Questions tagged [meaning-of-life]
The meaning-of-life tag has no usage guidance.
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What do you call people who believe in purpose in life and afterlife reincarnation, but don't believe in God? [closed]
In the formal interpretation, they seem to draw a distinct line, claiming that atheists believe that death is the cessation of the existence of the individual.
But that contradicts the world's ...
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Does each unique instance of Nietzsche's superman have the same virtues and values?
Does each unique instance of Nietzsche's superman have the same virtues and values?
Please don't just pontificate: I'm interested in what Nietzsche or his interpreters say. I am OK-ish with his ...
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What role does awareness have in the meaning of life?
We can have a meaningful life without knowing we have, which suggests that awareness is not itself integral to living a meaningful life.
However, I'm not sure that's the case. Does anyone (any ...
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Is there a meaningful aspect of human life that is close to a material eureka moment? [closed]
Is there a meaningful aspect of human life that is close to a material eureka moment? So instead of looking at life as means to amassing knowledge, insight, possessions, or experiences, working toward ...
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Death or Immortality: What Does It Say About Life's Value? [closed]
Imagine if someone had to choose between two options: dying immediately (assuming there is no afterlife or reincarnation), or becoming immortal and eventually being left alone in the endless void ...
user75348
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Which WILL is right or most important?
Will to Power (Nietzsche):
Proposed by Friedrich Nietzsche, this concept suggests that the primary driving force in humans is the will to power, which goes beyond mere survival or pleasure. It ...
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Can High Levels of Logical Intelligence Lead to Limit the Evolution of Intelligent Life? [closed]
I have been contemplating a theory about the relationship between high levels of intelligence and existential crises. I've often heard that highly intelligent individuals are more prone to realizing ...
user75348
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What is the meaning of existence? [closed]
What is the meaning of the word 'exist'?
Its etymology reveals it's derived from two Latin words:
ex = from + ist = is
Thus, its inventor intended it to mean from is.
What did the inventor of the ...
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Isn't Camus' philosophy just a violation of Occam's Razor?
The way I see it, Albert Camus' philosophy can be summarised in a dialog as follows:
Q1: What is the meaning of life?
A1: Life has no meaning. It is absurd.
Q2: Then, why live?
A2: To rebel against ...
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Life: Pessimism vs optimism
I was reflecting a bit on the history of philosophy and religion and how they view human life. My question is the following: Why does it seem ( at least from my readings and knowledge, I might have ...
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If any meaning to life is bad, then is all life bad? [closed]
If any meaning to life is bad, then is all life bad? What is the relation between the meaning of life and life?
user73019
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What do we gain from our labors? [closed]
"Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless. What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?"
What do we ...
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Why we haven’t observed any galactic civilization of III or IV type? [closed]
This question is scoped to natural philosophy.
The study of natural philosophy seeks to explore the cosmos by any means necessary to understand the universe
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
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What is most important in life? [closed]
So my journey with philosophy has been a perilous one with exestential crisis after exestential crisis, but my latest one is a particularly gnarly one.
Naturally I have an epicurean view of death ( ...
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Can a self defeating pro attitude make for a meaningful life?
Can a self defeating pro attitude make for a meaningful life?
I was thinking of "pro attitude" in the sense of when e.g. one "does what one believes to be really important" or one &...
user71083
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Absurdism is not the complete answer [closed]
After experiencing existentialism for a number of weeks,I embraced absurdism.
However, after a month of experiencing absurdism as my end all and be all meaning of life philosophy, I come to believe ...
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What should I read on a journey of self discovery?
This year my goal is to do some self discovery. To understand my values, purpose, goals, and desires better. I think philosophy can help me with this. Where should I start? What reading would you ...
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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 ...
user70707
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Arguments against the importance of happiness and possible substitutes
What arguments are there against the importance of happiness, by which I mean anything from a hedonistic mood or affect, through a world that might create feelings of happiness, and including human ...
user70707
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Is the meaningfulness of life a relative measure of the absolute suffering we could bear?
I have come across many ways of philosophically explaining the "meaning" of life, such as the one put forth by Camus saying that life is inherently meaningless, and it is by living that we ...
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Is wealth intrinsically meaningful?
Is wealth intrinsically meaningful? Do wealthy people, even misers I guess, necessarily have some sort of meaning to their life? If not, then what relation does wealth have to the meaning of life?
The ...
user70645
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How does Marxist 'alienation' map onto (a lack of) "intersubjective meaningfulnes"?
How does Marxist 'alienation' map onto (a lack of) "intersubjective meaningfulness", how close is the latter to any form of 'alienation'?
I take it that the latter is readily understood: we ...
user67675
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Given everything decays and falls apart, does anything matter forever?
Given everything decays and falls apart, does anything matter forever? It's an obvious question, but a no would be quietly sobering and arguably leave us with a variant on hedonism, seeing as what ...
user67675
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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?&...
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When is an illusion liberative?
I was thinking about cinema and how it might encourage us to see ourselves as movie stars in our own narratives, maybe like existential literature but without the sense of being trapped in that, and ...
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Does self transparency mean that human like existence, and nothing else, can be intrinsically valuable?
Does self transparency mean that human like existence, and nothing else, can be intrinsically valuable?
I was thinking maybe it is, becasue humans are capable of positing themselves as valuable, while ...
user67675
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What is the purpose of living? [closed]
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 ...
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Why people are still so much seeking status, instead of simply fairness and happiness?
In liberal democracies, basically, people don't need to fear getting killed at any moment, being put arbitrary in prison, or dying in misery. They, basically, can follow their personal path as they ...
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Which philosophers have defended both the claim that any attitude can ground meaning and moral error theory?
Which philosophers have defended both the claim that any attitude (a pro attitude to anything) can ground meaning and moral error theory? It may even be the the received view among the population in ...
user67675
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When someone profits from injustice, is life less meaningful?
Obviously most philosophers (and lay people) would consider injustice morally wrong^, but does it debase the meaning of everyone's life, just the beneficiary, just those that lose out or no-one's?
I'd ...
user67675
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Can life have meaning when all your happiness is from a clear illusion?
When all your happiness is from a clear illusion, is your life meaningless? I am not talking about intentionally living a lie, because I don't mean lying to yourself about it, but feeling as if it ...
user67521
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Should we feel shame for living a meaningless life?
Should we feel shame for living a meaningless life? What if it's due not only to factors beyond our control but something like virtue?
I only ask because I'm worried I will never escape the cycle of ...
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'I want to be with you in heaven'
If you knew that suicide is not immoral, would it be virtuous to kill yourself - not because you were in pain and needed to escape - but merely due to a wish to end yourself before you fell into vice?
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If it doesn't matter to you whether something is AI, then do you matter?
If it doesn't matter to you whether something is AI, then do you matter? I won't bother clarifying every inference (there's a few) that is being made there, if only because the conclusion is very ...
user67155
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What is the best metaphor for not being able to die?
There does seem something out of the ordinary, strange, about having thoughts and feelings, let alone mine. Allow me to say that my rarity makes me valuable.
So dark matter - which makes up 27% of the ...
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What would be a reasonable response to this take that we shouldn't ponder abstract propositions about the meaning of life?
X says: “That moment when you realise that you've spent your entire life endlessly pondering abstract propositions about the meaning of life instead of actually feeling like you've led a meaningful ...
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I am struggling to believe there is anything good in humanity: can you help?
I feel neither like a sinner nor sinned against, but I am struggling to see any good in anyone or myself. I am reminded for the 100,000th time of "mankind is a bridge", and that's what we ...
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Is "what's the point?" the same as asking "what is the meaning of life"?
Is "what's the point?" the same as asking "what is the meaning of life"? I know I said both phrases, so I should know right? But I feel the former much more than the latter. Is it ...
user66697
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was Camus right in saying 'There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide.'?
I think he was saying 'What makes life worth living?'. I do think that's important, but aren't other questions 'serious' too?
For me my topics I care about are meta/norm ethics, theology, metaphysics. ...
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Did Kierkegaard believe that we should live seeking meaning and not happiness?
Before I pose my question I want to say two things:
I have no formal training in Philosophy
I searched for similar questions but found none, please excuse me if this is a duplicate
I saw a YouTube ...
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A newbie's highly thought-upon plan for starting philosophy [closed]
How's it going guys, I hope you're all having a great time!
Greetings, to all the great minds here!
I would really appreciate your help with my entrance to the infinite world of philosophy.
First, I ...
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Any neuroscience-informed takes on the meaning of life?
Can science tell us objectively what the meaning of life is?
Are these the fellows to unlock the mystery?: dopamine, oxytocin, cortisol, seratonin, endorphins
I'm not sure of the status of ...
user65720
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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 ...
user65720
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An Eternal Reward for Our Actions - Are There Strong Incentives to do Anything
I'm wondering:
Humans are mortal. Death seems to nullify any gains made by the self to the self.
Humans are subject to natural impulses towards actions (for example, we are compelled by natural ...
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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 ...
user65758
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Is it correct to say that all work is only an instrumental value and therefore it matters not whether or not someone can do it?
Another follow up Q to this series:
If all work is automated, what will humans be able to do?
Do humans need some agency over the world around them for their lives to have some sense or purpose?
It'...
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Is there a universal, timeless and deeply compelling reason to pursue anything?
Don Jack has a job, a few friends, often goes to the gym and has ambitious dreams of participating in life. Often he finds himself questioning whether he continues to pursue these things. The chain of ...
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How much suffering is needed for an overall happy life?
Premise: I have not studied Philosophy, and maybe I am out of context.
My question arises from two simple considerations:
Empirically, there seems to be no true happiness without some suffering (...
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Is the very idea of having objective meaning a logical contradiction? [closed]
Meaning by definition cannot occur unless it is subject to one's mind. But if something is subject to one's mind and interpretation, how can any sort of meaning be objective?
Even if every person on ...
user62907
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What to make of "time" and "time rightly spent" in the context of "the purpose of life"?
Friedrich Nietzsche in his Thus spoke Zarathustra told us a man should become a "overman" or "ubermensch" i.e. someone who believes in nihilism of universe (believing that life has ...
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