The Meaning of Life

Introduction 

People live their lives with various meanings and goals. The meaning and goal of life are the driving forces that make people live. People constantly try to challenge themselves to achieve their goals in life. Creating specific and clear life goals and ways of thinking can be a strong foundation for a successful life.

Meaning of life in philosophy

So many philosophers throughout history have pondered the meaning of life. Many philosophers thought about life and wondered about it, from Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, to Kant and Nietzsche. Nowadays, there are many different philosophical perspectives on the meaning of life, but we can categorize them as naturalism, supernaturalism, and nihilism (Metz, 2007). First, naturalism is the belief that the body, rather than the soul, is at the heart of life’s meaning. We can divide this into subjectivism and objectivism based on the moderates and extremes. Second, supernaturalism, on the other hand, holds that the soul, not the body, is at the heart of the meaning of life. People who hold this viewpoint believe that God and the soul are essential to life. Finally, nihilism is the belief that what makes life meaningful is impossible to achieve (Metz, 2007).

Meaning of life in science

Life, living matter, and such refer to matter that exhibits certain characteristics such as responsiveness, growth, metabolism, energy transformation, and reproduction” (Sagan and Sagan, 2018). However, in science, the boundaries between living and nonliving things are not very clear, and biologists still cannot define life and death accurately (Chamary, 2019). Life, according to scientists, is a difficult subject. This is due to the fact that the occurrence and extinction of life, as well as the subsequent progression, are still unknown (Scharf, 2019).

Purpose of life

How can people have specific and measurable life objectives? To accomplish this, they will need to constantly explore and objectify themselves. Life is a continuous process of learning and development (Mehar, 2019). When you steadily manage yourself, step by step, and achieve your goal, one of the processes of creating a satisfactory meaning of life will be the pride of looking back on your improved self.

Conclusion

Everyone on Earth has a finite amount of time, and we don’t know when it will end. People will require time to reflect on the true meaning and goal of life in order to enjoy what they are truly satisfied with within that time frame. Life can be a series of happy days for some, or it can be emptiness itself for others. However, even if you live like the first, you may not be satisfied with the depth of your heart, and even if you live like the second, you may feel at the end of your life that you have lived well. Many people consider this, but there is no correct answer for each individual’s life.

Reference

Brooks, M. (2020). What Is the Purpose of Life? [online] Psychology Today. Available at:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/tech-happy-life/202010/what-is-the-purpose-life
[Accessed 3 March 2023].

Chamary, J.V. (2019). A Biologist Explains: What Is Life? [online] Forbes. Available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jvchamary/2019/03/27/what-is-life/?sh=7b22b4df1c77 [Accessed 3
March 2023].

Metz, T. (2007). The Meaning of Life (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). [online]
Stanford.edu. Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/life-meaning/ [Accessed 3 March
2023].

Sagan, D. and Sagan, C. (2018). life | Definition. In: Encyclopædia Britannica. [online] Available
at: https://www.britannica.com/science/life [Accessed 3 March 2023].

Scharf, C.A. (2019). The Meaning of Life. [online] Scientific American Blog Network. Available
at: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/life-unbounded/the-meaning-of-life/ [Accessed 3 March
2023].

By Miroo Kim

She is a Concordia International University student.

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