I scanned the PhD section for this question but didn't see it fielded anywhere. Since most philosophers are concerned about our place in the universe, Greek ancients included, I thought I'd pose it here.

Do you think life is a random occurrence, we came to the top of the food chain by some fluke accident and there is no such thing as a purpose?

Do you think we are two-legged lab rats and there's something out there that's observing how we play it out?

Do you think because of our intellectual limitations, we are incapable of knowing our purpose in life?

I know its hard not to drag in beliefs in a question like this (which shows how little things have changed since Descartes days) but do try and be as belief-neutral and logical as you can. Looking forward to your views.

we are the all singin all dancing crap of the world

You mean personal belief?

I ask this question because I don't want this thread to end up like the Creationist thread.

Yes, we are made to just suffer and work until we are old. Everyday get screwed by boss, etc etc...

Earn the salary to pay govern, pay bank etc..

Never ending until die...

does life need to have a default purpose from everyone, or does life owe us a purpose?

human exist in this world is with its meaning, without purpose, man are living with meanningless..

Not sure how to answer that coz all beliefs are personal, methinks.

Rather than be judgemental and defend a position emotionally, let's give people a chance to do it rationally. It would be tragic if we cannot break past that barrier wouldn't it.

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Added on May 31, 2010, 5:10 pmHmm did u get that from South Park's Mr Hankey?


This post has been edited by Beastboy: May 31 2010, 05:10 PM

life does have purpose

to submit to God and do whatever He told us

depends, do you want it to have a purpose or not?

That's the BIGGEST question isn't it? What I see as a deadlock to this question is usually is that whenever people are struggling to ask this question, they always ended STOPPING, and went on with their lives, AS IF that was actually the purpose of their lives. Now I know there are variety of answers to this question, but if I were to summarize into one sentence of what the purpose of life is, it's this:

The purpose of life:

TO MAXIMIZE THE ABILITIES OF THE FIRST-PERSON (The grammatical category of forms that designate a speaker or writer referring to himself or herself) EXPERIENCE.

I view this question with one thing in mind,
"why think so much trying to answer the question? Just LIVE LIFE"

I was wondering when this you're-thinking-too-much answer will pop up & I guess I didn't have to wait too long. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could just throw out our brains and live life like bacteria?

we have the same purpose as a tree.

Too bad we're not the tree to understand it.

no,i got it from the movie Fight Club,what a good movie

haha. wut do u think the purpose of trees are?

I'm not saying you're thinking too much...

I was once thinking what life I wanna live.. Think that I don't wanna live normal life like everyone(study, work, married, old, die)..
Then I realize the most important thing is I'm satisfied with my life, doing things I enjoy doing, learning new things on the way.. rather than setting a purpose and chasing something too hard to achieve...

provide oxygen for the rest of the earth.

thats one good point. any other? anything...one or two more reasons...and u'll get the picture.

then why bother with looking for enlightenment?