Although I had my problems with his writing-style, I really liked Albert Camus' answer (or what I thought his answer was): There is equally no point in killing yourself. Why not continue with it until you die of age or something? :)
Hi Rodney, happy to hear you got out of Mormonism (I'm glad I didn't wait until 45!) Anyway, how is this a philosophical question? It seems to be generating a lot of responses that are completely unrelated to philosophy.
Striving to be a selfless positive influence on others in any way you're capable of - that has no match in religion, and that would be the point of life for someone nonreligious. You'd be of no use to humanity if you killed yourself. Think about that.
@Goos: for laymen, "what is the meaning of life" is like the epitome of a philosophical question. And as it is both important and not something that science will give an answer to, maybe it should be?
What's the 'point' to my existence? Existence itself. Living life and truly accepting that this is the only existential experience I will ever have. The point of life, is life.
Resists urge to add a Youtube link to Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life". I'm not sure I can give you an agnostic perspective, but perhaps a nihilistic one: There probably isn't a point/meaning. So what; don't worry about it?
@Rodney Nim - if you are interested in pursuing some philosophical literature on the subject, I recommend Heidegger as a thinker who locates the fundamental meaning of life precisely in the finitude granted by death. "The Thing" and "Building Dwelling Thinking" are shorter and more approachable, Being and Time more in depth. Here's a link to "The Thing": people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~ryanshaw/nmwg/…
@phresnel Go ahead: show us an atheist who believes in afterlife or reincarnation.
Hardly worth a full-on answer, but: you seem to be confusing "why 'should' I..." with "why do I..." . The latter can be answered via Dawkins' Selfish Gene axiom. The former is pretty much wanking, even by philosophical standards.
@CarlWitthoft: I personally don't know one; however, the word "atheist" means something like "without god"; I don't know a single definition of atheism that includes an exclusion of reincarnation belief. And even if there is no single atheist on the world who does believe in reincarnation, that does not magically imply an exclusion of afterlife belief within atheism. One could construct an afterlife belief based on physics, without including gods. Personally, I don't believe in afterlife; yet I do not exclude it because it is not provable/falsifiable.
There is no "point", it's just that billions of years of evolution have imprinted survival/self-preservation into us stronger than just about anything else.
Apparently, my reputation is too low to answer, so I'll have to do it in comments instead. Hopefully someone can steal this and make an answer out of it. You are coming across a common issue with atheism: the idea that life may have no purpose. I found a way of embracing this without devolving into destructive thoughts. Start with a tautology: "Either my existence has a purpose, or it does not." If your existence has a purpose, then it is worth your time as an atheist to seek that purpose, so you can live towards it.
It won't let me answer so: So why don't I just pop a bullet in my head? From a simple philosophy logic standpoint, the concept of there not being an afterlife WOULD BE the reason not to end it all. Because then your relatively short existence would be over. You won't because you value your existence. Truly believing that this is all there is should make you fear death more than believing that there is more. The concept that there IS an afterlife would beg this question more. If heaven is awesome why not get there faster. It's impossible to rid yourself of all religious upbringing.
On the other hand, if your existence has no purpose, then there is no harm in trying to seek a purpose, as there is no way your meaningless existence could be any more meaningful or less meaningful. Accordingly, by that tautology, it does not hurt to seek a purpose in your life. It does not guarantee that there is a purpose, merely that it is consistent to seek one.
From that tautology, you also have the freedom to say: what if death is not the end? Not as in an afterlife, but what if your purpose can be extended after your body has decomposed. Your legacy can continue your purpose, or search for a purpose, long after your brain ceases to function in a medically meaningful manner.
The Tl/Dr version: One solution to the aethist approach to "what is the point" is to answer that it doesn't matter. If you act in the same way regardless of whether there is a point or not (i.e. acting to seek a point), then you are not beholden to answer that question first, before acting. You are free to answer it later, if you choose, or not at all.
If people like that answer, and are willing to upvote my comments a few times, I may get enough reputation to turn it into an actual answer so it can be voted on!
From an atheist perspective, this is an existential question. Atheism does not offer an essentialist meaning of life as organised religion does, so in short, you have to find your own meaning! The bad news is, there's no-one to tell you the meaning of life. The good news is, it's your life, so you're free to choose whatever you like. TL;DR: You've entered a brave new world where you have to think for yourself. :-)
@DA.: Yes, I do. Though my main intention was to say that textbook atheism does not mandate what you believe, it just says you don't believe in deitys, not more, not less. It does not even mandate to deny the possibility of deity existence :)
Discussion on question by Rodney Nim:…
Discussion on question by Rodney Nim:…