Life is meaningless

[self biased]

own goal.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Flip McWho
Yeah thats in your opinion though. Others believe that there is something there. Hell some people probably believe that there are unicorns out there somewhere.

People can believe what the hell they like, but it doesn't make it so. Despite all our best attempts we have yet to locate or detect a soul or come up with any decent account of how it is supposed to interact with a body.

And what does everyone think of people who believe in unicorns? Why not apply the same standard across the board? I don't see any reason why we should be tolerant of people who want us to believe in entities that there is no evidence for, and want to sanctimoniously meddle in other people's lives because of it.



Anyway, you can always cheat. It costs you nothing to have a Mr Mister album played at your funeral for brownie points if the Man does happen to exist.

[Drogue]

Originally posted by paiktis22
And that my friend is exactly the meaning of life

No, if the meaning of life is simply life itself, then it has no meaning.

If the meaning of the word "numocom" is defined simply as "numocom", then that word is meaningless. Something that can only be defined as itself has meaning.

[The Mad Monk]

Originally posted by Agathon


Really, I don't see vast gilded monuments to philosophy everywhere.

However, some nutcase Hebrew Carpenter gets himself nailed to a tree for short changing the Romans on a building job, and that's as a sign to spend millions upon millions on phallic shaped buildings and squillions more on wars to "convince" the rest of humanity that he wasn't really a carpenter, but a being sent from another world.

Kinda puts the money wasting philosophers into perspective, don't it?

If that's what you call an argument, it certainly does.

[Bereta_Eder]

I was talking about seeing life's meaning as living it not what you meant by it as the perpetuation of the species.

[Flip McWho]

People can believe what the hell they like, but it doesn't make it so.

Fully agree.

be tolerant of people who want us to believe in entities that there is no evidence for,

Because of the Bible man. Didn't you hear it was the word of God.

Anyway, you can always cheat. It costs you nothing to have a Mr Mister album played at your funeral for brownie points if the Man does happen to exist

Yeah who was that guy who said that believing in God is a good gamble. If he doesn't exist you don't gain anything in being right about it, but if he does exist you can stand to win big by beleiving. I think it was Rowe wasn't it? Not 100% sure. I'm agnostic for now. Anyway God is supposed to be forgiving so he can forgive us our ignorance in not believing.

[Drogue]

Originally posted by paiktis22
I was talking about seeing life's meaning as living it not what you meant by it as the perpetuation of the species.

I mean about it's meaning being living too. Perpetuation of the species is simply to mean that more people can live it. But still it is meaningless, since if the only point in life is living it, then it is self-defining. You would have to ask what is the point in living it? To which there is none. So if the only meaning of life is to live it, then living it is still meaningless.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Flip McWho

Because of the Bible man. Didn't you hear it was the word of God.

Have you heard the one that God exists because the Bible says so, and the Bible is true because God says so.

Yeah who was that guy who said that believing in God is a good gamble. If he doesn't exist you don't gain anything in being right about it, but if he does exist you can stand to win big by beleiving. I think it was Rowe wasn't it? Not 100% sure. I'm agnostic for now. Anyway God is supposed to be forgiving so he can forgive us our ignorance in not believing.

Pascal. Unfortunately his argument is invalid.

[monkspider]

Originally posted by Asher

Indeed. For example, it is your destinty to produce feces-flavored popcorn into movie theatres worldwide. It is your purpose.

Indeed, and it is your destiny to have sex with said popcorn.

[Ben Kenobi]

Same as happens with "Save the Unicorns" campaigns.

So they are rather hard on horns, eh?

[Ben Kenobi]

If life only has meaning because we give it meaning, how can we console someone who is suicidal? Clearly, for him, his life has no meaning, and we ought to encourage him to off himself.

[Drogue]

Going by Pascal's argument was that the possibility of infinite rewards has a higher expectation than any earthly gain from not beliving, so if God cannot be proven not to exist, it is rational to believe, IIRC?

If so the best defence I can see is that by those reasoning, believing in all deities is rational, since it could be any of them. Even if your neighbour invents one, they could hav stumbled on the right one. However you cannot belong to two faiths at once like that.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by monkspider

Indeed, and it is your destiny to have sex with said popcorn.

Alll you'd need to make said popcorn is for Asher to breathe on it.

[Bereta_Eder]

Originally posted by Drogue

I mean about it's meaning being living too. Perpetuation of the species is simply to mean that more people can live it. But still it is meaningless, since if the only point in life is living it, then it is self-defining. You would have to ask what is the point in living it? To which there is none. So if the only meaning of life is to live it, then living it is still meaningless.

I understand what you say but maybe you didn't understand what I said? Or the way I said it. It wasn't so much a philosophical statement as it was a stance of... life

[Drogue]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
If life only has meaning because we give it meaning, how can we console someone who is suicidal? Clearly, for him, his life has no meaning, and we ought to encourage him to off himself.

Because their life may improve, indeed, almost certainly will, and so they would enjoy it more if they didn't commit suicide. However if it will never improve, such as someone dying slowly of cancer, or someone in a persistant vegetative state, or someone with any painful and terminal condition, then suicide/euthanasia may be a good option.

Given that life has no meaning, it would simply be a question of whether they and the world are better of with them living or dying. You can console someone by showing them how their life could change, how they affect people around them, who would miss them, how they can be happy, and make others happy.

If there is never a chance for them to enjoy life more than nothingness, then maybe suicide is an option, since it would be purely putting them out of their misery. That is why I support euthanasia. When someones life is completely hopeless, when they know they will never recover from the pain they are under, it should be an option for them.

However a lack of meaning in life does not mean that loss of life is fine, because without a meaning in life, enjoyment becomes paramount, IMHO. Loss of life almost always involves a loss of enjoyment, since life is usually better than nothingness, especially if you consider the effects suicide would have on the people close to that person.