Debunking the meaning of life

Post » Mon May 02, 2011 2:15 am

ITT: Teenagers wax philosophical with useless questions.

Who gives a toss about the meaning of life? Only religious nuts as far as I'm concerned. Philosophy ought to go back to what it originally was...it used to be art, mathematics, science, theology, and politics all rolled into one. Philosophy used to be about asking things like "why do objects fall" and "how does slavery fit into a moral society". You used to have to be a polymath to be a philosopher...now days kids think they can armchair everything.

Meaning of life. Feh.


You are partly correct. Philosophy was and is about asking questions about...LIFE. From this pursuit of answers all other sciences are derived.

EDIT: Sorry for the double post
User avatar
Dominic Vaughan
 
Posts: 3531
Joined: Mon May 14, 2007 1:47 pm

Post » Sun May 01, 2011 5:12 pm

Everyone's definition of the "meaning of life" differs. To me, the meaning of life is to enjoy it as much as I can before it's all over. To others it's about helping others or leaving a legacy behind. There's no single meaning to life, it's whatever you want it to be.

EDIT: To get slightly more cynical, there is no meaning to existance. Human life is just a random result of evolution, there's no greater meaning behind it, we exist, that's it.

I'm not going to go any deeper on that subject because it'll defiantely get religious.
User avatar
Cedric Pearson
 
Posts: 3487
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2007 9:39 pm

Post » Sun May 01, 2011 11:54 am

ITT: Teenagers wax philosophical with useless questions.

Who gives a toss about the meaning of life? Only religious nuts as far as I'm concerned. Philosophy ought to go back to what it originally was...it used to be art, mathematics, science, theology, and politics all rolled into one. Philosophy used to be about asking things like "why do objects fall" and "how does slavery fit into a moral society". You used to have to be a polymath to be a philosopher...now days kids think they can armchair everything.

Meaning of life. Feh.

Why can't it be all of those, and all of the things you hate and more?

;)
User avatar
Charlotte Buckley
 
Posts: 3532
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 11:29 am

Post » Sun May 01, 2011 11:55 am

To survive. Possibly to become omnipotent, but I won't go there.
User avatar
Caroline flitcroft
 
Posts: 3412
Joined: Sat Nov 25, 2006 7:05 am

Post » Mon May 02, 2011 3:07 am

Right, but if it is void of meaning that doesn't mean we can't make our own meaning right?

In my opinion, I think the OP's view on the "meaning of life", is confused with such things as goals and aspirations.

You can say, "The meaning of my life is to pursue my fishing career", but is that actually meaningful? To yourself, possibly. On a wider scale, possibly not.

In a way, I guess he is right. We make our own meaning. But to other people, our meaning, is meaningless to them.
User avatar
saxon
 
Posts: 3376
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:45 am

Post » Mon May 02, 2011 1:46 am

Assigning a greater meaning to life is logically impossible. Each person can assign a "meaning" to his or her life, but nothing will ever actually have "meaning". To any meaning, you can ask "but what is the point of that?", and continue for every answer given.
User avatar
Kelsey Anna Farley
 
Posts: 3433
Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2006 10:33 pm

Post » Sun May 01, 2011 5:43 pm

Assigning a greater meaning to life is logically impossible. Each person can assign a "meaning" to his or her life, but nothing will ever actually have "meaning". To any meaning, you can ask "but what is the point of that?", and continue for every answer given.

Then perhaps it is to ask questions. They seem endless enough. hahaha
User avatar
Brιonα Renae
 
Posts: 3430
Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:10 am

Post » Sun May 01, 2011 9:15 pm

Then perhaps it is to ask questions. They seem endless enough. hahaha

That, I think, is an excellent meaning to assign to life. Though, in the end, your questions and their answers will not mean anything either.
User avatar
benjamin corsini
 
Posts: 3411
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2007 11:32 pm

Post » Sun May 01, 2011 12:53 pm

...an artifical assertion that says nothing. It is the same as to say the purpose of existence is to exist.

Maybe when one is at the beginning looking forward, but not so when one is at the end, looking back.

The purpose of life, is to live it. And I make a serious distinction between having a life, and just existing.

That's my point.
User avatar
Beat freak
 
Posts: 3403
Joined: Thu Dec 14, 2006 6:04 am

Post » Mon May 02, 2011 3:32 am

All animals exist solely for the purpose of reproducing and passing on their genes. From the moment an animal is born to the day it dies, the only thing it was meant to do is reproduce, and it never thought that there was something more to life. But we humans are different from other animals in that we are sapient. Unlike the animal that spends it's whole life eating, moving around and reproducing, we have the ability to set our own goals for what we want to do with our lives. It's true that, like other animals, we really only exist to reproduce, but unlike other animals, we can make a conscious decision to live our life the way we want. We can refuse to reproduce if we want to, something that no other animal can do. In my opinion, for humans, the meaning of life is whatever you want it to be. We have the free will to set our own path.
User avatar
Soraya Davy
 
Posts: 3377
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2006 10:53 pm

Post » Mon May 02, 2011 1:06 am

That, I think, is an excellent meaning to assign to life. Though, in the end, your questions and their answers will not mean anything either.

Perhaps the meaning of life is that there cant not be a meaning of life.

I mean it's not like it will ever end, and all those meanings combine to form a super meaning?

Hahaha.
User avatar
SUck MYdIck
 
Posts: 3378
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2007 6:43 am

Post » Sun May 01, 2011 11:49 pm

ITT: Teenagers wax philosophical with useless questions.

Who gives a toss about the meaning of life? Only religious nuts as far as I'm concerned. Philosophy ought to go back to what it originally was...it used to be art, mathematics, science, theology, and politics all rolled into one. Philosophy used to be about asking things like "why do objects fall" and "how does slavery fit into a moral society". You used to have to be a polymath to be a philosopher...now days kids think they can armchair everything.

Meaning of life. Feh.

End of thread. What part of my instruction for no discussion of religion did you not understand?
User avatar
Kanaoka
 
Posts: 3416
Joined: Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:24 pm

Previous

Return to Othor Games