RE: The most disturbing image I saw in my life
January 16, 2023 at 9:52 pm
(This post was last modified: January 16, 2023 at 9:57 pm by Objectivist.)
(January 16, 2023 at 7:01 pm)Tomato Wrote: The statement life has no value tends to be an issue when theists are convoluting atheism as they are quite want to do. You know, when they ask something as silly as how can you atheists go on living if life has no meaning?
The question "does life have meaning?" is a loaded question and it uses the concept 'meaning' incorrectly as I see it. It's clear that they assume some externally applied meaning. My life certainly has meaning (purpose) and someone else's life may have meaning to them but this is not deemed sufficient as an answer in my experience. Clearly, the question assumes that if life has no externally given purpose, it has no purpose at all. Biology and purpose are concurrent. The purpose of life is to live it. It is an end in itself. It's the only value that is an end in itself because we don't live our lives as a means to some other value. All other values serve the purpose of life, such as the function of the brain and nervous system provide the knowledge and control that a living organism needs in order to live if it is of a type that has those things.
Meaning is something that applies to concepts and symbols. So either the questioner means purpose or value. What is the purpose of life or what is the value of life?
"Do not lose your knowledge that man's proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind, and a step that travels unlimited roads."
"The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see."
"The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see."
