Questions tagged [meaning-of-life]
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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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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 ...
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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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If someone lacks the will to live, can there still be anything he is willing to pursue?
After reading some posts such as What is the motivation of all individuals to stay alive? and Why care for anything in life? , we'd like to pose a question in a different (perhaps more accurate) way:
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
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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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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 ...
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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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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 ...
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If everything ends one day why don't we end it today?
Is there any doctrine that gives the reason why to wait till the end of the world?
I'm 18 and not depressed.
I am not asking about the purpose of life. I'm asking why should we fulfill 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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What does love mean in the true sense?
I feel love is not just about enjoying each other's company. It's more
about caring for the other person and always longing to see them
happy. But in this endeavour to see them happy, we tend to get ...
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The definition of life
The prevailing biology of the modern era describes life as a system. A system is defined a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network. The NASA definition of ...
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How one should live a peaceful life knowing this fact that there is no meaning of life? [closed]
So I am going through the philosophical path and I think I am deep into it nowadays.
That old question "What is the purpose of living when we are going to die one day" was eating my mind but ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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What is the motivation of all individuals to stay alive?
What keeps an individual alive?
If we make the following assumptions:
There is nothing after death, only black. No heaven, no hell, no rebirth.
So we don't take anything with us after death and ...
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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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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 ...
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What is the purpose of life? [mainly for non_believers] [closed]
I am aware this question has been asked quite often here; I wanted to customize the question to a certain context.
other questions are also debated when this question is asked:
Do we actually exist ...
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What is the meaning of "meaning of life" and why do people seek it?
One of the oldest questions is "What is the meaning of life?". But what does the concept of "meaning of life" actually mean? What does it mean for something to be the "meaning ...
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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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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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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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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 ...
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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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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 ...
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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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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 ...
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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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How is the meaning of life "recursive"?
I read the following from wikipedia (which I have found quoted in various discussion forums) on the Meaning of Life.
Logical positivists ask: "What is the meaning of life?", "What is the meaning in ...
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What is the difference, after death, of a 90-year-old and a one-year-old?
If there is a person who died at the age of 90 and a baby who died at one year old, what is the difference between them afterwards? They are both in a state of nothingness, they cannot remember or ...
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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 ...
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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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Are there any reasons for an individual to live if he hasn't got any needs? [closed]
Assuming this individual doesn't require basic needs (eating, drinking, etc...), and he can't feel any other needs like, the need for love, the need to be alone for a moment, the need to seek ...
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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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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 ...
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Is Sisyphus actually happy or is he content?
I am having trouble understanding what Camus meant when he says "One must imagine Sisyphus is happy" in the essay The Myth of Sisyphus. What does Camus mean by happiness, and how can Sisyphus be happy ...
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Do humans need some agency over the world around them for their lives to have some sense or purpose?
This is a follow up to this question I was told to revise: If all work is automated, what will humans be able to do? After consideration I think that the only way to salvage that question is to break ...
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Should one abstain from a behaviour because they know why they engage in it?
I'm 16, I don't study psychology in college, only biology, chemistry, physics and maths, but I find evolutionary psychology incredibly interesting, because it's the only psychological theory that ...
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How to know what life is?
What we call ‘our life’ is about a period of time from birth to death. During that period, some might like to devote themselves to certain virtues, some to the religions-promised afterlife, some to an ...
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If we forget why do we acquire knowledge which by the way gets outdated?
We learn then we forget. It might seem to be a waste of precious time subtracted from life. Some time ago I started to write every day two things (yes, only two) I learn every day. One column for ...
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Were there philosophers who viewed nihilism in a positive light?
I’d like to know if there were philosophers who proposed the basic presupposition of existential nihilism as the reason to live life passionately. Put otherwise, were there philosophers who explained ...
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Outstanding allegories/definitions of body and life
The most famous definition of the human body is Plato's soma-sema, a prison, a tomb, a burden, then an archetype of perfection, a tool by which to reach balance: many are the allegories used by ...
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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 ...
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