How Should We Live: A New Approach

To answer the question "How should we live", we have first to answer another question: "What for do we live? Is there any purpose in our life?" That last question has obsessed the Man, as people who deal with such matters know, since he started to think. Even a kind of science has created for that purpose, Teleology, which started in ancient Greece around the era of Plato and Aristotle and reappeared in Europe in 18th century.

Despite the Man's efforts up to now, however, he has not succeeded to give any serious answer to the question whether there is any purpose in our life or not, and what for do we live. On the contrary, the conclusion that derives from what scientists and scholars say up to now is unfortunately one and disappointing: We do not know whether there is any purpose in our life. Maybe there is, maybe there is not.

We face after that a great question: How should we live since we do not know whether there is any purpose in our life? In this article we will see the most suitable answer according to my opinion. First, however, we have to take things from the beginning.

Is there any purpose in our life or not?

We start with teleology. (The word derives from Greek telos = end and logos = reason). According to the followers of teleology, to the question whether there is any purpose in our life, the answer is yes: The Man has some purpose in his life - he does not live aimlessly. That view supported not only by Aristotle (he is commonly considered the inventor of teleology, although the precise term originated in the eighteenth century), but also later by other philosophers, like Kant, Leibniz, Spinoza, and others. However, that view by the followers of teleology is not based on scientifically confirmed facts - it is simply a view. Maybe therefore, it is correct - maybe it is not.

The same view as the teleology is also supported by most religions of the world. They argue that God has given a certain purpose to Man - the Man does not live aimlessly here. But those religions base their position to the fact that there is God who has fixed everything and so also the Man's purpose. Is there God, however? Of course, we cannot give any scientifically confirmed answer to that question.

There is a strong view that supports that there is not God. Socrates was one of the most known atheists in ancient Greece, while even Aristotle can be considered as an atheist. The same era, the idea of atheism appeared also in the East with the arise of Buddism and Induism in India and China. Later, atheism appeared also in Europe, around the 19th century. Most known atheists in Europe that era were Karl Marx, Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche. In the 20th century most known atheist was English philosopher Bertrand Russell.

The idea of atheism is also supported today by many educated scientists, like those who explore the Universe or send missiles to space. Those people say that all is random - there is not any Creator who has made things. The Universe, the stars, the Man, all have been made accidentally, they all are self-created. Most known is Stephen Hawking, one of the world's great theoretical physicists. He raised the prospect of a self-creating universe. Also, Nobel laureate physicist Steven Weinberg, one of the great scientists of our time, says: "Science's greatest cultural achievement is to eradicate religion."

But also the view of atheism cannot be absolutely correct, of course. If there is God, maybe some day the Man - with the unbelievable evolution he shows - will be able to see him and he will be convinced. If there is not God, however, the Man - even he continues his unbelievable evolution - will never see of course, the God, because God will not exist. The Man will continue so wondering forever: is there God or not?

The conclusion is therefore, that the religions cannot convince that there is in any case some purpose in our life. Also however, atheism cannot convince that there is not some such purpose. The final conclusion is therefore, that we cannot reject entirely the possibility of the existence of some purpose. Maybe there is a purpose.

If there is any purpose we have to wonder: which that purpose can be?

Thousands of answers have been given up to now to that question. Others are from naïve to very simplistic and others are from serious to deeply thoughtful. All however, have the same disadvantage - the purpose they say our life has does not seem to be the final purpose, but seems to be a means to another end (which?).

For example, Aristotle says that the Man's purpose in life is eudaimonia. The word can be translated as "happiness" but it really means "a process of living virtuously." Of course, however, eudaimonia as a goal of life cannot be considered an end in itself but rather a means to another end - which? The same happens with all other answers given. Spinoza, for example, holds the view of teleology closest to that of Aristotle. Kant on the other hand, argues that reason demands that we be moral - it is our duty to act according to morality rather than our self-interested inclinations and passions.

Also however, what the religions say for our purpose in life is not the final purpose. For example, Christian religion says that the Man has as his purpose, among other things, the duty to multiply himself, to grow in number - but for which final purpose? Also, other religions transfer the Man's purpose somewhere after death. But is there life after death? Is there soul? Is there immortality of soul? We do not know anything.

What therefore, religions say about our purpose in life cannot be considered as certain. But as we have seen, also what the teleology's followers say cannot be considered as certain, too.

How should we live?

The conclusion that derives, therefore, is that we cannot know today whether there is any purpose in our life and which that purpose is. Maybe there is a purpose, maybe there is not. But then a question appears: how should we live since we do not know whether is there any purpose in our life?

If there is not any purpose because all is random and self-created as many believe today, those people would say that we have to live with cynicism and apathy, or even with malice and hate, as many do today. But it is not so. The Man is an unimaginably admirable and complicated entity. His whole organism, his mind, his heart, all his body organs are unimaginably complicated, and all cooperate with each other with incredible accuracy and harmony.

The same is true for all beings on earth, animate and inanimate: animals, trees, and plants. All are admirable creatures with complicated organisms, and all work with incredible accuracy and harmony. Also the same is true for the whole universe, the planets, the stars, and the galaxies. All these are terribly complicated structures, which cooperate with each other with ultimate accuracy.

How should we live, therefore, in view of that reality? The answer is simple: Has not any meaning whether the Man and all other beings and the universe are self-created and random, as many people believe today, or they created by a Supreme Being (God). That which has meaning is that all are incredibly admirable creatures.

The conclusion is, therefore, that we have to live with great respect and awe toward that admirable being the Man - as well as toward all other beings, our earth, and the whole universe. We have to take care of the Man's welfare and of his continuation on our earth, so that the valuable creature the Man will not is destroyed but he will continue being miraculous and evolve even more.

Maybe for example, the Man will evolve so much so that he will conquer some day the whole universe and will govern it. We have, therefore, to help the Man to evolve - not only on his technological progress but also on his intellectual evolution. Wars, of course, crimes, and hostilities it is obvious, do not pair with such a position.

Whether we believe, therefore, that there is God who has given a certain purpose in our life (as each one of us thinks this purpose is), or we believe that there is not God but all are random and so there is not any purpose in our life, the answer to the question "how should we live" is in any case the same - the above.

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