meaning of life - A Tippling Philosopher

A Tippling Philosopher

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meaning of life

A collection of 14 posts

earthquake of perspective

Building our own meaning and purpose

The age-old problem of deciphering the meaning of life never gets old as a philosophical project. The word "decipher" here is the wrong word to use from a humanist's point of view, of course. It is not that meaning is hidden in the fabric of the

Meaning of life: Humans and other animals

I was looking out of the window today and watching two Cabbage White butterflies fluttering about in the jolting aerial dance that they go through in their almost random-looking ritual of sex selection. Of course, it is not random, but tried and tested over generations, embedded by the machinations of

Determinism, Naturalism, God and Meaning

I recently posted a piece about knowledge and meaning and is regular Christian commenter posted this, with my original words in italics: I would far rather take the time and effort to analyse and evaluate life and existence to create my own meaning rather than have to receive someone else’

Naturalism, Knowledge and Ultimate Meaning

The classic riposte to atheist success and happiness is that we have no ultimate meaning in our lives. The atheist rejoinder is that we're fine with this, we have subjective meaning and this is just as meaningful. Indeed, I would add, subjective meaning is far nobler than having

meaning of life

Have We Got Life Seriously Wrong?

This is a Quote of the Day piece provided by Benjamin Muller, here. Have we got life seriously wrong? That's a serious "rabbit hole" question. What is it to "get life right"? What is it to live a "balanced" life? Is it

Philosophy 101: Existentialism

Last night we had a Tippling Philosophers session in a lovely pub in Portsmouth, and covered existentialism. I thought it would be a good time to continue my philosophy 101 series which has so far covered: The philpapers results Socrates Plato Existentialism is a term that pops up a lot,

On God Dictating your Meaning or Purpose

I have this problem with the idea of God impressing his own meaning or purpose on your life; that you must somehow adhere to these supposedly objective ideals. It's like me designing a spade in order for the spade to dig up turf on a Tuesday morning. Imagine

Meaning & Purpose Concerning Animals, Including Humans

The big mistake made so often by both religious, and often non-religious, is that somehow we are a special animal. A not-really-an-animal animal. But we are not. Special, that is. Okay, so we're special in that we are top of the class. We can do some seriously cool

Living Intentionally: The Reason-Guided Path To Success

Living Intentionally: The Reason-Guided Path To Success

How do we use reason to guide our path to success, meaning the ability to achieve our goals and have what we want? We need to focus on living intentionally, by following three basic steps: 1. Evaluating Reality Clearly, to2. Make Effective Decisions, that 3. Achieve Your Goals. To learn

Meaning is an Illusion

The “meaning” of life comes purely from emotional experience, which is chemically based. We know that emotion, and even spiritual experiences, are chemical in nature. It is already possible, using current science, to use drugs and/or direct manipulation of the brain in order to induce “spiritual” ex

meaning of life

If I could write a speech, this would be it

Tim Minchin is a genius. Everyone knows this. But to add to his vast plethora of achievements, the acceptance of an honorary degree from UWA and his 'motivational speech' to the congregated graduating students. H/T the awesome Beth Ann Erickson at Incongruent Elements. http://youtu.be/yoEezZD71sc

Counter Apologist

Counter-apologetics on the meaning of life by ... Counter Apologist

The new kid on the counter-apologetic blogging block, the aptly named Counter Apologist, is continuing to produce some great videos. They are really good because they are clean, clear and concise; easy to digest and a good introduction to interesting topics. Here, I/ will embed this particular offer

On meaning and purpose without God

So there has been some debate on my meaning of life essay with JohnM, a YEC. He seems to think the only real purpose is an ultimate purpose, and getting through to him that this is not the case, and that ultimate purposes have no more value than subjective, instrumentalist

meaning of life

The Meaning of Life

Here is an essay that is a few years old now, on the meaning and purpose of life. I'm sorry, setting out the html codes for footnotes is an incredible ball-ache. Hope it does not put you off! As ever, let me know what you think.