so what does life mean

The previous articles suggested thought as a priority in a sense of personal identity, it also suggested aligning behaviour with thought and furthermore it suggested that sharing and contribution are fundamental to our concept of society.

All very well and good but life is the medium within which the 'I', 'you' and 'we' exist. We need to add to our understanding of the 'I', 'you' and 'we', an understanding of life and what it means. And therein lies the problem, so what does life mean?

Starting simply, we could say that life either has meaning or it does not have meaning. If life has meaning that meaning could be inherent and part of the nature of life itself. Most religions express meaning as central and inherent to life itself. This meaning is taken as an a priori fact, i.e. the meaning exists independent of our experience. Here is an illustration, 'Jesus died for our sins and gave us a second chance to enter the kingdom of heaven if we follow his teachings', that meaning exists prior to any experience a child who is born tomorrow will have. For that child it exists a priori. This a priori meaning is taken to be universal.

An opposing view could be that if life has meaning that meaning is extraneous to the nature of life and is something we impose. It could be considered as an a posteriori fact, i.e. meaning is only derived after and because of our experience (see note). Indeed I would say that although many claim to derive an a priori meaning from religion they impose an a posteriori meaning based on their experience of religion rather than the doctrine per se. For example, the meaning of life for me is to play soccer, this meaning to life could not have existed prior to my experiences that gave rise to it. This a posteriori meaning is personal but others could share a similar meaning

Of course we also have the nihilists who would say that life is without purpose or meaning. Nihilists rejection of either a universal or personal meaning is logically subverted since their position claims in itself to be a truth. Life indeed may mean nothing but if I make that claim I am saying something which means something and at some level has at least personal meaning.

I would suggest that nihilism is an untenable position not because life may necessarily mean something but because as humans we strive to give it meaning. Can the meaning of life be anything other than personal? I would suggest not so therefore received a priori meanings can only act as input for our formulation of a personal a posteriori meaning. I do think that this a posteriori meaning whilst deeply personal is not solipsism because we are social by nature and do want to share our understanding with others.

So, what does life mean? ..... We don't find meaning, we create it. The meaning of life is the meaning we give to life and the meaning we choose to share with others.


Note ...
I have used the terms a priori and a posteriori loosely, for further definition and clarification see here.

For more information ...
so who are we
so who are you
so who am I
a balanced life
nihilism
a priori