The Purpose of the Human Race

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
21

The question assumes some purpose other than life itself. It’s possible that if there be a higher purpose, it is well beyond our understanding and control.

What will the earth be like 1000 years from now? 1,000,000? 100,000,000? Using the fossil record as evidence, I feel comfortable in predicting the human species, along with all life forms, will evolve in ways we cannot imagine.

My favorite quote from this thread is from Marshall McDaniel:

I contend Herbert’s game is that of a fool. If one must supply meaning to life, such meaning can only be applied to that individual.

In an episode of the X-Files, scientist Bambi Berenbaum compared humans to the cockroach:

“Eat, sleep… defecate, procreate. That’s all [cockroaches] do. That’s all we do, but at least insects don’t kid themselves that it’s anything more than that.”

I tend to agree, and must ask the question, “What is so awful about eating, sleeping, defecating and procreating anyway?”

The statement, “It’s good to be alive,” is satisfactory in providing purpose for me.

A different subject altogether, but perhaps the purpose of life is to provide a backdrop for our true nature, that is, the experience of nothingness after we die.

22

Why should I bother to help humanity climb the evolutionary ladder if I will not be there to receive the prize at the end? That is, if there is an end.

23

That would be apathetic.

24

There is no doubt that there has to be a purpose of life. Just the fact that we cannot live without purpose or something to look forward to in our life means that life itself must have a purpose too. That’s how we learn about purpose and know that purpose is something because it’s in our genes to be purposeful. So how can life not have a purpose? If that were true then life would have no meaning at all, but life must have meaning too. Even if we assume that all this life just happened and is without meaning and without purpose, even then, for that to be true, there would have to be some meaning and purpose behind it. So life cannot be without meaning and purpose. Personally I think there is even more to life than meaning and purpose. But I don’t know what. I do know that the meaning of life on earth is that there is no death, we just come back, and that the purpose of life on earth is to keep moving because happiness is never static or stationary.

But the big meaning and purpose of life and universe, only God knows that and I wonder why because if I’m here on earth then I have a need and also a right to know all that :smiley:

25

We exist, just as everything that exists in this dimension, to experience time. That is what we and everything else do here. Just experience time. Everything else is just gravy.

26

Oh crap, here we go again. Whether there is a purpose OUTSIDE of ourselves is UNKNOWABLE! This is not an either/or statement. To say that there is purpose or not purpose is to miss the point.

The paradox is just what it is, and if there is disappointment that there is no road map, no instruction manual, well ain’t it a bitch.

Marshall pointed in the right direction. Our dilemma is we’re here even if we don’t know where or why here. So get busy and construct some rational, beneficial, pleasant explanation that will get you through the day.

This does not nullify our ability to ask the question or to desire to “know” the answer. It is the acceptance of I CANNOT KNOW that give’s us purpose if we will accept the responsibility.

Sorry for all the capital letters. Need more coffee.

JT

27

Whitelotus wrote:

I second Altruist’s motion for an explanation to this claim.

It is possible that things exist which we are incapable of measuring.

Therefore you can’t say,

…because this is absolutely epistemelogically unprovable. Should we live our lives believing in things that we can’t know exist (like angels)? In my opinion, no. However, this doesn’t mean we should be so narrow-mindedt as to say it is impossible.

I don’t denounce science, but I recognize its limits. Whether or not this paradigm excommunicates me from the rest of the techno-monkeys, I have no idea.

28

Hello! This is my first post on this site. I thought I’d start out by answering a simple question as a warm up. :slight_smile:

Purpose implies that there is a goal. To understand what the goal of what we call, ‘the human race’ we must first understand what it truly means to be human (meaning the potential of humans) and the properties of humans.

The goal, or purpose of the human being, in times of ancient Greece was to know thy self. Thus, by truly knowing this thing we call self, one would comprehend the potential of one’s being. The Hellenic (Greek) tradition of the times saw man as being born with a gift. This gift was a question(s). How did I get here? What am I? Where am I going? By answering these questions, one was honoring the gift they were given, by ignoring it they were ‘kicking the gift horse in the mouth’, so to say. When a person seeks with earnest to know the answer to these questions, he will fully comprehend the potential and properties of this thing he calls a human being and more importantly will grasp what is meant by self.

So, to answer your question in short, the purpose of the human race is to know the potential of your being and what being a human really means. Now the purpose and goal of the self is another question, which at this time I will retire from any further metaphysical or ontological discussions. :slight_smile:

29

Many people think like this. I cannot blame them, because humans cannot seem to grip the idea that we need to move on as a solid fact. But isn’t there anyone who do believe that we need to progress toward a goal? We need something to work towards, something that can unite all of humanity. As it is, some seem to be quite happy just thriving and dying. If everyone is like this, then the human race has come officially to a standstill. For what is new technology and all that if we do not have an aim? We need something to work for. If anyone thinks the same as I do, please respond. :slight_smile:

30

  1. What is the purpose of a stick that lies there on a rural piece of land?

  2. What is the purpose of a stone?

  3. What is the purpose of a car?

Now these three things alone have no purpose, unless i attach a purpose to them myself. So why would my existence be any different?

31

For this question I direct you to the quote in my signature… :wink:

Since I personally feel that there is no solid answer to this question, I can only say you are here, might as well make as many experiences as you can and enjoy it. Create more humans so they can do the same. Attempt to create a legacy which will help humans in later generations exist, and try to find a small bit of immortality through your works and/or children. Whichever force that put us here (God or nature) will decide when human existence is no longer needed, so the best we can hope for is that humanity will stop asking why we exist and just…live and live well.

32

To be annoying, what does it mean to live ‘well’?

33

Wouldn’t that be yet another topic of discussion :slight_smile: I would say to live well is to live up to your full potential, and enjoy it while doing so.

34

seen as i believe in no universal truths, id have to agree with you, everything is only opinions and if that is your opinion of living ‘well’ then so be it, live well…

35

in the zen tradition, id like to anwser your question with a question. you ask, what is the purpose of the human race. i ask you, what is the purpose of meaning? when you figure out the pourpose of meaning, you will see that human kind is the most meaningful thing anyone could imagine

36

After thinking about your post, i find it most interesting. If i am along the right lines then i would say that the purpose of meaning is to have something to do, something to keep you busy, correct?

37

Whitelotus,

Leaving our ideas of ‘people’ aside, I ask for your argument that there is no purpose.

Nevermind…I’ll read your thread ‘A question that smells of philosophy’.

38

I understand that we’r just a part of nature’s cycle Whitelotus. Of course that ‘God’ is needed for us to have an absolute meaning but seen as i don’t believe in ‘god’. I will decide to put my own meaning to life. Any meaning i put is pointless, but what else do you propose? Obviously you have some kind of meaning whitelotus otherwise you wouldn’t be sat here in a forum and you certainly wouldn’t still be alive, so there must be something that you enjoy. Even if it is the fact that life is so meaningless.

39

Agree there is no essential difference between humans and animals. Agree that there is no telos to life or humanity.

Don’t agree with this… or perhaps just don’t understand what you mean.

Anyway, if you mean what I think you mean:

meanings change. you are brought into a meaningful world, and you draw on those pre-existing meanings but you also reproduce them, and put them to new purposes, combine them in new ways, etc etc etc.

the situation is analogous to rule governed creativity in language… you dont invent your language but you reproduce it by uttering sentances in it. However, the things you utter are your own and serve to reproduce the language in a way that ultimately changes it. This is the way that everything in society-culture changes.

For instance, as the language of evolution became increasingly justified to an increasingly large amount of people, indeed becoming indespensible for many communities of speech, it also became an increasingly meaningful description of the world. By incorporating evolution into your way of speaking-thinking-acting you are describing the world in a meaningful way that someone couldnt have (well, they wouldnt have been justified in doing so), say, 600 years ago.

that is a case of meaning being given to you, in the sense that you didnt create the language, the theory, etc… but you creatively reproduce it in your speech and thought, instantiate it, so you are also “giving” meaning… contributing to that meaning and using it creatively as you do with any language or idea…

40

I was refering to human purposes (the only ones there are), like describing origin of the species. I don’t see that as teleological.

calling that teleological is like calling a screwdriver teleological. meanings serve human purposes and also create them… its a recursive process…

this version of anti-humanist-structuralist darwinism you seem to be preaching is kind of tautological though… as in everything must be moving towards some predetermined end-point right? otherwise agency would come in some where…

this isnt the only way you have to play darwin you know… the idea that some mutations are better suited to some purposes than others and so thrive doesnt HAVE to be deterministic.

exactly… you are of it and in it. your making the mistake of seeing agency and structure (or individual and system if you prefer) as a dualism rather than a duality. I dont thinnk that you can “free yourself” of the system of meaning… you can’t be in a meaning-vacuum… but you ARE meaning as well… where-whenever you instantiate it you ARE it because that is all it can be.

genes don’t “use” us. your not seriously prescribing agency to genes are you?

ideas dont struggle for existence… that is ridiculous… people struggle for better tools (ideas)… how does an idea struggle?

how can meaning be indifferent to my wishes? if my meanings are determined then so are my wishes. how can ones understanding of the world be “imperfectly forced”? you reproduce the idea in practice, and different practices (engendered by different purposes and many other things…) will recursively organise different ideas as rules and resources that others will draw upon and apply differently and so on and so on… thats a VERY limited view of actors but it serves the purpose…

but i’ve said that allready…

you can deny actors if you want, but i find that strange for someone who is opposed to unempirical understandings… doesnt your every experience condtradict that belief?

you can tell yourself that you are just a mindless trace in an unfolding genetic order all you want… it will still be one (especialy useless) way of describing the world.