Disclaimer: I am not well acquainted with either term, and so I might butcher both.
Essentially,
We have the question of “what is the purpose of life?” that we’ve been asking since the dawn of time.
Well, praxeology tells us that only rational conscious action has a purpose. Non-rational action such as reflexes and events such as rocks falling have no “purpose.” Only a goal-seeking man with choices has purpose.
We were never given the choice to begin this life. There was no human action on our part involved. Hence, there is no inherent purpose to life.
Now, I do slightly struggle with the idea of tools. When we create a hammer to hammer in some nails, the purpose of the hammer is to hammer the nails. Hence, it has a purpose. What if a person was created with the purpose of destroying civilization or something? Am I fudging some definitions here? Because I’m not even sure on the “purpose” of the hammer. Though the purpose of its existence does obviously appear to be to hammer in nails, can the same be said about humans?
We have the question of “what is the purpose of life?”
To have any meaning, this question requires some clarification - whose purpose?
When you later discuss tools, it is apparent that if humans had a goal-seeking creator, he might had a purpose for them, but of course it does not follow that humans must assume exactly this purpose for themselves.
Youre close. The purpose of the hammer is subjective or intersubjective fact. Purpose always presupposes an agent. You might be able to praxeologically justify nihilism, but only for people who are nihilists.
The answer to the question “What is the purpose of [my] life?” is that it is to act, that is, to seek pleasure and avoid pain. There is no objective purpose (objective theories of value are false) whether imbued by a deity or otherwise.
I was simply stating that you had no choice in the action of your creation. Hence, there is no means to some specified end, because there is no given end.
So the existence of a given end implies that there are means (more specific, ungiven ends which are under the umbrella of removing uneasiness). I merely meant to understand what you meant by purpose (the original sentence seemed a bit redundant from a praxeological POV; or, as Mises would say, pleonastic)- I’ve lost track of where this is going.
Even if ‘life’ doesn’t have any meaning, this doesn’t mean that ‘your’ life doesn’t have a meaning. It will have a meaning, a subjective one you give to it.
For example, a pencil doesn’t have an intrinsic, objective value, but I may value it for two bucks and/or as something useful when I need to write on a paper.
I agree. What I know of nihilism is limited to what I just skimmed in the first paragraph of the wikipedia article pertaining to it. One of the basic beliefs being that life has no intrinsic value, with which many praxeologists and Austrians would seem to agree. Values are subjective. To use the cliché: Life is what you make of it.
Even if ‘life’ doesn’t have any meaning, this doesn’t mean that ‘your’ life doesn’t have a meaning. It will have a meaning, a subjective one you give to it.
Right. I’m not sure whether nihilists went that far, but they at least got so far as inherent meaning.
These existential questions are only of use to oneself. You might consult a rorschach or the Tarot to answer these questions. In extrospective philosophy, it will only polarize and create versions of absolutism. (As evidenced by Clayton’s “objective theories of value are false.”)
Mises explains that action is only possible when acting can conceivably make a difference. It is action that imputes purpose to things - in the absence of action, there is no purpose. Let’s say a comet was hurtling towards Earth. What is the purpose of the comet striking the Earth? Well, it has no conceivable purpose because no one can control the event. What is the purpose of your birth? Ask your parents - why did they act to bring it about? They’re the only two people who can answer that question. But as far as you are concerned, your birth does not serve any purpose because it is not an event that is the result of your own action.