Questions tagged [meaning-of-life]
The meaning-of-life tag has no usage guidance.
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What is the "scientific" purpose of existence?
I am interested in reading anything that tries to tackle scientific views on existence. There are plenty of great works that discuss human meaning and purpose. However, I am more interested in ...
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Is murder wrong accross the board? If not, when?
Is it wrong to murder anything, in any circumstance?
If sometimes its justified, based on species, circumstance, self defense, ideology, when is it considered wrong?
What is the justification for ...
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Could NIetzsche be read as saying Aufheben is the meaning of life?
It is unclear what the 'will to power' means, and if it is about the world
The will to power doctrine seems to claim that everything that exists
rests fundamentally on an underlying basis of “...
user46524
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Is it better to have big goals in life?
I am interested in philosophical arguments about goals. Specifically, is a life without great goals necessarily inferior? For us to have a "good life", must people set "admirable" goals?
Please ...
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Is there a field of study for AI inspired goals for humans?
I'm not very familiar with this kind of formal philosophy discussions so please excuse my unpreciseness.
I know that the Artificially intelligent agent we have been putting the most hopes into ...
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What is the meaning of life in the Myth of Sisyphus?
In The Myth of Sisyphus and other Essays, Albert Camus seeks to answer the question of the meaning of life. To do this, he plays on the idea of the "absurd," the conflict between man's search for ...
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Source of a Russell quote about purpose and meaninglessness
The following quote is attributed to Bertrand Russell:
Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s purpose is meaningless.
The reference for the quote is:
Bertrand Russell, quoted in Rick ...
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Personal and unviersal existential nihlism
Let's say Alice has logically arrived at existential Nihilism, which is
the philosophy that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value (wiki)
This carries two claims,
Alice's ...
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What is Nagel's definition of 'The Absurd'?
Why does Nagel consider life to be absurd? And correct me if i'm wrong but it feels like he's telling people to live life despite life being absurd? Why does he do that if that's the case?
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Become immortal - blessing or curse? [closed]
This question is really important for understand what's actually matter to us as humans. Having a limited life span is factor by which everyone of us is driven to something (goals/dreams/fulfilling ...
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What is the point of acquiring knowledge when time would take it away soon enough?
After spending hours and hours of researching on different aspects of philosophy, not to mention the effort, here is my question:
What is the point of acquiring knowledge when time would take it ...
user37486
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How to live the present instead of just surviving?
When I was younger, I always tried to imagine how my future would be, and how it would feel like. I tried to imagine how my relationships would be, how my house would be, what my job would be, etc., ...
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Was every nihilist philosopher yet unhappy with it?
Let's use a comparison. For this I will show my own views on it:
My life is meaningless. I play games for a meaningless joy. I listen jokes for a meaningless laughter. I want to change this world ...
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Schopenhauer on the unworthiness of life
In which book and section does Schopenhauer say that "life is so short, questionable and evanescent that it is not worth the trouble of any major effort"?
I often see this quote attributed to him, ...
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Why do humans make infants? [closed]
Considering that humans are the most intelligent species on earth, why do humans make infants?
I cannot understand the reason why humans make infants, when
humans can't predict whether the ...
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How does regret work for the people who have lost their memories, by accident or some other reasons? [closed]
The person who has lost his or her memories will have no regrets, then how would he learn the lessons of life?
I have asked the same question in Psychology and Neuroscience SE as well. What I am ...
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How does free will give life “meaning”?
Many people have suggested that if we don’t have free will, then life is essentially meaningless because everything we’ve ever thought or done has already been determined. I’m not sure why determinism ...
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What's the meaning of the meaning of life? [closed]
Let's say that the meaning of life is X (avoiding evil, fulfilling our desires, obeying God, fleeing the pain of the fear of the death, collecting turtles – anything). What is the meaning of X?
Even ...
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Why does striving to achieve my goals make me suffer so?
I am continually confused by my desires. Normally I love being alone, watching movies and eating snacks--just living life. But I don't know what devil has possessed me to desire more, to achieve more, ...
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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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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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How can i become obsessed with some meaning to life that i find rational? [closed]
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I see something for example like living for others or trying to change the world (in a non-violent way) is an genuine meaning to life,however i'm not obsessed with these meanings that i ...
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Introspection to look for what I'm missing [closed]
I'm new in this area and I would like to ask some questions about introspection.
About me
I'm 22 years old. I'm bachelor in computer science. I live with my parents, I'm the only child, I work for ...
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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. ...
user8572
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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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Is it sure that there is always room to improve ourselves? [closed]
There is always something that is stuck in my mind. I am afraid that one day... I mean what if one day, we know everything and did everything to improve ourselves and there is no more room for ...
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Is our "meaning of life" fundamentally different from that of other animals?
Whatever the "meaning of life" may be (I interpret "meaning" as "purpose" here) is for us, Homo Sapiens, do we assume the "meaning of life" for humans differs fundamentally from the "meaning of life" ...
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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 ...
user8572
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Why is everyone seeking satisfaction?
Is it just me, or why is everyone seeking some kind of personal notion of satisfaction? It seems to be a better life mentality to relish in the cold reality of accepting the inevitable pains of life. ...
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If all of us are going to die one day why should we care about the feelings and emotions of others?
We are taught to care for others' feelings and emotions. We must exercise certain deeds hailed in holy texts.
Why do such things matter when we all will die one day?
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Classifications of life purposes
Can all life purposes be classified as a mixture of some of the following four areas?
Hedonism
Making an impact in your physical reality
Fulfilling the plan/desire of some supernatural entity (or ...
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Is good the absence of evil or is it the other way round?
Is good the absence of evil or is evil the absence of good?What do religions tell us?
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if god is there why is there suffering? [closed]
Whenever I look around myself and see suffering I
feel god cannot be real.If god is real then why is there so much suffering and poverty?
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What analytic philosophy books on the meaning of life are there?
Because almost every book on meaning of life is in continental philosophy or religious.
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Why do we associate youth with life, and old with death? [closed]
Also youth is optimistic, but childishness is condoned?
Age and experienced should make one wiser and be able to take advantage of life yet it's youth (whom has not really lived yet) that we ...
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Why do we search for a meaning in life
Why do we search for a meaning in life?
I assume that religion arose because of the desire to give meaning to life. Maybe this prerequisite is already wrong ;)
Since we do not know what is the ...
user25791
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What is the meaning of sadness?
What does it mean to be sad?
It just occurred to me that this is the (pseudo?) existential question that is making me sad.
user25714
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What do atheists believe in? (in layman terms)
Issue
I travel quite a bit and am often asked about my religious beliefs. I am atheist. I found it hard for some religious (or spiritual) people (whatever religion) to accept the concept of atheism ...
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When is happiness enough?
I think we'd agree happiness is not always the summum bonum. We can each, I think, imagine a very evil person who is happy in their evil, but is living badly. Perhaps likewise, a very good person, who ...
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Attitudes towards life or philosophies of life [closed]
I've discovered two subsets of the set of all people. I do they think are well defined, meaning that every element in the set of all people can be categorised as belonging to either one of the two ...
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Why argues Wittgenstein: If someone has solved the problem of life, and believes everything quite easy now, he can see that he is wrong?
Source: The Meaning of Life: A Very Short Introduction (1 ed 2007) by T. Eagleton. p. 50 Middle - p. 51 Top.
We can always ask, after all, why someone should want to
know the meaning of life. Are ...
user8572
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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 ...
user8572
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Can Nietzsche's "will to power" make a person's life meaningful?
People seem to find some sort of "meaning" in Nietzsche. My question is, more specifically, can someone's "will to power" make their life meaningful, according to him? Does Nietzsche address anywhere ...
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What types of arguments convert nihilists to existentialists?
I will not pretend this question does not have personal significance to me, but that need not to be overly elaborated.
By studying cases in which existentialists attempt to give advice to nihilists (...
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Why some people are boring and some are interesting? [closed]
Why we basically group people into interesting and boring (or any other), can anyone share some of their experiences related to this?
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Various Philosopher's Perspective on the Meaning or Purpose of Life
I'm teaching a high-school philosophy club at the school I work at, but the problem is that I haven't had any real formal education in philosophy and have only a novice knowledge of the subject, which ...
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What do Nietzsche's bogeymen say about the meaning of life?
What do Nietzsche's bogeymen say about the meaning of life?
Specifically, is it characteristic of his "last men" to be unconcerned whether their happiness is meaningful, or even embrace the ...
user6917
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According to Kant, What is the Purpose of Human Existence?
After reading Kant's Idea For a Universal History, I've become intrigued by Kant's notion of Nature guiding the dealings of men towards a "perfectly rightful civil constitution." Although the ...
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Could I please request an introduction to philosophy of pessimism?
Everything from essential texts, interpretations of the absurd, eternal return, interpretations of suicide and religion, and it's influence on the arts. And, I know I am asking a lot, but I'd like to ...
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Absurdists/Nihilists/Existentialists take on as to why there is no intrinsic meaning to life
So, I just got into absurdism (formally-as a "branch" in philosophy, though I had been thinking in similar terms for a longer period now), and currently am reading "The Myth of Sysiphus" by Albert ...
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