There is no "meaning of life."

I

Irishdude

Member
I would like to put forth the proposition that life has no meaning per se. We are organisms living on a planet with a biological imperative to reproduce. Other than that, there is no "purpose" or "meaning" to life. We are not here to serve God, serve others, serve ourselves. We just are.

However...

We are able to give our own lives meaning through our actions. We delude ourselves that this is so, but this is a necessary delusion; otherwise many things would come to a halt.

We give our lives meaning by treating people decently, by helping others, by engaging in useful and/or creative activities, by learning about this amazing universe, and by doing what we can to protect the planet. We may also gain meaning by procreating and raising other useful human beings, although there is no judgment attached to that statement.

That's my philosophy on a 4 by 6 card. Your thoughts and comments are most welcome.
 

Irishdude said:
I would like to put forth the proposition that life has no meaning per se. We are organisms living on a planet with a biological imperative to reproduce. Other than that, there is no "purpose" or "meaning" to life. We are not here to serve God, serve others, serve ourselves. We just are.

However...

We are able to give our own lives meaning through our actions. We delude ourselves that this is so, but this is a necessary delusion; otherwise many things would come to a halt.

We give our lives meaning by treating people decently, by helping others, by engaging in useful and/or creative activities, by learning about this amazing universe, and by doing what we can to protect the planet. We may also gain meaning by procreating and raising other useful human beings, although there is no judgment attached to that statement.

That's my philosophy on a 4 by 6 card. Your thoughts and comments are most welcome.
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Humans evolved with a need to belong. Setting aside physical necessity, our consciousness seems to recognize that community has value. As such, we know that treating someone badly means we will be treated badly in turn, and is unhelpful. We are social creatures, for better or worse.

Procreation demands some kind of sociability. :D

But a life without a God isn't meaningless. When you think about it, each of us are part of a great celestial happenstance. In the vast regions of the universe, too huge to imagine, larger than our brain and imagination - here we are. You and I. How amazing is that?!?! How wonderful. We have been allotted a space in a history that was both before, and after us. And perhaps the point isn't to make a splash, to write ourselves into history, but instead to write nothing - to simply expand the line through our actions.

Life is never meaningless. IMO.
 
HermitHogan said:
We are here to make our dogs happy, since they bring so much joy to our lives. Some people are good, too, but all dogs are good if raised with love.
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1000%. I mean, if I found out dogs can't go to heaven, I'd stop seeking answers and write off the search. Dogs are so damn special.

I say that having had to shut my dog inside because it's going to drop to 40F this evening. He doesn't have the sense to not lay out under the stars.

Damn I love that guy.
 
HermitHogan said:
We are here to make our dogs happy, since they bring so much joy to our lives. Some people are good, too, but all dogs are good if raised with love.
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Let me add that we are also here, to make our cats happy. We love our cat and get so much love back from her, that all of us are happy.

We love a very special dog also and he loves us. This makes life important, not how much money you earn, how big your car is or how exotic your vacation destinations are. Just my two cents.
 
Irishdude said:
We give our lives meaning by treating people decently, by helping others, by engaging in useful and/or creative activities, by learning about this amazing universe, and by doing what we can to protect the planet. We may also gain meaning by procreating and raising other useful human beings....
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Since there's less and less of all of that going on, maybe things are coming to a halt.

Does it matter? If life on Earth came to a halt, would it impact the amazing universe at all?

I think the only way life on Earth could come to a halt is if the earth completely disappeared, which is impossible. Even if it imploded, exploded, or crumbled, significant bits of it would simply scatter, taking some life with it. That would have a very meaningful impact.
 
Irishdude said:
I would like to put forth the proposition that life has no meaning per se. We are organisms living on a planet with a biological imperative to reproduce. Other than that, there is no "purpose" or "meaning" to life. We are not here to serve God, serve others, serve ourselves. We just are.

However...

We are able to give our own lives meaning through our actions. We delude ourselves that this is so, but this is a necessary delusion; otherwise many things would come to a halt.

We give our lives meaning by treating people decently, by helping others, by engaging in useful and/or creative activities, by learning about this amazing universe, and by doing what we can to protect the planet. We may also gain meaning by procreating and raising other useful human beings, although there is no judgment attached to that statement.

That's my philosophy on a 4 by 6 card. Your thoughts and comments are most welcome.
Click to expand...
This is your introduction, so tell us a little more about yourself. Are you over 50?
 
Irishdude said:
There is no "meaning of life."

That's my philosophy on a 4 by 6 card. Your thoughts and comments are most welcome.
Click to expand...

Wow, it just fits on a 4 x 6 card if I don't print too big.

My college Biology professor opened the first day of class with that proposition. He went on to say that the only observable purpose we humans do have, is to reproduce. As a 20 something yr. old I thought that was a great idea..."practice makes perfect". ;););)
 
Meaning is language human thought phenomenon used to describe things, either physical or abstract.

Question as posed is awkward and flawed even though it is a favorite of philosophers.

By not being specific to an individual, as a loaded question, it assumes all people have the same or similar meaning versus one specific to individuals. It assumes we are talking about what life is as described by humans while ignoring the meaning of life for other life forms. If one asked that question regarding and to a tree, such would not make sense because plants neither think or have language even though they can chemically communicate. Likewise an ant does not generate meaning because it has no language though again they can chemically communicate. Thus this is a human limited question though a human could describe the meaning of life for a tree or ant.

We humans can generally describe life with exclusionary terms as "not dead" and replace that with a list describing various life biology phenomenon versus non-life. Purpose, goals, actions, and thoughts are different sub-subjects, though many may answer as though such is pertinent because the flawed question itself will tend to confuse as to what kind of answer is appropriate.
 
David777 said:
Meaning is language human thought phenomenon used to describe things, either physical or abstract.
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Rather than tangible things, I would argue that the word "meaning" is entirely conceptual, such as when one is asked "What is the meaning of life?"
David777 said:
Question as posed is awkward and flawed even though it is a favorite of philosophers.
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It has been pondered for many millennia. Probably indefinitely.
David777 said:
By not being specific to an individual, as a loaded question, it assumes all people have the same or similar meaning versus one specific to individuals.
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Politicians understand this very well. It's why they select very specific words and phrases when they make public speeches. Allying words like "we" and "community" and the words "my fellow Americans", and ambiguous terms that mean something to people because of their suppositions, but actually have no specific meaning, such as "values and ideas", "inflection point", "historic moment" or "historic transformation", and "restore trust". Even the words "progress" and "truth" become objective when a politician uses them.
 
The answer depends on when ( if), the question arises. Usually it arises when one is wondering about the meaning of life. But we have had millions on different moments in life. What is the meaning of life for a wounded soldier, winning a bronze metal, swimming in a ice pond, walking with your dog, sitting not doing anything. It is just another question that has a plethora of answers. :)
 
Irishdude said:
I would like to put forth the proposition that life has no meaning per se. We are organisms living on a planet with a biological imperative to reproduce. Other than that, there is no "purpose" or "meaning" to life. We are not here to serve God, serve others, serve ourselves. We just are.
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You can put forth the proposition. And I can đź’Ż% disagree with it. And I do. Our purpose in life isn't going to come up and bite us on the backside... we need to look for it. Yours won't be the same as mine, but how incredibly sad life would be if I'd think of myself as an organism floating aimlessly through my days with no purpose.
 

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