purpose, artificial? speculate how ever you want, would love to hear the wisdom of every possible perspective.

I think having purpose is what differentiates the animate from the inanimate.

And also there is a difference between a self-determined purpose and an other-determined purpose.

For example, a robot may have a "purpose", such as "to assemble a part" or "to explore the planet Mars". But those purposes are wholly determined by others, not by the robot itself.

Also, a person may have a purpose that has some "other determinism" involved, such as when one is hired to do a job, the purpose behind it may be entirely the purpose of one's boss.

But I think that true "freedom" is when one is completely self-determined.

But that's not to say that, for example, one shouldn't do one's job or that one shouldn;t follow the laws of the land. Only that one should do those things by one's own decision - not by the decision of another.

Just some thoughts.

"think having purpose is what differentiates the animate from the inanimate. "

Good stuff sir! although inanimate and animate shares a pretty gray division.

I often hear "Everything has a purpose" or "Everything happens for a reason"..It's kinda weird though why sometimes we cant see the purpose of that situation,or thing..But it's just a comfort thinking about it..thinking that it has a purpose..Meaning we should appreciate whatever it is..

well hello llana, , but i think that in order for purpose to exist, there must be things that don't have purpose other wise it would be like trying to define a black dot in a pitch black room, but then again it is pretty evident that all changes occur as a result of shift of energy,or maybe its just entropy lol.

You hear people say that you must find purpose in your life. My advice is not to wait for someone else to tell you what that is supposed to be. You decide.

HOW TO FIND YOUR PURPOSE:

If you love what you are doing, if you are passionate about it, then you have found it.

If you don't know what it is or you are still wondering, you have not found it. In that case just do what you love doing. (That could be your purpose.)

What you love doing, that is your purpose. When you are on purpose, you are happy and unstoppable. Go for it.

I'm with Jeannie on this one.

The way I think of it is: Purpose is not "discovered" it is "decided".

purpose, i will be rash on this one. we have no purpose in life. we are human and there for are the only animal to trick our selfs that we are greater they we truly are. we are ntohing more then animals with hopes that somthing incrediable will happen. however i take some happiness in this beacuse without purpose we are free. To do as we will, i dont like the thought that there is and invisable hand guiding me beacuse if so when that truly incrediable thing does happen. i will be left to think that i caused it beacuse of who i am, and not an empty meanless events that would happen to anyone that god or the fates or whatever you belive, have appointed it to.

Then your purpose is to be free.... of having to have a "purpose."

"however i take some happiness in this beacuse without purpose we are free."

To be free. That is your purpose.

Not trying to be cryptic here, but for a portion of my life it seemed important to me to find my purpose. Something changed, and I realized I had been fulfilling it all along.

(Having indeed read the rest of your post, as well) I still sort of question this, in part perhaps because the way it is written.

What is meant by "purpose" makes a difference here. Does it mean "will (or a goal)," as in "I have (a) purpose in life," or does it mean "meaning," as in, "life itself has purpose"?

The inanimate very well could have purpose; it could very well have "meaning" beyond our comprehension or intention, beyond our own definitions. I'm sure you meant "purpose" as in "the inanimate lacks free will and thus intent," but I believe that making a distinction between those two usages makes a difference.

More to the point, things like plants (not sentient, at the very least) DO have pragmatic purposes: Feeding, giving oxygen to, and sheltering humanity and animals.

Think of water's purposes.

The earth itself's purposes.

The sun's purposes.

Etc.

Even on a spiritual/philosophical level these things could be (and have been) said to have purpose (as in meaning):

Think of Pantheism. Animism. Paganism. Existentialism. Dualism. Buddhism. Christianity or Creationism (creation gives glory to God and was meant to reflect Him and His role as Creator). Islam. Naturalism! A lot of people seem to believe the inanimate has purpose; we even have whole (belief) systems and philosophies surrounding it.

...

More on-topic:

Post-Modernism, the "mood" under which society now lives, strongly affects how people will define and pursue (a) "purpose." As with the movement, the overarching, bigger purposes to existence lose out to individual definitions, to individual perspectives. How one person defines and lives purpose does not as critically affect how another person does. This we call "tolerance."

While one person's individual "narrative" explanation of purpose, their worldview, may apply in writing to all humanity, the tendency to convince others that that sense of "purpose" is the "right way" is an ambition that has been largely lost in a sea of political correctness and the aversion to discourse that philosophical/social decorum creates.

In short, individual purpose rules and, in this time, is praised only when it remains most silent and innocuous to others. It almost seems solipsistic, how strongly we favor discretion for our beliefs.

As for "goals," that definition, I would say that sort of thing is far less philosophical, less abstruse (yes, abstruse), than other meanings of "purpose." A goal is a fairly straightforward thing, as in a career goal. Not many people would argue about your desire to be a ventriloquist when you grow up, save for perhaps its lack of practicality and probability of succeeding, but generally that definition is less complex.

So yes. That's that.

I guess the PURPOSE of this thread was to make my head hurt well every purpose has a reason! Anna x

Ever heard of Friedrich Nietzsche?

He's your guy.

This philosophy we call Nihilism, kids! Smilin'? You may not be soon.

every purpose does have a reason, or so it seems, the deliberation at that point would this be considered intention or is that term artificial?

Nihilism, to be grossly condensed is your basic mix of despair and indifference in a moral aspect. recognizing that is simple in the basic dichotomy of our reality, but consider breaking down the term of purpose to fundamental states of existence, i mean regardless of what "things" trigger another, i guess when chaos goes to order and then to chaos, such cycle is a production of a purpose? or was purpose a rational schematic of such production?

Yes, there was inevitably going to be a distinction between the “meaning” and the “goal” definitions of the word.

I had in mind the “goal” usage in my above post.

Now personally, I differentiate between “goal” – as thing to be achieved – and “purpose” – as the reason why one desires to achieve it. For example, one wants to learn how to drive – that would be the “goal”, and the “purpose” would be “to be able to travel faster than walking”.

The difference between that and the “meaning” meaning seems to be mainly that in the case of a “goal” (or “why”) it is applied to self as a desired end result, whereas in the case of “meaning”, it is applied to “other” as to how it relates to, or assist in, self achieving a desired end result.

In other words, the purpose (why) of learning to drive a car is travel faster, and the purpose (meaning) of the car itself is to aid or assist in travelling faster.

So in that sense, the animate/inanimate I think still applies. The animate has the “why” purpose and the inanimate has the “meaning” purpose.

Well, there has to be a distinction, in this case; otherwise, such discussion is so ambiguous that a term like that could mean anything, rendering discourse useless.

What you just said basically perfectly paraphrases what I already said; that the word has a variety of definitions and that context dictates what meaning applies. Although, your analogy is good.

"Goal" and "purpose" can be synonymous terms.

You say that purpose is the "why" OR "meaning"? Really, those, too, are synonymous. I think I explained it fairly clearly before.

dictionary.com proves my point:

purpose:

1. the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc. The why / the meaning. Note the distinct lack of alternative co-definitions relating to either synonym.
2. an intended or desired result; end; aim; goal. Showing "purpose" is synonymous with "goal."
3. determination; resoluteness. This def. hasn't really been discussed, save for when I mentioned "intent," which very closely relates to the "goal" co-definition, anyway, save for the former being more personal.
4. the subject in hand; the point at issue.Again, not discussed in-depth.
5. practical result, effect, or advantage: to act to good purpose. Not really pertinent.

So, there you have it.

Nihilism means the lack of purpose; life has no purpose, no direction, no divine guidance, no meaning (subjective or objective). I would think, whether looking at the cause or effect of the system, that a Nihilist would still derive no discernible, solid meaning, because that would defeat the point of being Nihilist: A life without meaning, purpose, or direction--a life of defiance of systemic thought--is a life of pure anarchy and anarchy, whether tangible or philosophical, is almost-the-opposite-of-meaning chaos within chaos. Nihilism is admission of and submission to that chaos.