What is the point of life?

[Whisperer]

I dont know if this is the right forum. But that is the question. Just wondering your thoughts.

My opinion- To find the point of life

[Cosmo]

I think everyone has a different purpose. Mine is to make the world a better place as much as I can, and to make people's lives better.

[TheNumber42]

My opinion:

Life is pointless. There is no inherent meaning, worth or purpose. Life only has what meaning each individual gives it.

[Jocelyn.]

To reproduce and to survive.

Other than that, what Cody said.

[John 6:29]

"To survive"? Isn't that kind of redundant? No offense. That's like asking, "What's the point of death?" And saying, "To stop surviving." Surviving is life. To cease surviving is to cease to have life. So, why survive? And at that, why even reproduce if there is no purpose other than the grave?

[Sythan]

Different for everyone as MonsterCosmonaut said.

[Xujhan]

Originally Posted by mewithYou

"To survive"? Isn't that kind of redundant? No offense. That's like asking, "What's the point of death?" And saying, "To stop surviving." Surviving is life. To cease surviving is to cease to have life. So, why survive? And at that, why even reproduce if there is no purpose other than the grave?

Different meaning of the word 'purpose'. The purpose that life has - rather, that life has evolved to have - is to survive and reproduce. It's a matter of practical purpose, rather than philosophical purpose; life is best suited to surviving and reproducing.

As for the 'meaning of life'; life is an opportunity. It doesn't have an inherent meaning; rather it adopts whatever meaning you choose to give it.

[MegaMadness]

To live. But really live if you know what I mean as in do things, be happy, go wild. To enjoy your time.

[John 6:29]

Originally Posted by Xujhan

Different meaning of the word 'purpose'. The purpose that life has - rather, that life has evolved to have - is to survive and reproduce. It's a matter of practical purpose, rather than philosophical purpose; life is best suited to surviving and reproducing.

As for the 'meaning of life'; life is an opportunity. It doesn't have an inherent meaning; rather it adopts whatever meaning you choose to give it.

Life is best suited for surviving and reproducing, because it's the only way we have life. But that doesn't answer the point of life. Why survive? Why reproduce? If there is no purpose to it.

[Jocelyn.]

Originally Posted by mewithYou

Life is best suited for surviving and reproducing, because it's the only way we have life. But that doesn't answer the point of life. Why survive? Why reproduce? If there is no purpose to it.

Why do we need a purpose? Instead of making it overly complicated, I think the "purpose" of life is simple... to just keep existing. We exist to keep our species existing.

Do you think that every animal besides humans should have a purpose as well? Let's see, the purpose of plants and trees is to help replenish the supply of oxygen and to feed animals. A bird might eat the seeds of a plant, so does that make the birds ultimate purpose in life to shit out seeds so plants keep growing? Birds eat, shit seeds and mate. In my opinion birds have more of a purpose than humans. At least they contribute something. Last time I checked humans were eating up the earth's resources like there is no tomorrow and not doing much to contribute back to it. So maybe that's our purpose as humans. To destroy an earth that lesser animals are working so hard to keep functioning.

[Xujhan]

Originally Posted by mewithYou

Life is best suited for surviving and reproducing, because it's the only way we have life. But that doesn't answer the point of life. Why survive? Why reproduce? If there is no purpose to it.

Again, you need to be clearer with the question you're asking. "Why do we want these things?" is a simple biological question. Except in very extreme cases you cannot simply reason yourself out of a desire to live because that's a mindset well suited to evolution. "Why should we want these things?" is a philosophical question that's ultimately analogous to "What should I do with my life?" The answer to that is as I've already said: it's up to you. Certainly we can give each other suggestions, but there's no absolute justification for any one answer so it's up to the individual to decide which suits them best.

[Troubled_Heart]

To me, life is a miracle that has no point, only what each person feels thus the point in my life is to live a perfectly but for someone else it might be to play a sport or whatever really...

[John 6:29]

Originally Posted by Xujhan

Again, you need to be clearer with the question you're asking. "Why do we want these things?" is a simple biological question. Except in very extreme cases you cannot simply reason yourself out of a desire to live because that's a mindset well suited to evolution. "Why should we want these things?" is a philosophical question that's ultimately analogous to "What should I do with my life?" The answer to that is as I've already said: it's up to you. Certainly we can give each other suggestions, but there's no absolute justification for any one answer so it's up to the individual to decide which suits them best.

Is this not a philosophical thread? And no, I disagree. "Why should we want these things," could be answered by way of science -- psychology. That is, if they are beneficial. If the purpose of life is to reproduce and survive, then there should be a reason (hence the point of this thread), a point, as to why the purpose of life is to reproduce and survive. Again, it'd be similar to me asking, "What is the point of death?" And someone responds, "To cease surviving." This is simply restating the question as a statement and avoiding the question all together. The point of death is not to cease surviving, there must be another point to it, if it has a point at all (which I believe it does). Certainly death is ceasing to survive, as it's restating the question as a statement, but it has not answered the question to what the point of death is. In the same sense, the purpose of life is to live, survive. But this is only restating the question as an answer and not giving the philosophical answer that this thread was intended for. Life SHOULD be used for surviving, as without survival, we have no life. And life should be used for reproduction, as without reproduction, there is not survival. But it doesn't answer what the point of survival and reproduction, or life, actually is.

[BDF]

Meaning of life is whatever meaning you give it yourself. Essentially there's no meaning though. Too tired to explain the philosophy though lol. Just take my word ;p

[Xujhan]

Originally Posted by mewithYou

Is this not a philosophical thread? And no, I disagree. "Why should we want these things," could be answered by way of science -- psychology. That is, if they are beneficial. If the purpose of life is to reproduce and survive, then there should be a reason (hence the point of this thread), a point, as to why the purpose of life is to reproduce and survive. Again, it'd be similar to me asking, "What is the point of death?" And someone responds, "To cease surviving." This is simply restating the question as a statement and avoiding the question all together. The point of death is not to cease surviving, there must be another point to it, if it has a point at all (which I believe it does). Certainly death is ceasing to survive, as it's restating the question as a statement, but it has not answered the question to what the point of death is. In the same sense, the purpose of life is to live, survive. But this is only restating the question as an answer and not giving the philosophical answer that this thread was intended for. Life SHOULD be used for surviving, as without survival, we have no life. And life should be used for reproduction, as without reproduction, there is not survival. But it doesn't answer what the point of survival and reproduction, or life, actually is.

Your analogy doesn't work; a life is a physical thing while death is not. Death is a consequence of life. It would be more appropriate to compare life to another physical thing that has evolved a purpose. The purpose of life is reproduction in the same sense that the purpose of an eye is sight. Death doesn't have an analogous purpose because it isn't a tangible evolving thing.

You're confusing your definitions. Saying that the point of life is reproduction in a biological sense doesn't necessitate there being a purpose to reproduction beyond the continuation of life. It's simply how living things work. There is no question of "should" in this case, only questions of "is". When it comes to questions of "should", there is no ultimate justification. At some point you have to cease asking the question "Why should I care about this?" and admit that you simply do regardless of reason. Once you have that starting point, then you can ask "Given that I care about X, what should I do?"

[John 6:29]

Originally Posted by Xujhan

Your analogy doesn't work; a life is a physical thing while death is not. Death is a consequence of life. It would be more appropriate to compare life to another physical thing that has evolved a purpose. The purpose of life is reproduction in the same sense that the purpose of an eye is sight. Death doesn't have an analogous purpose because it isn't a tangible evolving thing.

You're confusing your definitions. Saying that the point of life is reproduction in a biological sense doesn't necessitate there being a purpose to reproduction beyond the continuation of life. It's simply how living things work. There is no question of "should" in this case, only questions of "is". When it comes to questions of "should", there is no ultimate justification. At some point you have to cease asking the question "Why should I care about this?" and admit that you simply do regardless of reason. Once you have that starting point, then you can ask "Given that I care about X, what should I do?"

We are pretty much in agreement, as I agree with relatively everything you said. Despite my lackluster example without explaining it further. But in the same sense, I could say that reproduction is not the point of life, but the cause of life. So we end up back at square one that the point of life is to survive, while death is to cease surviving. And death, in an evolutionary sense, does have a point.

The reason why I disagree with using the point of life is to reproduce and to survive is that it is not the point to life. It is how we survive. It is how we have life. It is not the point of life. Rather, as you say, it is the cause of life. Reproducing and surviving is a causation of life, not a point.

Yet, to admit that we care regardless of reason, is again, and avoidance of the question. We each care about life, reproduction, and survival, because of our own point to life. That is, for some it might be getting an education, for some, to be in a band, for others, to serve God, etc. They may be minuscule reasons, but without a point to life, we simply cease existing because we have no reason to exist. The fact is, each of us continue living without killing ourselves because we have our own purposes in this life, and if we say, "There is no purpose," we are only lying, blinded to reason, or only surface deep in questioning our purpose. You may say this is a philosophical question, which I agree, and I believe that is the purpose of this thread, however, I also believe that it is a psychological question. Yet we care about "X" for a reason, and thus we respond to that reason. If we had no reason to care about "X" we wouldn't care about it.

For example, I do not know anything about fadlkfdhjslfkj. Therefore, I am indifferent to fadlkfdhjslfk and would do nothing for fadlkfdhjslfk. But if I know something about fadlkfdhjslfk, and fadlkfdhjslfk makes life enjoyable, I then care about fadlkfdhjslfk, and would do something for fadlkfdhjslfk. There's always a reason for what we do or don't do.

[Xujhan]

Originally Posted by mewithYou

We are pretty much in agreement, as I agree with relatively everything you said. Despite my lackluster example without explaining it further. But in the same sense, I could say that reproduction is not the point of life, but the cause of life. So we end up back at square one that the point of life is to survive, while death is to cease surviving. And death, in an evolutionary sense, does have a point.

The reason why I disagree with using the point of life is to reproduce and to survive is that it is not the point to life. It is how we survive. It is how we have life. It is not the point of life. Rather, as you say, it is the cause of life. Reproducing and surviving is a causation of life, not a point.

Yet, to admit that we care regardless of reason, is again, and avoidance of the question. We each care about life, reproduction, and survival, because of our own point to life. That is, for some it might be getting an education, for some, to be in a band, for others, to serve God, etc. They may be minuscule reasons, but without a point to life, we simply cease existing because we have no reason to exist. The fact is, each of us continue living without killing ourselves because we have our own purposes in this life, and if we say, "There is no purpose," we are only lying, blinded to reason, or only surface deep in questioning our purpose. You may say this is a philosophical question, which I agree, and I believe that is the purpose of this thread, however, I also believe that it is a psychological question. Yet we care about "X" for a reason, and thus we respond to that reason. If we had no reason to care about "X" we wouldn't care about it.

For example, I do not know anything about fadlkfdhjslfkj. Therefore, I am indifferent to fadlkfdhjslfk and would do nothing for fadlkfdhjslfk. But if I know something about fadlkfdhjslfk, and fadlkfdhjslfk makes life enjoyable, I then care about fadlkfdhjslfk, and would do something for fadlkfdhjslfk. There's always a reason for what we do or don't do.

A lot of what you're saying is tautological, so it's hard to tell what point you're actually trying to make. Perhaps this will be easier if I use the word function for what I mean. The function of life is reproduction, in the same sense as the function of a stomach is digestion. That doesn't imply any conscious purpose.

But when it comes to why we care about living, it's not because of this or that purpose. We care about living because we have evolved to care about living; from an evolutionary standpoint it's far better to care than not. Certainly we will go on to find things that are particularly meaningful to us and those things will reinforce our desire to live, but that desire isn't contingent upon those things.

[John 6:29]

Originally Posted by Xujhan

A lot of what you're saying is tautological, so it's hard to tell what point you're actually trying to make. Perhaps this will be easier if I use the word function for what I mean. The function of life is reproduction, in the same sense as the function of a stomach is digestion. That doesn't imply any conscious purpose.

There is no confusion here. This was my point, which, the function of life is not the point of life. Hence my pointing out the redundancy.

[TheNumber42]

Originally Posted by mewithYou

There is no confusion here. This was my point, which, the function of life is not the point of life. Hence my pointing out the redundancy.

If one does not believe there is any inherent point to life, then describing its function could be seen as a reasonable substitute when answering "What is the point of life?"

I think that is probably where some of this confusion is coming from. A lot of people, myself included, see life as nothing more meaningful than a convenient biological freak accident that has evolved over millions of years into the complex thing it is. When asked to give an answer to "what is the point of life?" I think some people feel describing its function is the closest thing they can give to an answer because they see no other point.

For example, let's say I asked "What is the point of a washing machine's life?" Ignore for just a moment that a washing machine isn't alive, what would you answer? I'd say that a large majority of people would give some variation of "to wash clothes." That's not the washing machines purpose or meaning, it is its function. Most people probably wouldn't say a washing machine had any 'point' to it's life at all, and, lacking a real answer to the question, they would give the best answer they could by describing its function.

I think that is why so many people say the point of life is to live and reproduce or some variation on that theme. They don't see us as very different from that washing machine. We're sentient and biological, but on some level we're really just extremely complex machines built by thousands of years of evolution to reproduce and continue our species. There is no inherent point to life, just our function.

[Tara.]

To live. To learn.

[xMikelex24]

My take on the purpose of life... I would just like to make a dent in the lives of others. "I don't want to change the world, I just want to leave it colder" is perhaps the best song lyric I can use to describe it as. I know I'll never be famous or notorious, but I'd just like to be remembered as dependable, trustworthy, generous, and kind. But also fun, fearless, daring, and outgoing. As soon as I get my license I'm going to be going around helping at food drives, animal shelters, soup kitchens. Not just because it'll look good for college, but to make someone's life a little better, to make someone smile. I love the little things in life, the things that can just make a person's week, even if it's insignificent. What I want to do with my life? I've tampered with the idea of becoming a missionary, helping others build homes and preaching to people about the word of God.. But maybe if I can become a veterinarian and help animals, I could also have money to send and help the missionaries. It's a long way away from adulthood, but I love to dream, to see the possibilities. This is just what I want I think, of course, it's different for everyone.

[OMFG!You'reActuallySmart!]

Life has no universal purpose. We can say what we each want in life as being the point of it because the answer is a subjective one that may not be universally applied.

I agree with TheNumber42 in saying there's a confusion between the words "point" and "function". From a biological view, there's a function of what life allows but not a point for life. The function is surviving and can relate this to Pasteur's germ theory. Thus, life's function isn't merely about an individual surviving, it's about generations of individuals surviving.

Originally Posted by mewithYou

Again, it'd be similar to me asking, "What is the point of death?" And someone responds, "To cease surviving." This is simply restating the question as a statement and avoiding the question all together. The point of death is not to cease surviving, there must be another point to it, if it has a point at all (which I believe it does).

The answer is circular but the function of life is to reproduce and survive because future generations cannot exist otherwise (i.e. more life). The point of death isn't just about ceasing to survive, it's about bettering life. This may be going into too much detail but apoptosis (i.e. programmed cell death) can be very beneficial for survival and reproduction. The best example is the brain.

[Boobies]

For me personally
I wanna be the very best
Like no one ever was
To catch them is my real test
To train them is my cause...

And to have sex and make babies I guess

[Lugez]

milk shakes

[Cosmo]

Originally Posted by God.

For me personally
I wanna be the very best
Like no one ever was
To catch them is my real test
To train them is my cause...

I will travel across the land,
Searching far and wide
Each Pokemon to understand
The power that's inside!

[dr2005]

Not a clue, but I'd like to throw this quote in for general amusement:

Originally Posted by Douglas Adams, "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

Admittedly it's about the Universe rather than life but hey, I like it.

[FriendZoneMayor]

My opinion is that the purpose of life is to live to your fullest potential and to make the world a better place for those who come after you. If nobody remembers your name when you're gone, it's like you never really lived, so live life to the fullest!

[Anthropomorphic]

The point of life is to search for an individualized explanation for purpose, while fulfilling the role that each person inevitably fulfills as a minute piece of the giant puzzle of being.

[Quarter]

My opinion of life is to further advance humankind. I mean, essentially, almost everyone advances humanity a bit in there life, some more then others. Like, I am planning to become an astrophysicist. I will probably not change the lives of a lot of people but I will certainly (well, hopefully) advance science and physics. But, a teacher. They further advance humanity by giving knowledge to the next generation. Thus, indirectly, advancing humanity in their own way.