What is the Purpose of Life?

[DarkRiku-12]

to masturbate into a jug

I'm the most meaningfull person I know.

 

[Orion]

Think about it: If purpose simply meant the intentionality imposed on an object(including people) at any time, by anyone, then the question "what is the purpose of life?" is a rather dull and almost trivial one.

Of course it is, because when there does not exist an objective or declared-upon-high purpose of life.

And so the concept of purpose really loses that poignancy which we seem to give to it.

Well, the concept as related to a particular thing is bound to lose that when it does not exist in the first place.

Again, if purpose is simply a relativistic notion (as your example implies), then why would we even bother asking what the purpose of life is?

Because we want to know what we're here for, that we're important, that we are significant in some way outside of what we directly contribute to society or how we co-exist with our relatives, friends and other groups.

or the purpose of anything for that matter?

Because the entire question of the purpose of life stems from a time when widely-accepted religious doctrines declared purposes for everything. Even when humanity began to move away from such beliefs, the same question as to the purpose of life was still asked because it was so ingrained in our process of discovering out place in the world.

But notice, we ask what THE purpose of something is. We don't ask what A purpose is, we ask for one objective answer.

There isn't one. That's why it's all up for debate and interpretation for people to decide whatever property of an object most closely relates to its 'purpose'.

But the fact is that we ARE asking for a single universal answer, precisely because our concept of purpose isn't the one you propose. At least that's what seems most plausible to me.

But at that other concept of purpose is not one that can be answered or defined, because nothing has an objective purpose, and even on an individual human level there is not a single purpose, meaning and/or function that applies to everyone.

My point is that if the word purpose really meant what you take it to mean, then we wouldn't even bother asking the question "what is the purpose of life?". And yet, the fact that we have been asking this question throughout human history seems to me a good indicator that you are not actually addressing what we indeed mean by the word "purpose".

Regardless of what my stance is in regards to the purpose of something (and what purpose actually is) - it doesn't change the fact that the majority interpretation of purpose requires a creator; for objects forged naturally and artifically, and for humanity and the universe itself, and for anything not forged by living things, and even living things themselves, we know there is not a single, objective purpose. The closest that can be gotten to that is a subjective majority consensus, and even that still isn't anywhere near an objective purpose.

What do you mean by this? You have made it your purpose?

If by saying you've made it your purpose to be intelligent, creative, and compassionate (one could certainly argue whether you can just "decide" to be creative and intelligent), you're simply asserting that you want to lead a life in which you live up to those standards, then I would say you've set goals for yourself. But I am not sure the concept of "goal" equates with "purpose".

The point of this statement was that the idea of a purpose of something as simple and expressly made as a tool is not an idea equally applicable to life or humanity. To give a 'purpose' to life or humanity, you need define purpose differently.

Besides, I don't think you really believe you've created a new entity. If I showed you a picture of when you were a kid and asked you who that was you would undoubtedly answer "me". Change is a tricky issue, and I'd rather avoid the metaphysical debate that will come of discussing it (which also involves the philosophy of time), since I get enough of that in school. Suffice it to say that there is a sense in which changing something about yourself makes you into a new person, but committing yourself to the idea that you've created a "new entity" is actually very counterintuitive and problematic and you should consider the implications before making the claim.

Yes, I will admit the phrasing was awkward, but with every change that comes about in a person in some way or another makes a new being that is different from its 'predecessor'.

For example, when you say the statement "I've created a new entity" it would technically be the new entity asserting, but the one who did the creating was the old-you, not the new-you so how could the new-you make the assertion using the word "I" when it in fact wasn't the new-you at all doing the creating?

oh god my head you're right i shouldn't have brought this up
Yeah, it's a sort of idea that applies here but not there, which isn't the best sort of idea, but I feel it is in some places a good/apt one. In some aspects, I am the (though not same) being a I was years ago, with different physical and psychological makeup. While I was that being of yore and thus stem from them, I must acknowledge that if some kind of block was driven between old-me and new-me, thus eliminating or at least briefly hiding the progression from old to new, we are entirely different people.

Not to mention that at every single moment we are changing physically, molecules move, cells restructure, atoms, protons, electrons, etc. We are not static beings, so literally every moment in time you are not the same as you were a moment before (moment is a vague and very problematic term, but for now and for argument's sake take it to mean an incredibly, ridiculously small unit of time). Therefore if you're committed to the view that a change constitutes the birth of a "new entity", then there is no "you" except for a brief moment in time, after that moment you would be (quite literally) a different person, and the moment after that another person again, and so on.

Well, yeah, humans are dynamic beings at every level of their being, be it physical, psychological, societal, and what have you.

This is essentially the rejection of the idea of persistence, once of the most basic and fundamental intuitions we have. We inherently believe that things persist. If I see that the tree in my backyard is green in spring, and I come back in fall and it's red, I assume it is still the same tree, it seems silly to think that the old tree popped out of existence and a new, almost identical, red tree took its place (though it is certainly a logical possibility, nobody really believes that, even if they say they do).

I do not consider things as literally, objectively a new being - I don't take such a stance as to subscribe to it literally. It might be better to say the dynamic and static elements of people or things persist. Though we are always changing, there always remain commonalities in some form.

Notice that if you reject persistence, the words "I" or "you" or any similar word would become rather obsolete, because even as you would utter the word "I" you'd be changing, hence it would be a different person as the word "I" leaves your lips, hence by the time you finish uttering "I", the word would lose all meaning since the person being referred to by the word wouldn't be the same person saying it at all -- and yet I is a self-referring term, meaning the person uttering it is the one being referred to by the word.

As mentioned previously, I don't subscribe to the idea literally, and I see it as a hybrid of what is/isn't 'us' and what used to be 'us'. Were I to say I or you with regard to a literal interpretation of this idea, then 'I' would be referring to the parts of me that have persisted at some stage or another. At one point in time, there would always be at least two persisting stands of my being, the early and later parts of which overlap, as well as those strands with others forwards and backwards in time.

After all the idea of creating a new entity is incompatible with the idea of persistence through time.

Literally, it would be. But for me the commonalities between successive entities that would otherwise be entirely separate beings define their persistence.

 

[Professor Ven]

Purpose of Life


You emerge victorious from the womb.

You learn, gain a personality, interact with other people, attempt to gain a status of influence among millions of other crying voices.

You go into the bonking dirt in utter defeat.



Life goes on.​

 

[JustDarkMemories]

The purpose of life... is a tree in the desert with no leaves and no roots.
Meaning: The purpose of life does not exist, people created the illusion of "the purpose" to have something to hold on for their lives to go on with a purpose.
It's like dividing by zero, the purpose of life is the purpose of life.

 

[Love Machine]

Or we could stop thinking and start living.

 

[Chuman]

To live. Life isn't a video game, it doesn't need a purpose. But to compare it to video games, life is an MMO. You just keep grinding, but there isn't a real point.

 

[Love Machine]

when we die we get mashed into bits and put into soy sauce.

that, or our souls go into the next vessel available, and then when the planet dies we venture out into space.

or maybe we just go to heaven who knows

 

[king_mickey rule]

The real purpose of life is basically live, be the being that you are, nothing more to it. However there are many ways to achieve this goal and there are also many different ways to look at this goal (depending on your morality etc.).

But people gave life a whole other meaning when love was introduced. Not only romance, I mean friendship too. Caring about people, this is where you give life a 'secondary' purpose and help others, searching for your soulmate, that kind of stuff. However these are the things that make us feel alive, these are the things that make us feel good and relevant/useful, therefore this is probably the most meaningful way to live your life even though it is not the main purpose.

That's how I think about it. Friends/loved ones are so crucial in life nowadays, can't imagine a day without having these people around me.

 

[Ðari]

Necessity is a good definition.

Now its mainly about securing independence, financial stability, an education, and a later commitment with reproduction for them to do the same thing respectively.

 

[Chuman]

I know I have previously posted, but allow me to rephrase it. The purpose of life, is itself. Tell me, most people wonder about the afterlife, and this, I believe, is the issue. There may be a heaven and a hell, there may be nothing but an abyss, there may be us just becoming reborn, there may even be none of those possibilites, but all I know is that the live we are currently living, is ours. We can worry about "life after death" when it is close. But for now, just enjoy it and make the best of it. I have been pondering life myself lately, and this is my ultimate answer: Who really cares? Well, I hope I helped answer you're question, good luck, and I hope you find meaning and peace from this.

 

[inasuma]

I know I have previously posted, but allow me to rephrase it. The purpose of life, is itself.

 

[Mirby]

I think we all have our own purposes in life.

I find mine to be to bring joy and laughter to those I know, and in my own way attempt to make the world a better place. Even if only a few remember me, the memory itself will last and spread, and hopefully inspire those holding the memory of me to do their part to help.

Cheesy as it may be, this is just how I feel. And it feels right.

As for everyone else... I can't speak for them nor what their purposes may be. I just hope that everyone finds their purpose someday, before it's too late to matter.

 

[Zephyr]

The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose. Hmm but personally I feel it all depends on your preferences and what you personally want to do. There is no one dimensional exact way because we all have different minds with different ideas, perspectives, etc.

 

[Ovafaze]

There isn't just one answer to that, you have to ask each individual person on earth. Some believe we are just here and have no purpose, others believe everything happens for a reason and we're all destine to impact the world in some way.

 

[Neo]

"What is the purpose of Life" Is one of those questions which you can't answer, Maybe there is a purpose of our existance, maybe not but we'll never know for sure, But since we are here already why not just try to live out our lives as well as possible before we die.