Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T08:38:36.994Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Can non-theists appropriately feel existential gratitude?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2015

MICHAEL LACEWING
MICHAEL LACEWING*
Affiliation:
Heythrop College, Kensington Square, London W8 5HN, UK e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Does it make sense for non-theists to feel gratitude for their existence? The question arises because gratitude is typically thought to be directed towards a person to whom one is grateful. Hence the theist may be grateful to God for their existence, experienced as a gift. But can the non-believer feel something similar without being irrational? Can there be gratitude for existence but not to anyone? After analysing gratitude and how we can best understand the idea of non-directed gratitude, I discuss the conditions that need to apply for non-directed gratitude to be appropriate. I end by discussing whether theism provides a psychologically richer and more satisfying framework for understanding existential gratitude.

Type
Articles
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , June 2016 , pp. 145 - 165
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Badhwar, Neera K. (2008) ‘Is realism bad for you? A realistic response’, Journal of Philosophy, 105, 85–107.Google Scholar
Bertocci, P. A. & Millard, R. M. (1963) Personality and the Good (New York: David McKay Company, Inc.).Google Scholar
Bishop, John (2010) ‘Secular spirituality and the logic of giving thanks’, Sophia, 49, 523–534.Google Scholar
Blackburn, Simon (1998) Ruling Passions (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Colledge, Richard J. (2013) ‘Secular spirituality and the hermeneutics of ontological gratitude’, Sophia 52, 27–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cottingham, John (2003) On the Meaning of Life (London: Routledge).Google Scholar
Cottingham, John (2006) ‘What difference does it make? The nature and significance of theistic belief’, Ratio 19, 401–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cramer, Phoebe (2006) Protecting the Self (New York: Guilford Press).Google Scholar
Damasio, Antonio (2000) The Feeling of What Happens (London: Heinemann).Google Scholar
Damasio, Antonio (2010) Self Comes to Mind (London: Heinemann).Google Scholar
Dawkins, Richard (2010) ‘The greatest show on earth’, Lecture delivered at University of Auckland, 13 March 2010. Available at https://www.alumni.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/alumni/photo-galleries-and-video/public-lectures/richarddawkinsthegreatestshowonearthlive/richarddawkinsthegreatestshowonearthlive-1.Google Scholar
Dreyfus, Hubert, & Kelly, Sean Dorrance (2011) All Things Shining (New York: Free Press).Google Scholar
Emmons, Robert A. (2004) ‘The psychology of gratitude: an introduction’, in Emmons, Robert A. & McCullough, Michael E. (eds) The Psychology of Gratitude (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 3–16.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, Patrick (1998) ‘Gratitude and justice’, Ethics, 109, 119–153.Google Scholar
Fredrickson, Barbara L. (2004) ‘Gratitude, like other positive emotions, broadens and builds’, in Emmons, Robert A. & McCullough, Michael E. (eds) The Psychology of Gratitude (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 145–166.Google Scholar
Goldie, Peter (2008) ‘Misleading emotions’, in Brun, Georg, Doguoglu, Ulvi, & Kuenzle, Dominique (eds) Epistemology and Emotions (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing), 149–166.Google Scholar
Harpham, Edward J. (2004) ‘Gratitude in the History of Ideas’, in Emmons, Robert A. & McCullough, Michael E. (eds) The Psychology of Gratitude (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 19–36.Google Scholar
Haidt, Jonathan, & Kesebir, Selin (2010) ‘Morality’, in Fiske, Susan T., Gilbert, Daniel T., & Lindzey, Gardner (eds) Handbook of Social Psychology, 5th edn (New York: McGraw-Hill), 797–832.Google Scholar
Heider, Fritz (1958) The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations (Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum).Google Scholar
Klein, Melanie (1957) Envy and Gratitude (London: Tavistock Publications).Google ScholarPubMed
Komter, Aafke Elisabeth (2004) ‘Gratitude and gift exchange’, in Emmons, Robert A. & McCullough, Michael E. (eds) The Psychology of Gratitude (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 195–212.Google Scholar
Lacewing, Michael (2014) ‘Emotions and the virtues of self-understanding’, in Roeser, Sabine & Todd, Cain (eds) Emotion and Value (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 199–211.Google Scholar
Lear, Jonathan (1990) Love and its Place in Nature (Cambridge MA: Yale University Press).Google Scholar
Lenman, James (2008) ‘Expressivism and epistemology: what is moral inquiry?’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volume, 81, 63–81.Google Scholar
Lerner, Jennifer S. & Tetlock, Philip E. (2003) ‘Bridging individual, interpersonal, and institutional approaches to judgment and decision making: the impact of accountability on cognitive bias’, in Schneider, Sandra L. & Shanteau, James (eds) Emerging Perspectives on Judgment and Decision Research (New York: Cambridge University Press), 431–457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McConnell, Terrance (1993) Gratitude (Philadelphia PA: Temple University Press).Google Scholar
Mercier, Hugo & Sperber, Dan (2011) ‘Why do humans reason? Arguments for an argumentative theory’, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 34, 57–111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mill, John Stuart (1838) ‘Essay on Bentham’, in Stuart Mill, John, Utilitarianism and On Liberty, ed. Warnock, Mary (London: Fount Paperbacks, 1979 [1893]), 78–125.Google Scholar
Nakhnikian, George (1961) ‘On the cognitive import of certain conscious states’, in Hook, Sidney (ed.), Religious Experience and Truth (New York: New York University Press), 156–164.Google Scholar
Roberts, R. C. (2004) ‘The blessings of gratitude: a conceptual analysis’, in Emmons, Robert A. & McCullough, Michael E. (eds) The Psychology of Gratitude (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 58–80.Google Scholar
Roth, Priscilla & Lemma, Alessandra (2008) Envy and Gratitude Revisited (London: Karnac).Google Scholar
Saarinen, Jussi (2012) ‘The oceanic state: a conceptual elucidation in terms of modal contact’, The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 93, 939–961.Google Scholar
Scanlon, Thomas (1998) What We Owe To Each Other (Cambridge MA: Belknap Press).Google Scholar
Seligman, Martin E. P. & Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (2000) ‘Positive psychology: an introduction’, American Psychologist, 55, 5–14.Google Scholar
Solomon, Robert C. (2002) Spirituality for the Skeptic (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Solomon, Robert C. (2004) ‘Forward’, in Emmons, Robert A. & McCullough, Michael E. (eds) The Psychology of Gratitude (Oxford: Oxford University Press), v–xiv.Google Scholar
Solomon, Robert C. (2007) True to Our Feelings (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Steindl-Rast, David (2004) ‘Gratitude as thankfulness and as gratefulness’, in Emmons, Robert A. & McCullough, Michael E. (eds) The Psychology of Gratitude (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 282–290.Google Scholar
Streng, Frederick J. (1989) ‘Introduction: thanksgiving as a worldwide response to life’, in Carman, John B. & Streng, Frederick J. (eds) Spoken and Unspoken Thanks (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Centre for the Study of World Religions).Google Scholar
Taylor, Shelley & Brown, Jonathon (1988) ‘Illusion and well-being: a social psychological perspective on mental health’, Psychological Bulletin, 103, 193–210.Google Scholar
Taylor, ShelleyBrown, Jonathon (1994) ‘Positive illusions and well-being revisited: separating fact from fiction’, Psychological Bulletin, 116, 21–27.Google Scholar
Vaillant, George E. (1993) The Wisdom of the Ego (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press).Google Scholar
Von Tevenar, Gudrun (2006) ‘Gratitude, reciprocity, and need’, American Philosophical Quarterly, 43, 181–188.Google Scholar
Watkins, Philip C. (2004) ‘Gratitude and subjective well-being’, in Emmons, Robert A. & McCullough, Michael E. (eds) The Psychology of Gratitude (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 167–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weil, Simone (1956/2003) The Notebooks of Simone Weil (London: Routledge).Google Scholar
Wiles, Maurice (1986) God's Action in the World (London: SCM Press).Google Scholar
Wiggins, David (1987) Needs, Values, Truth (Oxford: Blackwell).Google Scholar