Wikiphilosophers/Meaning of life/Toby Lightheart
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Meaning Creation as Life's Purpose
[edit | edit source]Life creates all natural meaning and, therefore, has the ultimate significance in an otherwise meaningless universe. The purpose of life, individually and collectively, is to sustain and create more meaningful interactions, objects and life. This answer is a product of decomposing the question "what is the meaning of life?" and developing a new understanding of what "life" is.
Decomposing "What is the Meaning of Life?"
[edit | edit source]To understand the "Meaning of Life" one should first clearly specify what the phrase is understood to mean. This should start with communicating definitions of the terms "meaning" and "life".
What is Meaning?
[edit | edit source]"Meaning" has many definitions; however, here we will focus on three synonyms: "purpose", "significance" and "signification".
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What is Life?
[edit | edit source]"Life" may refer specifically to the lived experience of a person or more generally to living biological organisms. Both perspectives are relevant to understanding the meaning of life.
Biological answers to this question typically focus on the common characteristic of living things: homeostasis, reproduction, metabolism. This section builds an argument that the fundamental processes of life are detection and selective action, which combine to interpretation.
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Criticisms and Related Concepts
[edit | edit source]The "meaning of life" presented has a range of potential criticisms and relationships to existing philosophical concepts.
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Circular Reasoning
[edit | edit source]Declaring that "life creates meaning" and that "the purpose of life is to create meaning" has the appearance of a circular argument.