Board index ‹ Morality

[I've got kidneys]

Why is it so inconceivable that there is no reason, no ultimate consequence or purpose in life? That the reason we see some design is that are brains are evolved to SEE design, we evolved to see coulour so that we could identify predators, prey, foods, threats. We categorize the world around us naturally—countries, planets, races, types of star, types of animals. We see patterns because we are EVOLVED to see patterns. It is a beneficial adaptation that remains because it is still beneficial. What purpose do you see, because I see none. I see beautiful chaos. I don't think that life is evolving towards something, or that I have some fate that I cannot avoid. Ultimately I think that everything that will be for naught. I'm really asking—what purpose is there?

[jimwalton]

We are having this conversation for a purpose, are we not? You ask the questions you do for a purpose. You wonder about purpose in life; you ponder it because others claim it and you don't see it. Does a rock ponder purpose? No, but you do. You don't think life has any purpose, and your perception is that life is not evolving towards something. And yet there was a purpose in your education, a purpose in your conversations, and you treat life (school, jobs, relationships) as if there is some purpose in all of this.

Nature exhibits characteristics of purpose. Even we as scientists ask, "Why does it do that?", as if there's a purpose that is discoverable. That is not to imply that nature is sentient, but that it exhibits qualities of reason, as if there's intent in it all. As philosophers we ask "Why?" As humans interacting with our circumstances we ask "Why?" It betrays an unshakeable inner notion that purpose is integral to both the whole and the parts.