so liek wat u guise think iz meaning of lief? 42? lol
but seriously what is the meaning to life? recently was reading Tolstoy's confessions for the sake of sating knowledge and it also happens to be one of sources I am using for my PHL 430 class.
anyway Tolstoy proposes that everyone asks the question what is the meaning of life? these questions drive us to the edge of course many of you are younger and don't have to deal with ideas of death etc.
finally he proposes that the meaning to life is indeed faith, which is why we see many people turn to religion and faith as to provide meaning to existence
The meaning of my life is what i plan on doing with it. I plan on helping others because i know i'm very fortunate while others are suffering. So my plan is to be a scientist make alot of money off of benefical inventions and then donate most of riches to charity.
Take a more nihilistic view man. If you help billions of people through your "beneficial inventions" they will eventually die anyway. It doesn't matter what you do, people are going to die. Hate to break it to you, but that is that.
Also, how do you suppose you will get the funding for these endeavours to help mankind? The world isn't a pretty place. I suggest waking up and smelling the roses. You may have all the most admirable intentions in the world, but that doesn't mean jack if you have no funding or an idea to put the funding into. You say you will come up with the "beneficial inventions" to help people. What will those inventions be? Would they be to bring water to the thirsty in Africa? What about a cheap shot for people suffering from mulitple diseases? Come up with a plan first, then worry about funding, and then marketing, and finally, actually doing something with whatever you invent. Don't just say, I will be a scientist, make cool stuff and save the planet.
if you have nothing to live for. then why live at all? what prevents you from killing yourself? i.e. there has to be a (possibly multiple) meaning(s) to life
@Kyouzou
I can see how people would see the need for faith to provide a reason to our existence. However in my opinion, there isn't a meaning to our lives, we are born, we exist, and eventually, we die. The only reason we even question our existence is because a hundred million years ago, we won the evolution lottery. It was nothing but chance, it could've happened to apes just as easily, and we would be the ones swinging in the tree branches and hurling feces.
right faith, actually. does not provide a reason. Tolstoy provides an example:
a man is running from a wild beast, and jumps into a well. he grabs on to dear life on a branch inside the well but sees a dragon at the bottom of it clawing only inches away. as the man is hanging onto the branch he sees mice (one black and one white) chewing at the branch and eventually he will succumb to death (the dragon). However there is a bit of honey on the wall and the traveler licks it with pleasure. however that honey does not taste as sweet because he sees that death is inevitable.
religion, however, can restore that sweetness of the honey. BUT doing so, it merely pulls the wool over your eyes, not actually provide answers.
Why not live life as an experience? It is the only one you will ever have, so enjoy it.
yes, this is what i was looking for because really you can't say there isnt a meaning of life. rather you can say everyone sets a different meaning for life, etc. cheers!
if you have nothing to live for. then why live at all? what prevents you from killing yourself? i.e. there has to be a (possibly multiple) meaning(s) to life
You're backing an assertion with an emotional "otherwise life is meaningless" which itself cannot be demonstrated. Why should I accept this premise that life must have meaning?
Second, without a God, there is meaning to life! Life's meaning is what you make it.
There seems to be some deeply engrained human tendency to have to "serve" some higher power which we cannot possibly know, comprehend, and that is completely better than us.
Now, tell me, how does this bring meaning to life? Does this not subordinate the human mind? How can this bring meaning to life at all?
My personal feel of the meaning of life is two parts:
One part is the scientific. Obviously the singular absolute need of every species, what they are programmed to do from the start is the procreation of their species.
Then there is the spiritual: The spiritual meaning of life is to be at one with your own spirituality. Whether you choose to believe in a higher power or not, this is a question that everyone asks themselves at one point in time. The questions of the supernatural. The human either wants to figure itself out. Some people let the mind take over and logic rule, which is perfectly fine, and some people look more at the spirit, and find a spirituality that they can believe.
You're backing an assertion with an emotional "otherwise life is meaningless" which itself cannot be demonstrated. Why should I accept this premise that life must have meaning?
No, im backing it with an ontological argument. because something prevents you from killing yourself >then its the meaning of your life.
There seems to be some deeply engrained human tendency to have to "serve" some higher power which we cannot possibly know, comprehend, and that is completely better than us.
Now, tell me, how does this bring meaning to life? Does this not subordinate the human mind? How can this bring meaning to life at all?
i never said it did, i said tolstoy makes the premise that faith must give meaning to life, however faith merely obscures death which renders the human not want to pursue the meaning to life question anymore, because it isnt needed. he is safe.
therefore if you've read MY premise around page 2-3. then you would've known that I believe in living life for the sake of experiences. as opposed to god or some other BS. I am no one's servant.
if you have nothing to live for. then why live at all? what prevents you from killing yourself? i.e. there has to be a (possibly multiple) meaning(s) to life
Well there is nothing that is will stop you from killing yourself, and people do kill themselves, even if it's rare. But, isn't being happy enough of a reason? And anyone has it's way of living happiness or bringing happiness to others. Of course you don't have to be happy, but who likes to suffer?
So this goes back to my point in which I stated that people make their own meaning of life so they have something to do during their lives. Others make a meaning to explain their actions or to put meaning in to it.
So this goes back to my point in which I stated that people make their own meaning of life so they have something to do during their lives. Others make a meaning to explain their actions or to put meaning in to it.
exactly, so you cannot have "no meaning" is what im trying to say
no, you can have "meaning" it is possible to have more than one, life isnt defined by one maxim, which is why this thread title was not THE meaning of life, rather it was just meaning of life. as in multiplicity in meaning.
because something prevents you from killing yourself >then its the meaning of your life.
Existence is better than nonexistence - NOT because some higher power tells you or wills you to live - it is because we have the capacity to feel happiness.
no, you can have "meaning" it is possible to have more than one, life isnt defined by one maxim, which is why this thread title was not THE meaning of life, rather it was just meaning of life. as in multiplicity in meaning.
yea, that's basically what I said in my first post.
The meaning of life is to pass on your genes and die. it is very simple. People can't face up to this and create all powerful beings who watch over them without realising that any being that powerful wouldn't bother himself with arrogant little monkeys who are so insignificant on a cosmic scale as shown by the picture on page one
Once again, I have not actually read through the previous seven pages, so I may repeat what others have said already.
Why does there have to be a meaning of life? We aren't special. We're just a species of animal that happens to be on a life-sustaining planet. Though I would say that we live so that the next generation will have a better life than us. That's probably our whole purpose here.
