Thoughts on Purpose

Questions like 'What is the purpose of life?', 'What is our purpose?' are interesting discussion points. Questions like these have occurred to us all as we grow up and analyse the world in which we live and as we try to define a sense of self.

It was a question which I considered for a time, but I have since come to regard it as less important, or one might even say less valid a question than I had once regarded it. I consider this to be a natural effect of being an atheist. Let me explain why.

First of all, I think it is necessary to establish that there may be said to be different kinds of purpose. The first may be thought of as utilitarian kind of purpose. For example, we might say that the purpose of a wing is to enable the body to which it is attached to fly. Clearly it has been shaped by natural selection so as to be very good at just this particular task. We could attribute similar senses of purpose to the eye, or we might say that the purpose of a saw is to cut wood.

The second kind of meaning that is often intended by the word purpose relates to something different. It has more to do with destiny and has a feeling of intent or planning about it. Many would consider the answer 'procreation' as insufficient when dealing with the question - 'What is the purpose of life? when we are using this definition.

I have come to think that purpose of the first kind given above is the only worthwhile way of asking the question. Throughout this piece I will refer to the definitions of purpose above as type 1 and type 2 respectively.

A lot of people would be happy in answering certain questions assuming that the purpose referred to is that of type 1. Few arguments would be raised if we stated the purpose of a hammer is to knock nails into wood, the purpose of a saw is to cut wood etc. You will notice that the examples used so far are inanimate objects designed by humans. There may be some objections if we use this definition of purpose when it comes to living animals. We can use type 1 for wings, eyes and hands, but as soon as we begin to talk of an entity as a whole, a dog, a cat or a human, this definition becomes less satisfactory for some.

However unsatisfactory we may find answers of the type 1 variety for such profound questions as 'What is the purpose of life', I find the question far more valid when assuming that the purpose referred to is that of definition 1.

I haven't been very thorough in my definition 2 of purpose, but that is because it is mysterious and may not be the same for everybody. Suffice to say that implicit within this classification is that that the purpose has been planted and forms part of a plan or prophecy of some kind; the purpose has been built-in. Similar to the way in which a hammer has been built to hammer nails into wood, the purpose is part of its make-up, but is different from the utilitarian type of purpose. the purpose of our legs is to propel us, our hands to grip and hold, but the purpose of our living, the purpose of life, what kind of answer can one give?

Well, as I hinted earlier, I think the question can only be valid given certain underlying assumptions. Ask a theist, agnostic or an atheist 'What is the purpose of a rock?' and, assuming that we are talking of type 2 purpose, all will probably reply the same - it has no purpose. The purpose of a rock placed behind a door may be a door stop, placed in a wall it may be a building block, or dropped on somebody's head it may be a murder weapon; but these would all be type 1 definitions and are of the utilitarian type. We don't assume that the rock has any intrinsic, underlying and deeper purpose in life. We don't assume this as we think the rock inert, unconcious and insignificant in life.

'What is the purpose of a rock?', is not a valid question when using purpose type 2. I don’t believe that 'What is the purpose of my life?', or 'What is the purpose of life?' are any more valid when using purpose in this sense. It may be unsatisfactory, but the best answer to these questions may actually be 'to procreate', at least this is the best question to the question in the only sense I think we can ask it (type 1).

The reason why I think this, concerns the underlying assumptions that are necessary to make the question valid in a type 2 sense. If you believe that you, as a human being, are different from all the other animals on earth, that you were built with an intrinsic purpose and that you were built by somebody or something, who has placed you at the centre of a grand plan - then I can see why you may feel that there is a greater purpose to life.

If you believe, as I do, that you are made up of the same genetic code as all life on earth (there is no reason not to believe this, it has been demonstrated), that human beings evolved through a process of evolution by natural selection and that all life may be explained without reference to the supernatural - then you may feel that the question is invalid.

It is only when you see yourself as you see the hammer, as something designed with a pre-defined purpose in mind, that you may feel that the question has meaning.

I consider myself part of the plethora of life on earth and not apart or separate from it. Just because evolution has endowed me with consciousness and intelligence of a kind not demonstrated by other animals, I do not think that this means that I have a soul and that other animals do not and I don't think that I can be said to have any more purpose than any other living animal.