# Is There A Meaning To Life?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-meaning-to-life/32027
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [September 5, 2000, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-meaning-to-life/32027 "2000-09-05T01:30:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@sixseatport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sixseatport)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2000, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-meaning-to-life/32027/21 "2000-09-06T19:30:13Z")
> [@](#):
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> Sorry to contradict you there, sparky, but that’s the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything.
\*\* (looks confused, mutters under breath) Sparky? \*\*
A mere technicality, a trick of verbage. It’s basically the same question.
And please, no semantics. 🙂
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### Author:  [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2000, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-meaning-to-life/32027/22 "2000-09-06T23:54:53Z")
Holly sed:
> [@](#):
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> Assuming for one moment that life is inherently meaningful, what would that meaning be?
I assume it holds different meanings for different human beings.
> [@](#):
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> What is the purpose of life?
I assume it would be different purposes for different human beings.
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> What if the meaning of life is not some feel-good concept like love, but human suffering?
I think it is up to each of us to decide that on our own. For me it sure isn’t human suffering.
> [@](#):
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> Who gets to decide what the inherent meaning of life is, and why?
Once again we do. Each of us. Something or someone gave us all a brain big enough to think about our very existance so it’s up to us to use it to make the most humanly positive decisions possible. To me those decisions would include ( but aren’t limited to) what I stated in another post above. Loving and being loved by those we love the most. In the meantime since death is a huge mystery why not hedge your bets a bit ( in a non-hypocritical[sub]sp[/sub] way) and hope and maybe pray for another life sometime after death.
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### Author:  [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2000, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-meaning-to-life/32027/23 "2000-09-07T00:21:12Z")
The purpose of life is to crush your enemies before you and here the lamentations of the women!
(Don’t buy any of that touchy-feely crap. Trust me, this is the one to go with.)
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### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2000, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-meaning-to-life/32027/24 "2000-09-07T04:09:14Z")
Or maybe not. At any rate, life has whatever meaning you give it. If you decide that that’s too fluffy and decide to live a meaningless life, that’s your own lookout, but that seems to me to be rather a waste.
I’ve never understood why those who believe that life has no purpose don’t simply kill themselves. Why put themselves to all that bother for something with no meaning?
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### Author:  [@rs0522](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rs0522)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2000, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-meaning-to-life/32027/25 "2000-09-08T01:37:45Z")
Circular? You thought this was a syllogism?
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### Author:  [@furthur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furthur)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2000, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-meaning-to-life/32027/26 "2000-09-08T20:45:38Z")
I don’t think “meaning” is a valid characteristic of “life.” It’s like discussing the color of a gasp or the emotions of a rock. The question itself doesn’t make any sense. You can still talk about a rock being sad or your yellow gasp or the meaning of life, but it’s just poetic wordplay. I think it’s valid to examine what life is, how it works, when and where it exists, but not why it is.
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