...convince its audience; (3) evaluate the quality of the argument, giving detailed reasons to justify your evaluation. For purposes of evaluation, assume that the speaker is a contemporary Canadian philosopher and the audience is a group of students in Introduction to Philosophy. The Meaning of Life Zoltan Zut What is the meaning of life? To answer this question, it is necessary to understand what it is asking. Words have meanings, but obviously “What is the meaning of life?” is not asking the meaning of the word „life‟. If you want to know the meaning of life, you will not get an answer to your question if you learn that life is, say, a self-organising process in which a system of production modules makes things that perpetuate the modules‟ own existence. How are we to understand the expression “the meaning of life” if not in this over-literal way? One possibility is that the phrase means something equivalent to “the purpose of life.” The words „meaning‟ and „purpose‟ are often substitutable in this way. For instance, if I find your behaviour puzzling, I can equally ask what the meaning of your behaviour is and what the purpose of your behaviour is. For life to have a purpose in this sense would be for some individual(s) to have created all human life, or the universe as a whole, and to have had a purpose in doing so. The meaning of life would then be the purpose this individual (these individuals) had in creating things as they were created. One...
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...that we can find meaning when these absurdities are present. Through the works of Camus it is clear that the conflict of human desire and the silence of the world it is possible to lack meaning in life. However, Flanagan and Taylor establish a clear explanation of how our motivations and desires give us a purpose. It is common for individuals, at times, to question whether or not meaning exists in their life. This question causes one to experience the feelings of absurdity that life presents itself with. In Camus’ “An Absurd Reasoning,” he establishes a bold stance on what an absurd world looks like by explaining the absurd as a feeling received when questioning the meaning...
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...The Meaning of Life There is a certain point in our lives, regardless of the time, when we begin to ask ourselves a set of questions that challenge our existence on this earth. Was the human race created to wonder this world aimlessly? Or do we have a true purpose that we are destined to harness and attain? Why am I here? Like the rest of us, Thomas Nagel, Robert Taylor, and Raymond Martin have each made their own attempts to answer the question of the meaning of life and while doing so, each of the philosophers rendered their own solution to these universal doubts. Thomas Nagel explains that “to convey the absurdity of our lives often has to do with space or time: we are tiny specks in the infinite vastness of the universe; our lives are mere instants even on a geological time scale, let alone a cosmic one; we will all be dead any minute” (Nagel, 768-769). Nagel then defines absurd as “a situation that includes a conspicuous discrepancy between pretension or aspiration and reality (Nagel, 769). Translated, Nagel says that absurd is a situation in which life seems irrational and meaningless. Throughout his entire argument, Nagel hardly leaves room for a rebuttal to yield the answer to the true meaning of our lives. He suggests that we as humans have a special capacity to take a step backwards and observe the lives that we are “committed” to and call them into question. But, as he pointed out; while taking that backwards step we realize that the life that we are so “committed”...
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...‘Meaning in life is an important mediator of the relationship between everyday activities that involve religion and wellbeing, implying that individuals gather meaning in life from the religious activities’ (Hill 2010, p. 53). Religious activities can be seen as anything from rituals we preform to different ways we respond to situations based on our belief. From this we can see how “Meaning”, the significance of life and existence and “purpose”, the point of and goals to aim for in life would have been found through the supernatural world. For the Nordic people their supernatural world was deeply and totally ingrained in the physical world. This close connection that they held with the supernatural elements of their religion means that almost...
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...1. Why is it important for a company to have a well written mission statement? Well written mission statements provide employees with a shared sense of purpose, direction, and opportunity. They focus on a limited number of goals, stress the company’s major policies and values, and define the company’s major competitive scopes. In addition, good mission will have long term view. 2. What key points do you think need to be included in the mission statement? The range of products and applications that a company will supply. The type of market or customers a company will serve. The range of regions or countries in which a company will operate. 3. Should a mission statement also be a marketing tool? Yes, the mission statement should be a marketing tool. The mission statement is like a brand and branding makes the object more memorable. Words that should speak clarity over cleverness and meaning over beauty. 1. Why is it important for a company to have a well written mission statement? Well written mission statements provide employees with a shared sense of purpose, direction, and opportunity. They focus on a limited number of goals, stress the company’s major policies and values, and define the company’s major competitive scopes. In addition, good mission will have long term view. 2. What key points do you think need to be included in the mission statement? The range of products and applications that a company will supply. The type of market or customers a company will...
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...I believe the meaning of life is to give life a meaning. Throughout my entire life, I have wondered what the purpose is. Why am I and every other human being even on this planet in the first place? That brings me to my next question. Is there a God? If there is, why did he put us here? Any Christian asked will say our sole purpose is to serve God. First of all, what does that even mean? And second, I must ask why? Why would a supernatural being place us strategically on this planet strictly to serve him? That sounds pretty selfish to me. There has to be something more. Something concrete. Something greater. How could there not be? All my life I have worked hard to succeed. I have challenged myself and fought to do better than my best. Why? I asked myself. Why stress so much when I’m only going to die in the end? Pessimistic, I know. Finally, I thought, maybe the meaning of life doesn’t have to be so complex. Maybe the meaning of life is whatever we want it to be. Maybe the meaning of life is to give life a meaning. I do what I do because I want to do it. It’s that simple. I do it because it means something to me. Everyone adds their own meaning to life. The meaning of life is never universal. The meaning of life is never complex. The meaning of life is actually quite simple to think about. Many people help the needy. Others play sports. Both activities add meaning to those lives involved. Purposes change, but the overall meaning of life will always stay the same...
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...its meaning and unlock perceived views of the meaning of life. This paper is a perspective of philosophy through the affiliation of happiness. The Buddha defines philosophy as "a way of thinking about the world, or a way of leading a more ethical life? Or is it a kind of psychotherapy - a way of helping us come terms with ourselves and with dilemmas that life constantly throws at us? (Kulananda. Principles of Buddhism,2004) ,alias, “The fundamental aspect of philosophy comes clearly to the forefront/ philosophy was (defined) a way of life (Chase, H. Philosophy as a way of life,1995). Conversely, yours and my meanings philosophy differ, evidently...
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...Meaning & Purpose (Nelson): According to Nelson in order to have a outcome that matches the clients need the OT must make sure that the intervention has meaning and purpose. Meaning under the CFTO encompasses three areas including perceived meaning, affective meaning, and symbolic meaning (Earley, 2015). When creating a meaningful intervention it is often important to see what is motivating the individual who is seeking out treatment, in other words what is the purpose. If we can identify why one wants treatment we can better be able to create meaning for the intervention. For A.B. treatment was very intrinsically motivated. The purpose for him doing treatment was so that he could become more independent and move out. Therefore in order for the intervention to be successful in the case of A.B., he first had to buy into the treatment and believe that working in his home kitchen would transfer over into being able to work in an apartment kitchen, thus creating the perceived meaning. A.B. was able to see that the intervention could be used in his day to day life and therefore was willing to give it a try. The OT also addressed the affective meaning by making the activities they worked on when cooking fun and productive. At the time of the intervention A.B. was very interested in WWE wrestling, therefore the OT would theme treatments...
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...ordinary life, the ideal of “meaningful work,” or work that has sufficient scope for self-direction, complexity, and consequential effects to support pride and a sense of purpose, is more relevant than ever. Few still believe that a different economic and political order can bring a fundamental improvement to the human condition. Good purposes and fulfilling activities are hard to specify impersonally in any case and any attempt to do so would insult individuals’ freedom to define such things for themselves. In this view, no single ideal of meaningful work could cover the variety of individual tastes and inclinations, nor accommodate the remarkable ability of people to invest their work with meaning even when the work has little to offer in the way of variety, authority, complexity, or social standing. 2) 1) In everyday life, work is still at the center of things; along with love, it is the most important element of a satisfying and happy life. In ordinary life, the ideal of “meaningful work,” or work that has sufficient scope for self-direction, complexity, and consequential effects to support pride and a sense of purpose, is more relevant than ever. Few still believe that a different economic and political order can bring a fundamental improvement to the human condition. Good purposes and fulfilling activities are hard to specify impersonally in any case and any attempt to do so would insult individuals’ freedom to define such things for themselves. In...
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...(Name) (Instructor’s Name) (Unit’s Name) (Date) Meaningful life and its meaning Various number of definitions that have to do with the pursuit of satisfaction in life applies to a meaningful life. According to oxford dictionary meaning is the connection that links two independent entities. Major aspects that arise about this topic are belief that life itself is meaningful and a global way to understand one's life. Some scientists argue that people who possess a sense of meaning are likely to have minimum levels of negative emotions and their risk of contracting mental illness is reduced as well. Life bearers are realizing dominant life goals, valuable goals in that case, and enjoying life by the bearers are argued to be the true meaning of meaningful life by some other world renowned philosophers. This paper aims to discuss meaningful life and its meaning. Meaningful lives are lives that are full of active engagement. It still is an open question if an activity provides robust meaning to our lives if that activity is chosen and satisfying. The writer argues that freely watching episodes of murder and matlock might prove satisfying (Belliotti). Viewing television programs continuously can become one’s life interest, but such a life characterize sufferers, people that cannot leave home without assistance. Muted meaning in life, that does not bring great worth in life are brought about by such activities. The best candidates of meaningful life are Intellectual and moral achievements...
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...straightforward meaning. But the ambiguity of the words in the statutes must be solved by courts, it is true that have some ambiguity or have a unclear meaning of statutes' words in most case. Statutory interpretation allows the judge to have a clear meaning of what is meant by the statutes. Hence, statutory interpretation is an important process when the case is judging by court and courts would seek to interpret the statutes at full steam. In the modern legal system, there are four general approaches to construe statutes that are respectively the golden rule, the literal rule, the purposive approach and the mischief rule. The quoted statement by Lord Denning means, when statute is interpreting, the judge need to understand the entire content of statutes and ascertain the intention of Parliament that better than reading different section of statues and to understand them separately, or words by words. In other words, Lord Denning said that by applying purposive approach better than literal rule. We need to understand and ascertain the meaning of four approaches before discussing the statement by Lord Denning. Whichever approaches or rules may be applied by court, giving a clear meaning of particular words in the statute or interpret the basic meaning of statute. The literal rule try to give a plain, straightforward and ordinary meaning to the words of statutes in the context of statutory provision or the Act, Maybe this word has a simply and popularly understood meaning but this...
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...The meaning of sex can defer depending on a person’s view of the world and different circumstances. A secular person and a religious person have different views on the meaning of sex. Yet, Archard discusses, sex is important to all people across cultural, historical periods, and social groups; sex is not just important or meaningful in a “spatial” mode of interest. When a person is forced into an action of meaning, like when a victim is forced into sex by an offender (rape), the victim goes through many psychological and physical changes that greatly affects the person. For this research, the Department of Justice’s definition on rape will be the definition referred to every time rape is used: “The penetration, no matter how slight, of the...
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...conclusion that I myself would rather live in a world that has no freedom, but as an individual have a purpose. Why do I feel this way? We currently live in a time where freedom is what most people consider “available” to the majority of the human race. Society has groomed individuals to believe that freedom equates to purpose. That freedom is the answer to finding your way in life. That once you find freedom you will no longer feel lost. I want to use the United States (The Land of the FREE) as an example of this theory in play with society. You see that many people of different regions come to the United States looking for freedom. To the people’s surprise, they find freedom but another thing they find is that the people here in America...
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...the knowing choice of a human person. Each knowing choice is an act, and each act is subject to the eternal moral law. Some acts are moral, and other acts are immoral. An immoral act is a sinful act. Sin is a knowingly chosen immoral act. The morality of any act is based on three fonts (or sources): (1) The intention or purpose for which the act is done, (2) the inherent moral meaning of the act as determined by its moral object, (3) the circumstances of the act, especially the consequences. To be moral, each and every act must have three good fonts of morality. The intention must be good, the moral object must be good, and the good consequences must outweigh any bad consequences. If any one font is bad, the act is immoral. If an act is immoral due to a bad intention, the same type of act may be moral with a good intention. If an act is immoral due to the circumstances, the same type of act may be moral in different circumstances. But when an act has an evil moral object, the act is inherently immoral, in other words, the act is evil, in and of itself, apart from intention and circumstances. Every intrinsically evil act has an inherent moral meaning (the moral species) which is contrary to the moral law of God. Intrinsically evil acts are never justified by intention or circumstances because the moral species (the type of act in terms of morality) is inherently unjust. Pope John Paul II: "But the negative moral precepts, those prohibiting certain concrete actions or...
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...their own you create your own happiness and goals. For some life may happen totally different and life can end up becoming meaning less. Between these two authors Kurt Baier and Richard Taylor I would say that life has a significant meaning. Life has a meaning, either the scientific view or the religious stand point both ways can create a meaning. Baier and Taylor gives reasons on why life means something and therefore should take with a new sense and be created for life. Kurt Baier believes that there are two ways to understand the meaning of life: the scientific way or the Christian world. In the scientific...
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