McDaniels

One of the most commonly debated and I suppose kind of stereotypical philosophy questions is "What is the meaning of life". Instead I like to use the phrase "What is the purpose of life"... It means more or less the same thing as why are we here.

I'm a very philosophical guy. I think about this stuff all the time... I hate the fact that I do, but its the way I am.

So my question for you guys is simply that, what is the purpose of life? There is no definitive answer so please keep that in mind. The reason I'm asking this is because my thought has led me to believe that there is no purpose to life and that has actually kind of made me depressed lately.

I'm 19 so I'm still learning and exploring philosophy (through classes at college and on my own). I was introduced to utilitarianism in class first semester and I really started to side with this philosophy later into the second semester.

Basically utilitarianism is the philosophy that maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain is morally good.

Here is the "purpose of life" thesis that I developed assuming that maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain is what is good in the world:

The purpose of the lives of all beings is to maximize the pleasures and minimzie the pains of all beings. In other words, all living things should strive to create a universe in which the most pleasure and the least pain is perceived by conscious beings collectively. Note that I say beings, which includes non-humans. I assume that animals experience pleasure and pain, although perhaps to a lesser degree than humans in many cases, but I don't think that humans are necessarily more deserving of pleasurable and pain free lives than animals simply because we are more intelligent (which is what a lot of people seem to believe.)

I accepted this philosophy for a while but then I realized that the perfect universe and therefore the universe all beings should strive towards creating is one in which the most pleasure and least pain is experienced by the most possible conscious beings. So what kind of universe is that? Well I think it would basically be some kind of universe in which brains, or some conscious object capable of perception, is simply stimulated to an emense degree continuously without percieving the world at all (think a brain in a jar that is somehow subjected to an enormous amount of dopamine release) in this scenario you would have vast amounts of conscious beings that are biologically engineered to derive pleasure from certain chemicals being subjected to massive amounts of said chemicals without any perception of the world (no sensory organs).

Obviously that doesn't sound attractive and it doesn't sound like something worth striving towards. So if that isn't the purpose of life then I feel that either there is no purpose to life other than our natural instincts to survive and reproduce or that utilitarianism is in fact wrong but I still agree with the moral philosophy of utilitarianism strongly...

So basically I have this dilemma... The moral philosophy that I believe to be correct leads me to a philosophy of life that my human brain deems not worth striving toward because my brain views a life without sensing to be meaningless.

I feel like my head is about to explode because logic and reason have led me to a conclusion that seems correct yet my brain can't accept it. I can accept a universe in which beings are hooked up to some kind of virtual reality (like the matrix) that creates a world for each individual that would give said individual the maximum pleasure and least pain they can receive, yet I can't accept the jump from that to brains in a jar. This problem is really frustrating me. I hate being the philosophical person that I am because here I am left with an unsolvable problem that does nothing but depresses me. I now think that there is no purpose to life... I should survive, reproduce, and die... And that depresses the hell out of me because I feel like I have nothing to work forward, bettering society is pointless and we should all just overdose on pills and end our meaningless lives... Terrible I know... This is what I think about every single day...

I feel like my brain is designed to seek the answer to this question tirelessly yet there is either no answer or there is an answer that, by virtue of its design, by brain can't accept. Thus I feel like a computer trying to calculate what 2 + 2 is yet in my programming I'm told specifically that the answer cannot be 4.

Ourcrazymodern?

What do you know to be real, McDaniels? I think that's the place to start, & ideate from there. Animal pains & pleasures, & all that. Humans' thinking about things are the only way we feel them more. Many obvious (to me, anyway) ideas about purpose are left in the dust storm of our disagreeing perceptions.

edit: Also:

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BE JUST AND FEAR NOT

chinese crested

Here ya go mcdaniels - does this help? I try to live by one rule - do no harm.

Plan9

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Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

Ourcrazymodern?

I have to disagree, Plan9, regarding the video.

Give me your money & your women, & I might return your women.

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LunarEclipse

This book may help alot, it is not long and very insightful: "Letters to a Young Poet" by Rainier Marie Wilke

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will find them gradually, without noticing it, and live along some distant day into the answer.

~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

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"Know thyself?" If I knew myself, I'd run away. ~
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Just_Moody

I've always wondered, why are we sentient in the first place? Is it a fluke of evolution or was it created or at least influenced by some outside force/entity?

---------- Post added at 07:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:38 PM ----------

I agree with this. It's similar to my current philosophy that I live my life by because I have also pondered what the meaning/purpose of life was, and realized that life on this planet is relatively insignificant to the rest of the known universe. A thought that made me feel depressed and pointless. Yet that is no way to go through life, so I just focus on the things that I enjoy and try to cause the least amount of pain possible.

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Charlatan

I don't think there is any Universal meaning to life. I do believe that this is the only one you have. It can be harsh, beautiful, funny, pointless and meaningful. It's what it is and it's what you make of it.

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Just_Moody

I will neither agree or disagree on that, but only because i do not have information that proves or disproves it. So I'm going to make the most of the one i have, just in case. needless to say i agree 100% to the rest of your post.

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Happy recluse

Wow, you're 19 and you've already concluded that the question cannot be answered? I suppose I made such claims at that age, too.

I have an answer that I'd like you to consider. Please examine the argument itself. The argument depends on the premise that God exists. I can provide detailed support later if you are interested.

The question, I think, begins with wondering why God made us. What advantage does he see in our existing? It seems that he is complete and so there is no need for us. So, God's making us must be because there is something that we can do, that he cannot do, and that he needs for us to do. Unlike God, we have a free will to choose good over evil or evil over good. God cannot such choices because he is perfect and so he has no choice but to do good, i.e., he cannot be tempted to stray from a good path.

Notice that God is all good, lacking even the option to be evil. That sense of "good" is covered by his existence alone. But there is another sense of "good," and that is being morally good which occurs when a free will being chooses good over evil. Thus, can make the best possible universe if he includes a group of free will beings and they consistently choose good over evil. The problem is that he cannot maintain our free will and make us choose good over evil. God then is in the position of making good possible by making us and then he hopes that we will choose good over evil.

Thus, the meaning (or purpose) of life is to be morally good. Nothing else matters.

Ourcrazymodern?

I don't want to disagree with you, Happy recluse, because I don't. If God, though, don't you think that concept alone has produced more evil than any other? "I, beneficent, will provide my creations with both the ability to do evil & have free will? What kind of pervert am I? Oh, that's right, they make up their own minds, since I created that." Please hear me: The purpose of life is to become Go(o)d, unless you don't care.

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KirStang

3 Succinct Views:

1.) There is no meaning/purpose to life. It's just crap we make up to make ourselves feel better.

2.) There is a purpose of life. To procreate and evolve. For example, going to space and establishing extraterrestrial colonies--thereby pushing evolution in a completely new direction. Or just to make babies that are smart and pretty and athletic.

3.) My personal view: To experience. Life is full of experiences. Good, bad, horrible. My purpose is to experience experiences. JM2CW.

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chinese crested

What makes you think that life has to have meaning or purpose. For many the fight is to continue to exist, and I doubt they think of questions of meaning and purpose, but just get on with it.
My love once told me 'life is for running at'.
As for bringing God into it - thats just dog backwards. I KNOW my dog is listening.

Just_Moody

The value of life depends on how much you think its worth.

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ASU2003

That is what I have come to figure out as well.

Also, to be successful. The definition of success is up to you.

Baraka_Guru

I think it dreadfully cliche when people think of purpose in life as though we are all born in the rather inconvenient situation of having lost our individualized instruction manuals when we were taken "out of the box."

And so the purpose is really "out there" and we all just need to find it despite being at the disadvantage of not being able to look up the instructions. This means that trial and error and discovery and adventure and asking questions are all part and parcel to seeking out this elusive purpose. But maybe....just maybe....we might stumble upon our missing instruction manual in a miraculous moment of serendipity. And, finally, we will see the light!

It's all rather tragic, of course, because one's purpose can only be found within---there is no manual to be found. There is only discipline, introspection, observation, awareness, and understanding.

These are not easy things, however, which is why we're susceptible to falling into the trap of believing purpose is "out there" and that things would be much easier if only we had those instructions, which never existed in the first place.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

samcol

Life is a test from God to see if we are worthy of his kingdom.

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Plan9

Hmm, what if there is no god and no kingdom?

Maybe life is a test of how well you handle life.

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Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

Walt

To provide you enough time to master shitting your initials. It's best not to overthink these things.

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Calmer than you are...

Plan9

Goddamnit, my initials have a lot of swirls.

You'd think it would be easier, right?

But then your artistic medium breaks.

__________________
Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

Ourcrazymodern?

When your medium breaks, you should hire a new one, or take it back for a refund, or maybe trade it in on a new one. I'm guessing McDaniels asked his (?) question sincerely.

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BE JUST AND FEAR NOT

lofhay

McDaniels, it is exciting that you are pondering such questions at such a young age. If you don't take it all too seriously, maybe you will not be depressed. Think of it as an adventure, a journey. You will never have concrete answers, but you can enjoy the trip. Don't mess up the time you have with worry about things over which you have no control. Personally, I take satisfaction in trying to make the world a more enjoyable place for all people in any way that I can--mostly by doing my thing (whatever that is) and avoiding anything that infringes on anyone else's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Have a good trip!

Ourcrazymodern?

^. "Comfort among those who agree with you" aside, belief in the future hasn't been promoted lately. If all the bad news comes from the "real" world, & ambiguous promises come from another place, how can we cling to what we don't love? I also wish you well. If you want surety, McDaniels, speak your mind. Those who challenge you will use your words in their own thinking.

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