The term is called making a "wild guess". — Cheshire

Er, no. The exact opposite, Dumbartonshire. Rational discernment. Ratiocination. Not a guess.

You said rational reflection created this masterpiece? Are you the type that assembles a jig saw puzzle with a hammer? What was the worse idea that this replace? — Cheshire

I don't know what you're talking about. Purposes. For your life here to have a purpose, either you or the environment in which you find yourself needed to have been created.....for a purpose. And that purpose will be the purpose of your life. Simple.

Closer to a potato than modified santa claus, but I also don't think you believe in God, because it's not what I believe in. — Cheshire

I believe in the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent person. And that's the standard definition of God. By contrast, what you're using the word 'God' to denote is a potato.

If others didn't exist you wouldn't have language or science or philosophy or any form of culture; you would have nothing to do except try to survive,

You wisdom is too strong for me Bartricks. It's scary.

I think he means in the case of a zombie apocalypse or something, where you’re the only one left alive who’s meaning doesn’t center exclusively on eating brains.

I don't know what you're talking about. Purposes. For your life here to have a purpose, either you or the environment in which you find yourself needed to have been created.....for a purpose. And that purpose will be the purpose of your life. Simple. — Bartricks

You couldn't pass a Turing test.

I believe in the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent person. And that's the standard definition of God. By contrast, what you're using the word 'God' to denote is a potato. — Bartricks

My God has enormous feet. It is the definition of a "super person". It's derived from imagination.

If meaningful interpersonal connections are the only meaning of life, then a life without any interpersonal connections is totally meaningless. — Kaveski

Loneliness -> Depression -> Suicide

Extreme suffering -> Depression -> Suicide

I guess there's not much of a difference between loneliness & extreme suffering!

I do agree that the idea of loneliness, depression, and extreme suffering can be seen as potential grounds for suicide, but this may come in the context of us being encouraged and socialised to think of our worth according to these values. It is only one way of looking at life, and I am not even sure that the people who really get to the point of suicide do so on these grounds.

My own view is that interpersonal relationships and meanings change so much, and so any valuing of self in connection with these is arbitrary, and misses seeing one's life in a wider context, of the human quest.

human quest — Jack Cummins

When I see the word "quest" I feel like I'm in a video game! :smile:

But, I don't play video games, or even have a way of playing them and I feel that I am on a quest daily, in real life interaction, this site, finding books and music, and so much more.

But, I don't play video games, or even have a way of playing them and I feel that I am on a quest daily, in real life interaction, this site, finding books and music, and so much more — Jack Cummins

Simulation Hypothesis

If only it was simulation. As it is, I phone home to my mother and update her each evening, tidy up my bed, wash, stop looking at my phone before going to bed, and start the process again the next day. I think that I am starting to describe the absurdity described by Camus. No wonder I need this site, to structure meaning, and I don't even have the time for video games, preferring music on headphones before going to sleep, reflecting on the mixture of social dramas, or lack of them.

If only it was simulation. As it is, I phone home to my mother and update her each evening, tidy up my bed, wash, stop looking at my phone before going to bed, and start the process again the next day. I think that I am starting to describe the absurdity described by Camus. No wonder I need this site, to structure meaning, and I don't even have the time for video games, preferring music on headphones before going to sleep, reflecting on the mixture of social dramas, or lack of them. — Jack Cummins

Bullseye, Jack. You taught me something today, not your first though. I finally got Camus' Sisyphusian analogy of the meaninglessness of life. Let's take the life of an ordinary person - fae's born (Sisyphus starts rolling the rock up the hill), nursed until fae becomes a toddler, fae'll then attend school, college? possibly but no guarantees, then employment, maybe fae'll marry and have kids but this too is a question mark, then retirement and finally, finally, fae passes away (Sisyphus reaches the top of the hill with the rock and the rock starts rolling downhill) , the eulogy, the burial, from flesh to bones, bones to dust, and dust to dust. Some will remember fae, talk about him, keep fae's memory alive but eventually nothing of/about fae'll remain, not even memories (Sisyphus's rock is back where it was, at the bottom of the hill. It's as if fae never even existed (Sisyphus having not existed is the same as Sisyphus having rolled the rock up the hill only for it to roll back to where it was).

You did not create yourself or subject yourself to a lifetime here, so you cannot be the source of your life's purpose. — Bartricks

God exists — Bartricks

The purpose of your life is to do your time. You're in prison. It's really the only plausible possibility, once one understands that God exists. — Bartricks

Those who think God exists and their life has some other purpose, are..., idiots....
Those who think God does not exist and that they have the power to give their lives a purpose are also idiots. — Bartricks

....
You have some skill at making clams and arguing from them - the big If, Then. Trouble is that at some point you need to support your claims, else all you're doing is speculating on, e.g., the mating habits of hobbits or unicorns. That is, nonsense. Certainly you're entitled to your beliefs, but those sufficient in the temple, not the laboratory. You are just confused about where you are, and thus what you're doing and saying.

If others didn't exist you wouldn't have language or science or philosophy or any form of culture; you would have nothing to do except try to survive, — Janus

I think he means in the case of a zombie apocalypse or something, where you’re the only one left alive who’s meaning doesn’t center exclusively on eating brains. — praxis

Perhaps that is what he had in mind. If so, I don't see that scenario being much different: I doubt he would have the time or resources to do much but struggle to survive; his "meaning" would center almost exclusively on avoiding having his brains eaten.

Good point.

If meaningful interpersonal connections are the only meaning of life, then a life without any interpersonal connections is totally meaningless. — Kaveski

I generaly agree with this, tautology or not. I think meaning is not created solitary but meaning is created in exchange with others. That exchange is interpreted and the interpretation is what is called meaning. Without any other there is nothing to interpret.

Trouble is that at some point you need to support your claims, else all you're doing is speculating on, e.g., the mating habits of hobbits or unicorns. — tim wood

What a pointless thing to say. I have said that if God exists our lives have a particular purpose (or set of purposes, more exactly). And your response? "Oh, the problem with that is that it depends on whether God exists". Er, yes. That was the point.

And I can prove God exists and have done so here umpteen times. Not my fault most of you are incapable of following an argument. But that's not the topic of this thread, so I didn't provide it here.

But even in its absence, what I said was highly significant. For the point I was making - a point lost on most people who love themselves too much and think they're little gods in their own right - was that whether your life has a purpose or not is not something that is in your gift. The purposefulness of your life depends entirely on others, not you.

And I can prove God exists and have done so here umpteen times. — Bartricks

Of course you have. How could I (and the rest of the entire world) be so blind and so stupid.

How could I (and the rest of the entire world) be so blind and so stupid. — tim wood

By being blind and stupid. Ask me another.