The Human Question

One justification often offered by believers sounds something like this, "If I didn't believe in God then my life would have no meaning, but I can't life without meaning; therefore, I believe in God."  As stated it seems to be something like, "I feel like thinking this way, therefore I do so."   But it is helpful to compare this argument to the following argument, which commits no such fallacy: "If my life is meaningful, then there is a meaning for every other thing and for the totality as well; but my life does have meaning; therefore..." The above argument relies upon the reflective recognition of one's own life as being meaningful as a basic truth.  But it links this to a claim that goes beyond the individual who makes the reflection.  And the logical form is such that, to deny the consequent (i.e., that "there is a meaning for every other thing and for the totality as well") is to deny the antecedent (i.e., that "my life...