gleb currently holds a tenure-track professorship at The Ohio State University and is a member of the Decision Sciences Collaborative there. He published a peer-reviewed monograph and dozens of articles in academic journals and edited volumes in the United States, England, France, Germany, Russia, and elsewhere.

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Published

2016-12-21

Issue

Vol. 24 No. 2 (2016)

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Tsipursky, G. (2016). Do You Need God for Meaning and Purpose?. Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism, 24(2), 167-176. https://doi.org/10.1558/eph.27424