Does Life has purpose?

[jimmoyer]

Perhaps that's what the great pessimist philosopher Schopenhauer ws pointing out, that by seeking some ethereal "meaning" some "higher purpose" we are invited to overlook the very real beauty and magic of the everyday!
---------------------------------------------MikeyDB--------------------------------------------------------------------

Good point.

To limit ourselves by defining our function as though we aspire to be some functionary?

Purpose is left for machines, cogs in the machine, and for the movie MATRIX.

It is for us to wander and wonder.
It is for us to see the "magic of the everyday", to take part of MikeyDB's quote.

Like Kazahkstan's new commerical inviting tourism ---- "Kazahkstan, ever wander ?"

As and far as pain and suffering which seems unnecessary to us, you wonder
why predators were born to eat other animals ?

For what purpose ?

I think the pain and suffering invites a fear related to an awe
that is so beyond us, something the Old Testament spoke of much.

 

[Curiosity]

I hate to sound pessimistic.....

I have found in my studies of homo sapiens that pain and suffering are primary motivators generating
our evolution as much as food, love and health.

Were our lives bland and without "event" or "decision-making" or "necessary change for survival", we
would be useless as blobs of matter rooted to our original earthly domain - the small plot to which we were born, without curiosity or desire to know more.

 

[jimmoyer]

This question of life having a purpose got anthropomorphic real quick, didn't it ?

And when it did, the question of pain and suffering inevitably came up while discussing
the purpose of life, more importantly human life.

And so since we have variously thought pain and suffering was unnecessary at times,
we have thought to create a likeness of ourselves, even play with engineering our own
evolution to a thinking robot who is more efficient, less wasteful, and therefore less wasteful
in pain and suffering being eradicated.

We will surely create this new race as we think about our purpose.

 

[MikeyDB]

I'm not sure I understand the intent behind emphasizing an anthropomorphic perspective....

Should I be talking to a tree?

 

[MikeyDB]

“We would be useless as blobs of matter rooted to our original earthly domain - the small plot to which we were born, without curiosity or desire to know more.”

So “purpose” is learning?

Or is “usefulness” purpose?

 

[MikeyDB]

How does anyone feel about the idea that the purpose of being alive is to live?

There are some inescapable elements or conditions if you would, contributing to the experience of existence, but do these components comprise something satisfying some definition or metric of “purpose”?

Speaking in broad generalizations, part of the contribution made to the experience of existence is perception; awareness of being as product of consciousness interwoven as necessary participation in a dynamic surrounding that consciousness. I exist therefore I consume for instance….

Everything that lives consumes. Not everything that lives, consumes more than what it needs to ensure survival and procreation. We do.

Perhaps our purpose is to consume more than any other creature and in consuming that “nature” translate the experience of existence into something else….

Some future for instance that demands a different set of strategies than does the one we’re currently experiencing…..

 

[china]

humanbeing vbmenu_register("postmenu_733647", true);
Master Yoda

To me, life just seems to be matter arranged in certain ways (which by no means should take away from its beauty). So is there a purpose to that? Is there also a purpose to matter that is not arranged in the certain ways that make life? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't think you mean that it's "the matter arranged in acrtain way" that makes Life.Am I correct ?

 

[gc]

GC

Helluva question there!

Is the "purpose" of "God" to create? And if that's the purpose emerging from a super-consciousness which has always existed and will always exist, are the motivations as well as the meaning behind this entities creations mirrored in their nature?

To say that God gives a "higher purpose" to humans lives, means that God Himself must have a higher purpose. If God's only purpose is to create humans then he does not really have a "higher purpose". Thus, the question of humans having a higher purpose is not answered by God.

 

[humanbeing]

humanbeing vbmenu_register("postmenu_733647", true);
Master Yoda

To me, life just seems to be matter arranged in certain ways (which by no means should take away from its beauty). So is there a purpose to that? Is there also a purpose to matter that is not arranged in the certain ways that make life? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't think you mean that it's "the matter arranged in acrtain way" that makes Life.Am I correct ?

Life is just matter arranged in a certain way. In other ways, it might not make something that lives and/or reproduces.

So if matter in one way is alive and matter in another way is not alive, then why are we restricting ourselves to discussing the purpose of life? Why not talk about the purpose of matter?

 

[Dexter Sinister]

DEXTER Sinster :
Does life have purpose? In itself, no. We make our own purpose--------------------------------------------------

The way I understand your reply is that life in it,s self doesn,t have any purpose

Yep, that's exactly what I said.

I will not try to convince you that there is purpose for everything and everything has a purpose in it's self...

Good, because you'd certainly fail at that. A lunatic invaded an Amish school in Pennsylvania today, separated the males from the females, tied up the females and shot them all, killing three and seriously wounding about a dozen others. Find some purpose in that. A bridge collapsed in Laval, Quebec yesterday, crushing 5 people to death and seriously injuring about a dozen more. Find some purpose in that.

I think reality quite clearly gives the lie to your observations.

 

[hermanntrude]

A lot of people are misinterpreting china's original question. The question was not "what is the point of human existance" it was "does life has a purpose". ALL life, not just the fudged up ape species which seems to be ruining planet earth at the moment.

I still say that in the sense that the only reason life exists at all is because some amazing molecules became capable of self-reproduction and the generation of more complex molecules and molecular architectures, life's only purpose (from the biological point of view, which to my mind is the only one I can consider at this stage in my development) is to create more life, with the occasional error.

As for the business in Pennsylvania... i don't think that means there is no purpose to life. There was no purpose to what he did, that's for sure, as far as we're concerned. I'm sure he felt there was a purpose.

Purpose is subjective and therefore everyone's answer to this question will be different and therefore there will never be a satisfactory end to this debate, although we may learn about each other during the process

 

[china]

Dexter Sinister said :
A lunatic invaded an Amish school in Pennsylvania today, separated the males from the females, tied up the females and shot them all, killing three and seriously wounding about a dozen others. Find some purpose in that.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Obviously I do sympathize with the families of the victims ,like most of us....I think.
Why did the person shot and killed the students ?..I don't know Dexter Sinister ,but I,m sure that if the killer was your own brother ,you wouldn't call him a "lunatic" but try to find the reason for his actions. And if you went that far,you would see that we are all to blame . The more competitive we are , more selfish ,ambitious, egoistic ,the more concerned we are about our image and how to "outsmart " the others ,the sicker our world becomes .We are the world ...and the world is what we projecti ,therfore we are all to blame Dexter Sinister , so don,t set yourself too high ,it's a long way down.
Dexter Sinister said :
I think reality quite clearly gives the lie to your observations.-----------------------------------------------------
This is a pilosophy part of the forum , a place to share ideas and learn not argue or lie ,no matter how "intelectual" these actions may be.So ,let me advise you that reality "Is" , and my reality is my reality ,not yours.I don't question your reality , don't question mine .Perhaps "your reality " quite clearly gives the lie to your observations ,well ,my doesn't .So let,s leave it at that.
As far as :A bridge collapsed in Laval, Quebec yesterday, crushing 5 people to death .....Find some purpose in that .------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well,Dexter Sinister , perhaps the purpose is to learn how to build better bridges .

 

[Curiosity]

Well slap me upside ma head!!! Well done as usual Hermanntrude and JimMoyer!

A lot of people are misinterpreting china's original question. The question was not "what is the point of human existance" it was "does life has a purpose". ALL life, not just the fudged up ape species which seems to be ruining planet earth at the moment.

I still say that in the sense that the only reason life exists at all is because some amazing molecules became capable of self-reproduction and the generation of more complex molecules and molecular architectures, life's only purpose (from the biological point of view, which to my mind is the only one I can consider at this stage in my development) is to create more life, with the occasional error.

As for the business in Pennsylvania... i don't think that means there is no purpose to life. There was no purpose to what he did, that's for sure, as far as we're concerned. I'm sure he felt there was a purpose.

Purpose is subjective and therefore everyone's answer to this question will be different and therefore there will never be a satisfactory end to this debate, although we may learn about each other during the process

Hermann / Jim

I marvel at many of your answers and because I fell into the common denominator of focusing on what Jim caught - the anthropomorphic aspect of "life" being equated to "human life" rather than the whole picture as we know it (with probably much more life going on around us of which we are not aware)....you opened
up another path to follow and think about. You have the capacity to logic out a thought and give it simplistic readable value which allows knee jerk people like me to see the reactionary methods I use are not serving me well. I need to assess my "opinion-making".

As to the question wittingly put forth by China: "Does Life Have A Purpose?"

My re-thought response would be: Why should there be a purpose?
Life, living matter, as we know it to be and perhaps as is yet to be discovered and learned - simply IS.

I believe one of humanity's consistent failings is we put ourselves at the top of the chain in evolution as if all have "arrived" - even to the point of designing masterful religious belief around we humans. Yet when in fact, we are such imperfect creatures, I think we are arrogant to assume we are the ultimate at anything but merely a work in progress, as no doubt is much of what we know "living matter" to be. Constantly changing.
For what purpose? We are nowhere near having the answer if we ever are intended to know.

 

[MikeyDB]

China

A human being has the capacity, the facility the option of choice. He can choose to behave in a way contrary to common sense, he can evaluate prior outcomes to similar choices followed by action predicated on those choices and assess the outcome, the result and/or consequences emerging from those decisions and those actions. We can choose to do things, to behave in ways that are both not in our own "best-interests" and ways that are counterintuitive. We can deny our "nature" (to a degree for a limited time.

Purpose is a temporary (due to the temporal nature of our experience of existence)artifact created as a touchstone or reference point usually involving change that we anticipate as beneficial or pleasing over the long term. Purpose is process.
Intelligence and knowledge are process.

"Knowing ones purpose" is to engage in an effort to bring the dynamic of the universe to a halt. To interrupt the process of becoming.

Far more important than understanding or "knowing" our purpose is understanding and knowing our "nature".

 

[hermanntrude]

who's jim?

 

[MikeyDB]

Curiosity

“I think we are arrogant to assume we are the ultimate at anything but merely a work in progress, as no doubt is much of what we know "living matter" to be. Constantly changing.”

OK I’m dancing with you to this point….

Where How or Why is there “intention” to know or not know and if there is where did it come from why is it present (even as speculation) and how can I function independent of an intentionality capable of scripting my existence?

 

[Curiosity]

who's jim?

Hermann

Jim Moyer who kindly brought the concept that made me realize I was equating "life" with "anthropomorphic life", when there is far more in our environment.

 

[jimmoyer]

Kurtz contemplated the HORROR in Joseph Conrad's story, The Heart of Darkness, as did the Old Testament.

Without it, without death, without Amish children being executed and
people choosing to jump off the World Trade Center rather than face immolation ---- without all this,
what would we have ?

We're all going to face it when we die.

 

[MikeyDB]

How do you know?

 

[Curiosity]

MikeyDB you wrote:

Where How or Why is there "intention" to know or not know and if there is where did it come from and why is it present (even as speculation) and how can I function independent of an intentionality capable of scripting my existence?

That is why I see humans as "arrogant" because we assume it is one of our roles - to have the answers - to justify our existence. That we are "privy" in knowing elevating us to a power beyond our capabilities.

At best humanity since we learned to use our creative brain rather than just primordial survival, have become the "tellers" of our historical records - in artifacts up to the current vast electronic replications of what we spend our lives doing, for a variety of reasons we tell ourselves - including unquestioning worship of a creator - given many names - many traditions - and even that a cause for war.

Do I think a higher power has endowed us and is leading us? I can only hope some one or thing is in charge and that humans - as we exist in the here and now - in the stage of what we call evolution - are not the final answer.

Why? Because we kill each other.
We assume the right to take another's existence - not to eat. To survive perhaps.
That is flawed development.

It is also only my opinion.