steve_bank
Diabetic retinopathy and poor eyesight. Typos ...
If our existence is part of a unversed that was not created out of any purpose, then meaning is anything you choose it to be.
If our existence is part of a unversed that was not created out of any purpose, then meaning is anything you choose it to be.
If our existence is part of a unversed that was not created out of any purpose, then meaning is anything you choose it to be.
But that is irrational. A rational conclusion follows a series of deductive steps that leads you to a conclusion. Your statement doesn't. It's what you get when you feel the need to get somewhere but have no known reason to. That need is irrational. Evolutionarily it makes sense because that's the engine that propels us forward in life. It increases fitness. But life has no more meaning than the meaning of a fire is to burn things
If our existence is part of a unversed that was not created out of any purpose, then meaning is anything you choose it to be.
But that is irrational. A rational conclusion follows a series of deductive steps that leads you to a conclusion. Your statement doesn't. It's what you get when you feel the need to get somewhere but have no known reason to. That need is irrational. Evolutionarily it makes sense because that's the engine that propels us forward in life. It increases fitness. But life has no more meaning than the meaning of a fire is to burn things
For me it is the only rational vuew.
I think it is in Ecclesiastes that the author starts off bemoaning his fate. He has to farm 7 days a week just to get by. Yet birds fly around eating and not having to work at all. An ancient Jew had the blues. What is the point of existence?
Eventually he finds meaning in being a part of the community.
The question of meaning is as old as civilization. Culturaly meaning has no possible definition, it is learned by example and observation. Literature.
In western society no one gives you meaning for life, it is for you to find and explore.
For me I deride meaning and satisfaction un engineering producing useful things. People who are plahued with the question 'what is the point' end up face down in a bar drunk every night or with a needle in thsarm.
When Hemmingway lost his inspiration he shot himself with a shotgun. For some people it is gardening others poker and bridge. Rock climbing, hang gliding.....etc.There are no absolute answers. Only choices.
If our existence is part of a unversed that was not created out of any purpose, then meaning is anything you choose it to be.
If our existence is part of a unversed that was not created out of any purpose, then meaning is anything you choose it to be.
If our existence is part of a unversed that was not created out of any purpose, then meaning is anything you choose it to be.
I'd add the question 'can someone really choose a meaning'. To me it seems like you either have a meaning, or you don't, it's not a conscious choice. You can't will yourself a purpose with sincere feeling, you're either motivated to get up in the morning, or you're not.
I'd also take it a step further and claim that family/friends/relationships are central to a meaningful life. People who live in isolation usually can't be happy. This is why our entire species universally pursues romantic relationships, and why traditions involving family are ubiquitous across cultures.
If our existence is part of a unversed that was not created out of any purpose, then meaning is anything you choose it to be.
I'd add the question 'can someone really choose a meaning'. To me it seems like you either have a meaning, or you don't, it's not a conscious choice. You can't will yourself a purpose with sincere feeling, you're either motivated to get up in the morning, or you're not.
I'd also take it a step further and claim that family/friends/relationships are central to a meaningful life. People who live in isolation usually can't be happy. This is why our entire species universally pursues romantic relationships, and why traditions involving family are ubiquitous across cultures.
That's because we derive meaning as individuals from the concept of our existence as a species. People have objected that species don't exist as things. But they do exist as things that provide meaning, as in the case of why we can find meaning in personal relationships. It's part of the nature of what we are as humans. And from this source of meaning we can find our purpose. One's survival simply as an individual is usually lacking in motivational potential.
That's because we derive meaning as individuals from the concept of our existence as a species. People have objected that species don't exist as things. But they do exist as things that provide meaning, as in the case of why we can find meaning in personal relationships. It's part of the nature of what we are as humans. And from this source of meaning we can find our purpose. One's survival simply as an individual is usually lacking in motivational potential.
Yea, this. I also think you can completely eliminate wishy-washy terms like 'meaning' and describe the pursuit of certain activities / social situations as inherent to our psychology, like a psycho-social reality. We behave in certain ways because that behavior provides cognitive reward. First, we want to have positive relationships with others, lacking that we want interesting experiences, and lacking that we at least want to be well fed, lacking that probably we at least want to be warm. ...
That's because we derive meaning as individuals from the concept of our existence as a species. People have objected that species don't exist as things. But they do exist as things that provide meaning, as in the case of why we can find meaning in personal relationships. It's part of the nature of what we are as humans. And from this source of meaning we can find our purpose. One's survival simply as an individual is usually lacking in motivational potential.
Yea, this. I also think you can completely eliminate wishy-washy terms like 'meaning' and describe the pursuit of certain activities / social situations as inherent to our psychology, like a psycho-social reality. We behave in certain ways because that behavior provides cognitive reward. First, we want to have positive relationships with others, lacking that we want interesting experiences, and lacking that we at least want to be well fed, lacking that probably we at least want to be warm. ...
Well there's also the sapiens aspect. Thinking is fullfilling to many humans as flying must be to many birds. Simply excersizing the ability humans possess for intellectual inquiry and creativity can be enough to make life rewarding. Actually it provides a service to society when pared with a humanist outlook.
For me it is the only rational vuew.
I think it is in Ecclesiastes that the author starts off bemoaning his fate. He has to farm 7 days a week just to get by. Yet birds fly around eating and not having to work at all. An ancient Jew had the blues. What is the point of existence?
Eventually he finds meaning in being a part of the community.
The question of meaning is as old as civilization. Culturaly meaning has no possible definition, it is learned by example and observation. Literature.
In western society no one gives you meaning for life, it is for you to find and explore.
For me I deride meaning and satisfaction un engineering producing useful things. People who are plahued with the question 'what is the point' end up face down in a bar drunk every night or with a needle in thsarm.
When Hemmingway lost his inspiration he shot himself with a shotgun. For some people it is gardening others poker and bridge. Rock climbing, hang gliding.....etc.There are no absolute answers. Only choices.
Ok, I think I understand what you're saying. Even though there's no singular meaning of life, we still need a meaning of life to avoid being unhappy, so therefore it's rational to just pick a meaning of life, even though the choice made isn't chosen by rational means? Is that what you mean? If it is I agree with you. You changed my mind. I now agree with Stephen Pinker on this. But I still don't think he understands Nietzsche
If our existence is part of a unversed that was not created out of any purpose, then meaning is anything you choose it to be.
I'd add the question 'can someone really choose a meaning'. To me it seems like you either have a meaning, or you don't, it's not a conscious choice. You can't will yourself a purpose with sincere feeling, you're either motivated to get up in the morning, or you're not.
I'd also take it a step further and claim that family/friends/relationships are central to a meaningful life. People who live in isolation usually can't be happy. This is why our entire species universally pursues romantic relationships, and why traditions involving family are ubiquitous across cultures.
If our existence is part of a unversed that was not created out of any purpose, then meaning is anything you choose it to be.
The most you can say about anything is that if it exists it survives. When it no longer survives it ceases to exist. That might seem like a tautology except that survival is contingent on a thing's relationship with other things. For life that means it must be adaptable. The ability to adapt is the fundamental pre-requisite for life. But the nexus between existence and survival is the most elementary characteristic of everything within the universe. I'll venture that it is the basis for the existence of the universe itself. That is, the universe exists by virtue of its own necessity. Existence and survival are metaphysically the fundamental and primary truths. All other truths derive from this. Therefore the way to find life's meaning and purpose is simply to look for how it is that something exists at all. How it has come to survive. This is the basic definition of what it means to be something. It's what meaning means. It therefore follows that as living things we can derive purpose from meaning.
If our existence is part of a unversed that was not created out of any purpose, then meaning is anything you choose it to be.
I'd add the question 'can someone really choose a meaning'. To me it seems like you either have a meaning, or you don't, it's not a conscious choice. You can't will yourself a purpose with sincere feeling, you're either motivated to get up in the morning, or you're not.
I'd also take it a step further and claim that family/friends/relationships are central to a meaningful life. People who live in isolation usually can't be happy. This is why our entire species universally pursues romantic relationships, and why traditions involving family are ubiquitous across cultures.
Some people come to terms with it and get on with living, otters stay mired in infinite churning with no resolution. The trick is to find an off ramp for yourself. In the west the traditional starting point is Greek philosophy. You have to work out your own solution or pick one somebody else put together. For many that is Christianity. Learn to turn off your analytical calculating mind, that would be a Zen approach.
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I think you get into a situation where man regards his/her consciousness as non-material, giving them a kind of unlimited freedom to pursue 'meaning', where in practice we mostly just spend our lives pursuing sex, friends, fun, food, and warmth until we die.
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And I think for humanity at large, there is no awareness of this kind of psychological imperative. Reality is completely taken for granted and these kind of pursuits just seem like 'what a person does'. They aren't interpreted as psychological impulses, but rather 'meaning'.