For many, the question: “What is the ultimate purpose of life?” may seem futile, even trite, when so many immediate and pressing issues abound, yet we must at least account for why some ponder this great question so intensely. This question is important because, while we devote most of our energy to our immediate daily concerns, many believe that the ultimate reason to put such effort into living is to do or accomplish something. Others make huge daily sacrifices to rear children who can accomplish something important…but what? If there is no ultimate purpose of life, how can any accomplishment have significance?
The question – Is there an ultimate purpose of life? – seems so straightforward. Yet it exposes the very limits of scientific inquiry – our civilization’s crowning achievement. This question is not scientifically tractable. Scientific inquiry can do a lot: sensibly answer queries about facts (Do antelopes lay eggs? Do crocodiles eat fish?); answer “why” type questions (Why is the sky blue?) in the context of hypothesized models supported by evidence (because air scatters short wavelengths more than long ones) and determine instrumentally effective options for accomplishing a given desired outcome. (How can I make soap? Answer: by mixing sodium hydroxide with animal fat).
But science cannot tell us what we should want, or what we should do. So we set about life with various purposes in mind which we then try to accomplish. But no amount of scientific investigation can tell us whether these purposes are right or wrong. While we may choose to adopt some life purpose, no methods exist to ascertain whether it is a purposeful purposes, or a pointless purpose. Perhaps we can never know whether we are truly doing something meaningful with our lives – or just wasting time.
And yet, despite these difficulties, many strive to answer this question. Why? The main reason is because the brain’s job is to do things. We wouldn’t have evolved a brain, that consumes half our body’s glucose, if it didn’t do anything. Our brain must also work out what not to do – such as actions that might bring death or injury.
So the question: “What is the ultimate purpose of life?” strikes the core of our mind’s primary reason for being. Namely, to continuously answer that deceptively simple-sounding question: “What should I do now?” And to do it.
Abstract questions on the ultimate purpose of life have disturbingly practical implications. Why punish children “for their own good” if there is no absolute good? What purpose, for example, could disciplining children serve if there is no ultimate purpose? Presumably, when we put effort into rearing children, we are trying to get them to turn out one way rather than another. Why put any effort into child-rearing if all maturity outcomes are equivalently pointless?
Many seek the ultimate purpose of life in the hope of gaining meaningful fulfillment. Perhaps if we knew what the point of our life was we would feel whole, could sally forth, fulfill our destiny, and live life with high spirits and high morale. Perhaps that is the purpose of seeking the ultimate purpose.
And yet… if we seek an ultimate purpose of life in order to attain a sense of meaningful fulfillment and completion, then clearly not all purposes are equal. What if we discovered that the ultimate purpose of life was to sit alone in a dank cave fishing worms out of bat excrement while drinking our own urine? Would that bring fulfillment, comfort or joy? Furthermore, if you knew that an honest inquiry into the ultimate purpose of life would lead to this conclusion, would you still inquire, or would you cease your inquiry forthwith …or, perhaps, try to delude yourself into thinking that life’s true purpose was something more enjoyable and comfortable?
This blog article will not reveal the ultimate purpose of life. However, if the reason we seek the ultimate purpose is to find fulfillment, a sense of meaningfulness and contented satisfaction in what we do, then perhaps a more important question is:
“How do we obtain a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment from our actions in life?”
And, indeed, perhaps the main point of raising and educating children in a particular way should be to enable them to gain satisfaction and fulfillment from what they do in later life.
So how can we attain a sense of satisfaction from what we do?
Let’s make it simple:
The ultimate purpose of the brain is to generate action.
To act effectively on a system you must know:
- The initial conditions of the system
- The relationship of cause to effect that governs the system
- The final desired state you want the system to adopt
Science deals with 1) and 2)
But without an answer to 3) people feel lost and incapable of meaningfully applying their knowledge gleaned from studying 1) and 2).
One answer to 3) is: “Whatever floats your boat.”
Unfortunately, the pursuit of our own personal, somewhat arbitrary objectives can interfere with other people’s incompatible objectives and annoy (even enrage) them.
This is our great dilemma: how to meaningfully pursue our own objectives without treading on the toes of others too much and to help them instead?
Humanity is, at its core, a social species. Our minds balance self-interest with concern for others. When we seek meaning through our actions, we seek this balance: to protect our own well-being while helping others. Actions that achieve both – feel meaningful.
Yet this correct balance is the essence of morality. We cannot categorically state that life’s objective purpose is to live successfully and morally, but a successful and moral life does at least feel both meaningful and satisfying to those who live it. And while it may be impossible to objectively determine the ultimate purpose of life, objectively optimal strategies for balancing different people’s wills do exist ( which The Philosophical Method thoroughly derives) and the norms implied by this optimal strategy form the fundamental basis of morality.
I posit that scientific norms imply further norms concerning how we should live our daily lives in accordance with an optimal social contract.
A society which follows the path of objective morality will thrive and meet the needs of its members, keep conflicts at tolerably low levels, and achieve a sufficiently broad consensus over right and wrong, to ensure righteous people get due recognition.
Once we can live successfully and righteously, properly balancing our needs with others, we will satisfy our need for purpose. Indeed, the one of the primary benefits of reading philosophy is the acquisition of working principles to make good decisions in life and establish good relations with others.
Not because our lives will have an objective, ultimate purpose, but rather because we will realise that life never needed an ultimate purpose in the first place, and that our pursuit of “purpose” was simply the pursuit of a mode of living and action that:
- Gains the goodwill and respect of others
- Addresses our own needs and desires
- Will not doom us in the long run
Our “pursuit of purpose” is simply the pursuit of this optimal mode of living.
Rationality is the optimal coupling of action to intention.
Morality is the optimal coupling of collective action to collective intention.
An irrational person is someone whose intentions are not self-consistent. As he pursues one interest, he undermines another. Without carefully thinking about all his different wants and whether they can consistently be accomplished together, he cannot avoid undermining himself at every turn. This leads to a miserable life.
An immoral society is one where the intentions of each member are inconsistent with the others. In such society, people constantly work to undermine each other. No one’s aspirations are safe. What one person builds and values, others will sabotage and destroy. An immoral society is thus a collectively miserable society.
But those who can live a rational and moral life inside a moral society are fortunate indeed and have no need for any objective purpose beyond this.
So perhaps the answer to the question: “Is there an ultimate purpose of life?”
Is: “Strictly speaking, no, but it doesn’t matter as we can gain satisfaction from seeking an optimal and just life – which we can use reason to identify.”
John
Do You Have a Burning Desire To Make a Comment?
Have you found this article thought provoking? Is there some message you desperately want to communicate to future readers but can’t because my comment section automatically closes 28 days after my posts go live?
If so, you might be interested to know that I reopen any comments section to members of my mailing on request as one of the perks of joining.
If you’d like to leave a comment, simply scroll to the bottom of the page, sign on to my mailing list and them email me with a request to reopen the comments section for this post.
Happy Commenting!
John
