There is no meaning to life

Chat about anything your heart desires here, just be civil. Factual or scientific questions about philosophy go here (e.g. "When was Socrates born?"), and so most homework help questions belong here. Note, posts in the off-topic section will not increase new members post counts. This includes the introductions and feedback sections.
Post Reply
User avatar
Hereandnow
Posts: 2837
Joined: July 11th, 2012, 9:16 pm
Favorite Philosopher: the moon and the stars

Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Hereandnow »

On this matter, wittgenstein has the proper insight: it is not whether life has meaning, for this is clearly the case. The question is, does that meaning have meaning? Goes to metavalue, absolute rather than contingent "meaning".
User avatar
BelieveNothing
Posts: 109
Joined: January 24th, 2013, 6:17 am
Location: 2nd cloud from the right
Contact:

Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by BelieveNothing »

A poem carries meaning from the author to who knows?
The reader keeps on reading to find out the way it goes..
When the reader’s done, the author’s message in their mind,
they have had some fun or found a reason to unwind.

What the author’s made, selecting words to make it rhyme
is not designed to fade from memory even over time.
If you’re feeling sad or lonely contemplate a while.
It’s not all that bad if you remember how to smile.
Reality is not all in your mind.
User avatar
Hereandnow
Posts: 2837
Joined: July 11th, 2012, 9:16 pm
Favorite Philosopher: the moon and the stars

Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Hereandnow »

But does the smile beget an insight,
A rite, way to see?
Does it cast the world sublimely,
Undoing complacency?
What are smiles but willingness
To take the world unseen
And unredeemed and premature,
Celebrate a dream.
User avatar
juney34
New Trial Member
Posts: 4
Joined: June 4th, 2019, 2:43 pm

Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by juney34 »

Do we need meaning to live?
User avatar
Felix
Posts: 3117
Joined: February 9th, 2009, 5:45 am

Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Felix »

juney34, was that haiku?

You may wish to ask where the flowers come from,
But even the God of Spring does not know.
"We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are." - Anaïs Nin
Karpel Tunnel
Posts: 948
Joined: February 16th, 2018, 11:28 am

Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Karpel Tunnel »

juney34 wrote: June 7th, 2019, 9:37 am Do we need meaning to live?
I think so, yes. Not necessarily an outside or objective meaning, our own sense of what things mean, what they mean to us, and goals within that.

The grammatics of the question lead to a yes answer implying that without meaning we would die. But my sense is more that the meaning is inherent in the we. If we exist, we apply meaning to some things, and have goals related to that. We cannot live with out them since this meaning creation is a part of us being alive. Rather than a causal thing, like oxygen getting to the brain.
User avatar
Sculptor1
Posts: 7066
Joined: May 16th, 2019, 5:35 am

Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Sculptor1 »

Felix wrote: June 10th, 2019, 7:30 pm juney34, was that haiku?

You may wish to ask where the flowers come from,
But even the God of Spring does not know.
Not haiku
Haiku is strictly 5-7-5

My life is unknown
Guess what my purpose must be
Never shall you know.


My life is unknown
1,2,3,4-5
Guess what my purpose must be
1,2,3,4-5,6,7
Never shall you know.
1-2,3,4,5
User avatar
BigO
New Trial Member
Posts: 0
Joined: June 26th, 2019, 5:05 am

Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by BigO »

Alphabravo123 wrote: June 11th, 2012, 11:09 pm Nothing we do matters at all. Our short physical existences are but a micro fraction of the blink of an eye in the face of time. Therefore, no emotion or action can make any true difference, seeing as our society will last at the most only a few million years. Our corpses will have turned to ash, disintegrated, and have been reabsorbed and redistributed by the universe myriads of times, and any insignificant deed will be forgotten. In light of this knowledge, I implore you, what reason is there to exist at all? How can we justify our lives when they are so inconsequential in vast scope of this entire metaphysical plane?
Following what the stoics said, I think this materalistic and deterministic view of our existence could be used to justify life. Live and experience, because one day you'll just be ash. Enjoy every second of your life until you submerge with the earth. That thinking gives us the possibility of a meaningful life in a nihilistic and mechanical universe.
User avatar
hc101
New Trial Member
Posts: 1
Joined: August 12th, 2019, 12:53 pm

Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by hc101 »

Whether life has any meaning or not will always remain a question to some and a certain answer to the rest. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
I believe that life has no meaning. The world will continue to go on without me when I die. My death will impact no one but my family and a few friends. If it does not affect the rest of the world, it definitely does not affect the rest of the universe. Our lives are insignificant. We are barely dots in the face of the universe.
Apparently there are 30 billion planets in our galaxy alone, and there are over 100 billion galaxies in the universe. If Planet Earth were to disappear entirely, it would have no effect on the universe.

Being a nihilist has its disadvantages. I find it harder day by day to cope with life when I know I'm going to die anyway. Add the happy little thought of life having no meaning and it just gets worse.
User avatar
Hereandnow
Posts: 2837
Joined: July 11th, 2012, 9:16 pm
Favorite Philosopher: the moon and the stars

Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Hereandnow »

hc101
Whether life has any meaning or not will always remain a question to some and a certain answer to the rest. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
I believe that life has no meaning. The world will continue to go on without me when I die. My death will impact no one but my family and a few friends. If it does not affect the rest of the world, it definitely does not affect the rest of the universe. Our lives are insignificant. We are barely dots in the face of the universe.
Apparently there are 30 billion planets in our galaxy alone, and there are over 100 billion galaxies in the universe. If Planet Earth were to disappear entirely, it would have no effect on the universe.

Being a nihilist has its disadvantages. I find it harder day by day to cope with life when I know I'm going to die anyway. Add the happy little thought of life having no meaning and it just gets worse.
Well, "life", not to put too fine a point on it, certainly does have meaning. I suppose if you're a paramecium this may not be true, but i don;t think you're talking about this kind of thing. You're talking about people, and people's lives have meaning. They care about everything that makes its way into their value system. So when you say human life has no meaning, you're just way, way off. The question you want to address is whether the meaning we encounter in life has meaning. This has a name: metaethics, or, metavalue. I value these nike running shoes, but then, this fall under the general appreciation people have for all the things they love and like, doesn't it? Better: we all care about the things we value (something of a tautology).

No doubt, we have meaning in our lives, but does this meaning have meaning? Does this value have value? It certainly is not about my nike shoes. It's about valuing itself. Now, if you go the way of non Cartesian empirical thinking, you would be faced with the idea that a person is no more than the material world, only more complex: a person IS the world, and is not In it as a sojourning entity. Thus, the things I do, the thinking in my head, these are all expressions of molecular behavior, and molecules are really nothing special; they are what the world is. Thus, value is reducible to this as well: this hagen das (sp?) I am having is sooo good, but this is simply what matter does in complex forms like ours, just as when light is moving away it exhibits a Doppler effect. So, in a very real sense, the value I experience is really the value matter "experiences" under certain conditions. Valuing, caring are very much what the world IS, for in every and all observable and quantifiable data we have objectively gathered about the world, it is always under "certain conditions" that the data is acknowledged, making value just as objective as the principle of inertia, say.

At this juncture, it has to be admitted that the value of life, as you put it, is just as objective as any other principle of physics. Does this mean that value has value? That is, can we affirm metavalue based on what is clearly value? Metavalue is simply the metaphysics of value. I argue that it can be affirmed, but its a longer argument. Suffice it to say, if value were merely an empirical concept, I could not affirm it as I say, because such things as concepts about perceived events in space and time, are contingent, that is, they are not absolutes; they could be otherwise.

Ah, but value! this is a horse of an altogether different color. For value is NOT contingent.
User avatar
dawwg
Posts: 74
Joined: July 30th, 2019, 5:33 am

Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by dawwg »

Surely value is contingent upon intelligence. How can it not be?
aveenire
Posts: 32
Joined: March 21st, 2019, 12:48 pm

Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by aveenire »

while not knowing the meaning of life, this isn't the meaning of life
User avatar
Hereandnow
Posts: 2837
Joined: July 11th, 2012, 9:16 pm
Favorite Philosopher: the moon and the stars

Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Hereandnow »

dawwg
Surely value is contingent upon intelligence. How can it not be?
I don't understand what this means. Contingent on intelligence in what way?
User avatar
Hereandnow
Posts: 2837
Joined: July 11th, 2012, 9:16 pm
Favorite Philosopher: the moon and the stars

Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Hereandnow »

aveenire
while not knowing the meaning of life, this isn't the meaning of life
Here as well, what does this mean??
User avatar
dawwg
Posts: 74
Joined: July 30th, 2019, 5:33 am

Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by dawwg »

Hereandnow wrote: August 21st, 2019, 12:14 am
dawwg
Surely value is contingent upon intelligence. How can it not be?
I don't understand what this means. Contingent on intelligence in what way?
Observation and judgment being tempered by intelligence, assessed values vary according to the intelligence of the observer.
Post Reply

Return to “Philosophers' Lounge”

2023/2024 Philosophy Books of the Month

Entanglement - Quantum and Otherwise

Entanglement - Quantum and Otherwise
by John K Danenbarger
January 2023

Mark Victor Hansen, Relentless: Wisdom Behind the Incomparable Chicken Soup for the Soul

Mark Victor Hansen, Relentless: Wisdom Behind the Incomparable Chicken Soup for the Soul
by Mitzi Perdue
February 2023

Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness

Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness
by Chet Shupe
March 2023

The Unfakeable Code®

The Unfakeable Code®
by Tony Jeton Selimi
April 2023

The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
by Alan Watts
May 2023

Killing Abel

Killing Abel
by Michael Tieman
June 2023

Reconfigurement: Reconfiguring Your Life at Any Stage and Planning Ahead

Reconfigurement: Reconfiguring Your Life at Any Stage and Planning Ahead
by E. Alan Fleischauer
July 2023

First Survivor: The Impossible Childhood Cancer Breakthrough

First Survivor: The Impossible Childhood Cancer Breakthrough
by Mark Unger
August 2023

Predictably Irrational

Predictably Irrational
by Dan Ariely
September 2023

Artwords

Artwords
by Beatriz M. Robles
November 2023

Fireproof Happiness: Extinguishing Anxiety & Igniting Hope

Fireproof Happiness: Extinguishing Anxiety & Igniting Hope
by Dr. Randy Ross
December 2023

Beyond the Golden Door: Seeing the American Dream Through an Immigrant's Eyes

Beyond the Golden Door: Seeing the American Dream Through an Immigrant's Eyes
by Ali Master
February 2024

2022 Philosophy Books of the Month

Emotional Intelligence At Work

Emotional Intelligence At Work
by Richard M Contino & Penelope J Holt
January 2022

Free Will, Do You Have It?

Free Will, Do You Have It?
by Albertus Kral
February 2022

My Enemy in Vietnam

My Enemy in Vietnam
by Billy Springer
March 2022

2X2 on the Ark

2X2 on the Ark
by Mary J Giuffra, PhD
April 2022

The Maestro Monologue

The Maestro Monologue
by Rob White
May 2022

What Makes America Great

What Makes America Great
by Bob Dowell
June 2022

The Truth Is Beyond Belief!

The Truth Is Beyond Belief!
by Jerry Durr
July 2022

Living in Color

Living in Color
by Mike Murphy
August 2022 (tentative)

The Not So Great American Novel

The Not So Great American Novel
by James E Doucette
September 2022

Mary Jane Whiteley Coggeshall, Hicksite Quaker, Iowa/National Suffragette And Her Speeches

Mary Jane Whiteley Coggeshall, Hicksite Quaker, Iowa/National Suffragette And Her Speeches
by John N. (Jake) Ferris
October 2022

In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All

In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All
by Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
November 2022

The Smartest Person in the Room: The Root Cause and New Solution for Cybersecurity

The Smartest Person in the Room
by Christian Espinosa
December 2022

2021 Philosophy Books of the Month

The Biblical Clock: The Untold Secrets Linking the Universe and Humanity with God's Plan

The Biblical Clock
by Daniel Friedmann
March 2021

Wilderness Cry: A Scientific and Philosophical Approach to Understanding God and the Universe

Wilderness Cry
by Dr. Hilary L Hunt M.D.
April 2021

Fear Not, Dream Big, & Execute: Tools To Spark Your Dream And Ignite Your Follow-Through

Fear Not, Dream Big, & Execute
by Jeff Meyer
May 2021

Surviving the Business of Healthcare: Knowledge is Power

Surviving the Business of Healthcare
by Barbara Galutia Regis M.S. PA-C
June 2021

Winning the War on Cancer: The Epic Journey Towards a Natural Cure

Winning the War on Cancer
by Sylvie Beljanski
July 2021

Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream

Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream
by Dr Frank L Douglas
August 2021

If Life Stinks, Get Your Head Outta Your Buts

If Life Stinks, Get Your Head Outta Your Buts
by Mark L. Wdowiak
September 2021

The Preppers Medical Handbook

The Preppers Medical Handbook
by Dr. William W Forgey M.D.
October 2021

Natural Relief for Anxiety and Stress: A Practical Guide

Natural Relief for Anxiety and Stress
by Dr. Gustavo Kinrys, MD
November 2021

Dream For Peace: An Ambassador Memoir

Dream For Peace
by Dr. Ghoulem Berrah
December 2021