The Meaning of Life

Discussion in 'General Philosophy' started by Leviticus, Mar 10, 2004.

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  1. wesmorris Nerd Overlord - we(s):1 of N Valued Senior Member

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    Sorry. My purpose is to refute that statement, so my real purpose is to refute that statement. I probably should attempt to pass my genes, but I can't really afford it now so I'm gonna have to wait a while. Hell I might not even pass them ever again. Looks like your quoted purpose is secondary at best for a conscious being (self-awareness/language I mean) eh? Hmm. Rather, if I'm able to set my own purpose, your assertions to the contrary are simply irrelevant. Obviously if I can choose not to reproduce, I can ignore what you claim is my purpose in lieu of my own.

    That's only true from a narrow perspective which includes a presumption you cannot back up. You claim knowledge of design, which is wholly invalid. You can infer whatever you like.... well perhaps you just chose a bad word. "design"? Maybe you should reconsider that word?

    Says you. I'm also a teacher, an entertainer, a lover, a philosopher, a jackass, blah blah blah and while that may not matter to you, that does not mean it isn't real.
     
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  3. Greco Registered Senior Member

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    life is like watching a football game, the players are intend on the strategy of the game and experience a myriad of emotions and feelings among these pain and tragedy. On the other hand the fans watch the game and analyse the plays but do not share the experience of the players. In life you're either a player or an observer. When you begin analysing you reduce the experience of living and vice versa when you're playing you reduce your analysing. Another words stay active and do things and stop asking what is the meaning of life.
     
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  5. wesmorris Nerd Overlord - we(s):1 of N Valued Senior Member

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    The best players usually spend a shitload of time watching tape of the other great players, themselves... etc. They spend a lot of time studying the game. As such, I think it's most excellent to stop and ask questions about the fundamentals from time to time, and if you're a coach, maybe you spend most of your time with those kind of questions. *shrug*
     
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  7. Fukushi -meta consciousness- Registered Senior Member

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    AND forks,...don't forget!

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  8. John Connellan Valued Senior Member

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    No its not. That is an action u took at this time. Not your purpose

    Good for u. Many people don't u know. Especially priests

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    No, but it looks like ur not reading words carefully again!

    U cannot set your own purpose. U did not create yourself for a purpose. Something else did

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    I am not claiming its your purpose, believe me. It IS your purpose!!!
    U can choose not to fulfill your purpose if u please

    I am sorry, design is NOT the word I intended there. I suppose 'apparent design' would be better. But the preumption I am claiming is evolution. Not oo far fetched if u ask me!

    Why d u feel it doesn't matter to me? I may not be as good a lover as u

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    but I am also a musician and am passionate about it. Its just that I know where that passion stems from.
     
  9. wesmorris Nerd Overlord - we(s):1 of N Valued Senior Member

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    Yes I can. You said it yourself:

    Isn't that choosing a purpose? Make up your mind damnit!

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    Why does that matter? I am me now, and can choose whatever purpose I desire.

    Oh? How do you know?

    Yes you are. You just did it a bunch of times. Who is not paying attention?

    Why should I believe you? Nothing personal, but I think I understand this issue significantly more clearly than it seems that you do. *shrug*

    "believe me"? That's not real convincing!

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    At best it is part of my purpose, and even that is debatable.

    But I thought you said in the other thread that you don't believe in free will.

    Here:
    Make up your mind damnit!

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  10. Fukushi -meta consciousness- Registered Senior Member

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    Don't we have a psychology-section for this?

    -oh,...no we don't-
     
  11. Votorx Still egotistic... Valued Senior Member

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    Yes. It would.
     
  12. John Connellan Valued Senior Member

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    no I didn't. Read it again. 2 different sentences.

    No it isn't. Thats why we have 2 different words. 'Choose' & 'Fullfil'

    No, u can choose what to do with your life (for the sake of this thread) but in my mind thats not your purpose. I think we are disagreeing on a semantics issue

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    Because biology textbooks pretty much tell us our purpose. Read Dawkings 'Selfish Gene' if u must. (I didn't but I know what its about anyway.)

    U aren't! U took this out of context. The word claim is generally used for people who have come up with a theory. I am saying I am not claiming this because I don't need to. Whatever I say, it IS your purpose and has been scientifically shown to be valid.

    Becasue of the above. I am thinking the same way, exept I think I know it significantly more than u

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    I say that when i don't want to go into it in any more detail than is necessary. As u can see its quite convincing

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    It is ALL ur purpose but I'd like to see how u would debate that its not even PART of our purpose! I think u are taking this personally now and are just going in the opposite direction. Very unscientific.

    for the sake of this argumant I was going to assume there is free will in our choices. Go to the other thread if u want to keep talking about the validity of that theory.
     
  13. antifreeze defrosting agent Registered Senior Member

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    1. the fork can assign itself a purpose i guess, but given that all forks can now assign their own purposes, would all forks have the same purpose?
    2. i don't think that my capability of performing a function would make it my purpose. purpose to me means a function which one has no choice but to fulfill. and just because i can reproduce, does not necessarily mean i will. i think viruses are key to this issue. are viruses alive?
     
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2004
  14. wesmorris Nerd Overlord - we(s):1 of N Valued Senior Member

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    I don't think so, as forks demonstrate no capacity for self-awareness.

    No. If they could think, they'd think up their own purpose based on their experience, I don't think they'd have a choice but to choose.

    But your function is to undertake that which your mind finds to be objective good. That part you are locked into. It's utterly insipid in that no matter what action or thought you undertake, your mind deemed it worthy of undertaking, so it must have been found to be worthy of undertaking. It is your purpose to undertake this function of performing that which you deem good (even if you don't consciously think it as such). It's not about capability, it's about "this is how it works" (as I see it anyway).

    Dig that. Now if you consider the above in the case where one's conscious effort are aligned with one's actual actions, you can see how one can define one's own purpose. Given the proper amount of will, I can make it to where I have no choice but to attempt to fullfill my intention.

    We should probably though, consider the source of purpose. Is there not a connotation to the word that implies 'intent'? Where does intent come from. Do you think nature provides it? I THINK NOT. Nature provides conditions. Consciousness provides intent. As such, it is my opinion that purpose is dynamic and created upon intent, which only resides in a conscious mind. A charging bull performs its function and its function is its purpose as seen from a conscious mind, otherwise purpose is no issue as the concept never comes into play.

    That whole deal probably needs to be explored some more.

    Then you'd agree that reproduction isn't the sole source of behavior.

    Yes I think viruses are alive. I don't know why they are key though.
     
  15. Imagineth Registered Member

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    The purpose of life is "purpose" its self. Would God create such a vast and wonderous universe and no "purpose?" Then it would just be a universe of light and dark and nobody to appreciate it. To God, the universe is simple and without life it be without purpose. You will never get me to believe that God would do something for no purpose.
     
  16. wesmorris Nerd Overlord - we(s):1 of N Valued Senior Member

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    That's kind of interesting, but I dunno about that. You must mean human life?

    What makes you think you can comprehend the "choices" or "actions" of "god"?

    Don't you think it's a bit presumptuous to speak for your deity?

    You will never get me to believe that you or any other human has a remote clue what "god" might have been "thinking" as I'd guess that if there were such an entity, the term "thinking" as we know it would basically be like comparing the way a bacteria "thinks" with how I think.
     
  17. Fukushi -meta consciousness- Registered Senior Member

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    There is no GOD

    there can be life without pupose,

    there can be purpose without life.

    Life does not imply meaning, nor does it imply purpose.

    If you can't get this into your friggin head without help from your personal shrink "GOD" then maby you should try psychiatric help; DEVIL.
     
  18. wesmorris Nerd Overlord - we(s):1 of N Valued Senior Member

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    That is as asenine as saying "god is good".

    I agree.

    Please demonstrate how that is possible. I don't see how it is possible. Purpose is the result of intent which is the result of life. The only possible exception I see is AI, but I would consider true AI to be alive so...

    I think maybe life implies the existence of meaning, but not the meaning itself no. Not sure what you mean.
     
  19. Fukushi -meta consciousness- Registered Senior Member

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    One entry found for asinine.
    Entry Word: asinine
    Function: adjective
    Text: Synonyms SIMPLE 3, brainless, fatuous, foolish, mindless, silly, unwitty, weak-headed, weak-minded, witless
    Related Word puerile; absurd, irrational, unreasonable
    Contrasted Words prudent, sage, sane, sapient, wise; clever, intelligent, knowing, smart; rational, reasonable

    So you say I'm stupid? Just because I state the obvious that there is no GOD?

    You silly man!

    Purpose without life: there is no life in a fishing-net, still it SERVES a purpose. Take any object out of nature: the purpose of the fish is it to swim around, to have babies or to get eaten by an animal from a higher position in the food-chain?

    Definately for the human, the purpose of this fish is to land on a plate, preferably with a nice sauce and some vegetables.

    Then: you could say the purpose of nature is to nurture mankind,...leaving all the other life-forms out of the picture in their blind ignorance.

    Take all life away,...think of a desolate planet,...maby even struck with a nuke-war,...
    Now: imagine some windmill,...somehow spared by the blasts,...and wind, there is,....

    What is it's purpose? Is it maby to spin around? with or without purpose? does it serves a purpose? You could say that aslong as there is no-one to profit from its aparent funtion, that there is no purposefull meaning to the windmill.

    Still you could say that the windmill still serves its purpose: collecting wind. without any form of life.
     
  20. wesmorris Nerd Overlord - we(s):1 of N Valued Senior Member

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    I didn't say you're stupid, I meant that your statement is irrational, and the question of god is fundamentally unaswerable as of this time, so your claim that it is "obvious" is yes, irrational. I would replace the word 'asinine' with 'irrational' or 'unreasonable'. God is simply irrelevant.

    Yes that is true.

    It serves the purpose you supply it, without you to breath purpose into it, it simply is.

    I can only say what I think a fishes purpose might be (I suppose I can also try to force my own purpose upon it). Maybe it makes its own. To me the fish can serve a multitude of purposes, all of them supplied or projected by myself. Nature is not conscious (unless you want to argue the existence of god) and as such, cannot provide intent and thus, there is no purpose unless something allocates some intention towards the fish.

    That is one of a multitude of purposes. Don't ask about Troy Maclure (not sure how his last name is spelled). He sleeps with the fishes, see. Myah.

    Sure. You could say a lot of things.

    Then there is no purpose.

    Nothing. It simply is.

    No; without; no.

    There you go.

    With no form of life, you cannot say that it collects wind. It is but you are not so you cannot really say anything of it and regardless, there is no intention to be lent to it and thus, no purpose.
     
  21. Imagineth Registered Member

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    See purpose is a concept. If there is no God and no life then there would be nobody to conceive purpose. Hence, there cannot be purpose without life. And as for "there can be life without purpose", well, my response to that is that as long as any man has a goal of any kind, there is purpose. Purpose exists. So, we do not know of life without purpose. "There is no life in a fishnet, but still it serves a purpose" to whom? LIVING BEINGS!!! It is life that creates purpose.
     
  22. Imagineth Registered Member

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    Also, another reason you simple minded beings will never understand the concept of purpose is because you're too busy separating all the parts of the Universe from each other. Once you learn that the Universe is One thing and not a bunch of parts, the answers will open themselves up to you.
     
  23. wesmorris Nerd Overlord - we(s):1 of N Valued Senior Member

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    Simple minded? Are you trying to pick a fight jackass?

    EDIT:

    I think that it's as condescending to call you jackass as it is for you to imply that the other posters in this thread are necessarily simple-minded.

    That does not necessarily justify my calling you a jackass so for now I'll take the title. It seems to change hands a lot.
     
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2004
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