Questions tagged [meaning-of-life]
139 questions
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Is there a difference between the purpose of life and the meaning of life?
Is there a difference between the purpose of life and the meaning of life? I am asking because most of the time when people ask the classic philosophical question, "What is the meaning of life?", they mean the purpose of life. But perhaps there is a…
user107952
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What does it mean to truly fail at life?
What does it mean to truly fail at life? I only ask because I suspect I have. It is not that I am immoral or even inauthentic, but it seems that all I can do is encourage attitudes and behaviours, in others, that is anathema to what I believe in.…
user65758
5
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7 answers
Isn't there an inherent contradiction in creating your own meaning in life?
I maintain that it doesn't make sense to simply "create your own meaning in life". I have come across this view, which is generally held by most humanists, pretty often, and it doesn't seem to make much sense to me. I'll try and explain.
When we…
Joebevo
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What meant Gilbert Ryle by ‘nothing chatters’?
Source: The Meaning of Life: A Very Short Introduction (1 ed 2007) by T. Eagleton. p. 26 Top.
The sham swamis and phoney sages of our time stand in for
various more conventional gods who have failed. Philosophers, for
example, seem to have been…
user8572
4
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5 answers
What is the purpose of living?
So I've asked myself this question once and now I'm always trying to find an answer to this question (to be honest I'm not sure if it's possible). So I asked myself: "What is the purpose of living?" I'm asking this question in general not as an…
lynx_s
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If all life will be annihilated, then why does anything matter?
Source: pp 95 and 101, What Does It All Mean? A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy (1987) by Prof. Thomas Nagel.
This question assumes 2 below; if 2 is false, then I can understand that 1 is false.
Perhaps you have had the thought that nothing…
user8572
3
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6 answers
Meaning of life, given all my problems have been solved
Except, of course, the problem is that I can't find any meaning in my life.
Suppose I consider the meaning of my life to be
A meaningful life is one that by definition has achieved choice-worthy purposes or involves satisfaction upon having done…
The very fluffy Panda
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What're some solutions to the absurd?
Thomas Nagel talks about the absurd as being a necessary side-effect of consciousness, and therefor perhaps something we don't actually want to get rid of. Having said that, I'm curious to what other philosophers have proposed (particularly in…
ewkochin
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Can a desire to leave a legacy be a form of 'other-worldliness' which should be subject to scrutiny?
I know of Nietzsche's criticism of afterlife-thinking.
I think Nietzsche himself may be guilty of this thinking -- not in terms of a Heavenly afterlife, but with desiring influence of his writings after death. I assume he suffered more than he…
user65720
2
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3 answers
Is this an argument against an experience machine?
Is this an argument against an experience machine, that the things we value inside of it only matter to us?
I'm trying to be practical about having strange concerns, and wondered whether their uniqueness to me means not only that they likely can't…
user61846
2
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4 answers
Can I fail to achieve my goals, and make the wrong moral decisions, but still live a meaningful and worthwhile life?
Can I fail to achieve my goals, and make the wrong moral decisions, but still live a meaningful and worthwhile life, and if so then in what way? Moreover, what does it say about me and how I have lived?
user70707
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2 answers
Is meaning/purpose necessary?
This may be a very basic question but I haven’t seen it arise here at stack exchange, so I thought I’d ask.
Do humans necessarily have purpose or meaning? Can we function without it?
If not, then how do we explain people who claim to get along just…
Brian Connelly
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Albert Einstein on Divining the Purpose of Life
Albert Einstein once said,
Strange is our situation here on Earth. Each of us comes for a short
visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose.
From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do
know: that…
Gnanakumar Balasubramaniam
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How can a meaningless life be sufficiently good in other ways such that its (objective) quality's not unusually bad?
Source: The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life's Biggest Questions (1 edn, 2017). p. 20 Top.
There is sometimes also thought to be a connection between meaning and the quality of life. Whether or not this thought is correct depends, in…
user8572
1
vote
1 answer
How can a Gestapo officer 'have a meaningful but immoral life'?
Source: What's It All About?. (2007 1 ed.) p. 176 Top - Middle
Although I have drawn on Sartre in this book, I have not claimed that authenticity is the only or even the most important virtue which gives life meaning. (Nor am I convinced Sartre…
user8572