PsychoSarah
Chaotic Neutral
For all you know that light at the end of your tunnel is just certain cells in the brain firing wonky signals as they die.
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The meaning of life is discovered once you reach enlightenment. For some it doesn't take much, for others, it will take their whole lives. Just remember that there is always light at the end of the tunnel and that's something to look forward to.
Only because the question wasn't specific enough
42.
42 is 6 x 7. Seven is the number of divine perfection, 6 is the number of humanity. So the union of the divine with human is the meaning of life.
What else could it possibly be?
Personally, I think life has whatever meaning you give it. I don't agree with concepts such as fate or even purpose when it comes to such things, we have life, it exists with whatever meaning we give it.
Totally agreed.Yes, I sympathise with this view. But I suggest, those disparate meanings we assign or deploy might have radically different consequences in respect of the quality of lives we might enjoy.
Which criteria are you having in mind when saying "better life"?So, if one person decides the meaning of his life is to be the hatred of Jews (for example) and another decides her meaning will be the love of humanity, then guess who is to have the better life?
Now, I have my idea of happiness. I´m not sure I am in the position to generalize or dictate others what should make them happy, based on this my idea.In this way, I think we can distinguish qualitative differences between individually assigned 'meanings of live', and with and all due respect to both utilitarians and virtue ethicists, we can propose that the best of lives is one that flourishes in happiness, and that the values so conducive to such a result and meaning for life are entirely superior to other values that aren't.
You're presupposing meaning and then asking what it is. Is there reason to think there is meaning to begin with?
What I'm saying is that when you ask what the meaning of something is, you're assuming there's a meaning there to be discovered to begin with. Maybe the first question should be is there any meaning whatsoever so as to not be so presumptuous.Me?
You can presuppose the thing from whose structure you work within.
And sure, asking about meaning is asking about something that connects where you are with a future-related goal. To have a telos is to have meaning. It's an open question of what the best types of meanings are there for human beings, and that puts us in ethical and aesthetic territory: e.g., should we be virtuous or follow rules, live for pleasure or happiness, etc.
What I'm saying is that when you ask what the meaning of something is, you're assuming there's a meaning there to be discovered to begin with. Maybe the first question should be is there any meaning whatsoever so as to not be so presumptuous.
How so?Maybe we could also say that because meaning is by definition subjective, by asking whether there is a meaning we're simultaneously creating the foundation on which this question can be asked.
Or, to put it simpler, we could say that meaning is not discovered but created/invented.Interesting.
Maybe we could also say that because meaning is by definition subjective, by asking whether there is a meaning we're simultaneously creating the foundation on which this question can be asked.
I don´t think that people usually commit suicide over a philosophical question, to begin with.So there's really no such thing as lack of meaning, but the quality of meaning. People commit suicide not because of nihilism (that position is self-negating, given that to claim that life has no meaning is itself a meaningful statement), but because the meanings they're given aren't good enough, too shallow.
How so?
Or, to put it simpler, we could say that meaning is not discovered but created/invented.
IOW, the question "What´s the meaning of life?" calls for the response "To whom?".
I don´t think that people usually commit suicide over a philosophical question, to begin with.
Also, I don´t know what you mean by "meaning they are given").
Thirdly, I suspect that (once we assume that "meaning in life" is somewhat connected to a person´s suicide) more often than the meaning they have given their lives is "not good enough, too shallow" the meaning is too huge, too ambitious, impossible to actualize.
Finally, the bolded part is, of course, just based on a false equivocation of the word meaning ("meaning of/in life" - "meaningful statement"). That there is no inherent or externally given meaning of life doesn´t conflict that a statement can be meaningful. This fallacy ("self refuting, because [insert false equivocation]" annoys me to no end, so I´ll leave it at that.
Hence the 'godness' of the atheist....?"To transform 'It was' into 'Thus I willed it'; that alone do I call redemption."
I don´t know that meaning is created from "materials".I think meaning is created, but the materials from which this meaning is created are partly objective. You can't have a good, firm meaning with just your own subjectivity; you also have to have a world that's responsive to you, that fits you.
I can´t seem to follow. Piling negations on negations makes me all confused. So what is the reason for people to commit suicide, in your opinion?I didn't say they commit suicide over a philosophical position, nihilism. I mean they don't commit suicide because of *their* nihilism, lack of meaning.
Yes, there is a huge variety of problems people can have. These are two of them.For some people, sure. Kierkegaard distinguished between what he called "spiritlessness" and despair involving "weakness," the former of which he meant that the human being basically has no sense of what he should become as a self (no meaning consciousness), and the latter involving the realization of what he should become but despairs over his ability to fulfill it.
No. I was pointing out a logical fallacy in your line of reasoning. That´s not an "impasse we have reached".Yeah, it annoys you, but we've reached an impasse on the matter at the most, haven't we?
Consider "worshipping God." Ok. Well, you can only worship him for so long before this becomes fantastically boring.
I don´t know that meaning is created from "materials".
Since I am convinced that those parts of our reality that are relevant for the way we create meaning are our individual constructs as well, there isn´t much of a problem with these parts of reality being responsive to the meaning I create.
I can´t seem to follow. Piling negations on negations makes me all confused. So what is the reason for people to commit suicide, in your opinion?
No. I was pointing out a logical fallacy in your line of reasoning. That´s not an "impasse we have reached".
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