-
100
Jesus Christ
Jesus as a philospher believed that the purpose of life was to serve God and become as holy as possible by obeying God's commandments and removing one's self from sin. -
551
Confucius
Confucius believed that minimizing the negative in life by achieving virture through education and obtaining wisdom. -
Jan 28, 1225
Thomas Aquinas
A Christian, Aquinas believed that the meaning of life was to know God and by purifying the soul and ulitimately leading to everlasting happiness. -
Rene Descartes
Descartes had a huge focus on knowledge and thought ("I think therefore I am") and believed that the meaning of life was learning. He believed that reason and logic were a large part of learning and determing the purpose of life. -
John Locke
Locke was a firm believer that all humans had the right to the "pursuit of happiness." He believed that the purpose of life was to find true happiness through freedom. -
Voltaire
Votaire was a big promoter of liberty and freedom because he believed that the goal of life was to experience as many things as possible in the time we are here. Through these experiences a person could become more enlightened. -
Immanuel Kant
Kant believed that humans' should not be limited to the knowledge of math or scienece and that the purpose of life is to expand humans' knowledege and reach. -
Søren Kierkegaard
Kierkegaard, who is considered the first existentialist philospher believed that the meaning of life was found in the individual and that it is the indivdual's (not society or religion) responisbility to find meaning and purpose in life. -
Friedrich Nietzsche
Nietzsche was a German philospher who promoted the idea that nothing has absolute value. He believed that humans create value and morals but they do not have any actual value. Nietzcche spoke frequently of "the death of God" and that it would lead to a loss of any universal truth or perspective. -
Martin Heidegger
Heidegger believed that life was meant to be analyzed and understood through philosohpy. He believed that understanding life is what gave it purpose. -
Simone de Beauvoir
Beauvoir, another existentialist philospher, believed that the human existence is ambiguous and cannot be completely understood. She believed that life is incredibly complex and that the indivdual creates their own meaning by living life. -
Citations
Thompson, Iain. "Miguel De Beistegui The New Heidegger." The New Heidegger // Reviews // // University of Notre Dame. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 9 Sept. 2006. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. Metz, Thaddeus, "The Meaning of Life", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2013 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2013/entries/life-meaning/. Burnham, Douglas. "Existentialism." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 20 -
Aristotle
Aristotle believed that the meaning of life was the pursuit of happiness. He believed that all actions should be to achieve the goal of happiness and that it was the ultimate purpose in life. -
Plato
Plato believed that obtaining knowledge was the purpose of life. He said that the goal for humans was to obtain the highest form of knowledge. -
Socrates
Socrates believed that "The unexamined life is not worth living." To him, the meaning of life was all about personal and spiritual growth by analyzing and learning from life. -
Guatama Buddha
The teachings of Buddha say that the goal of life is to end suffering by ending the desire for things. Buddha believed that when you are completely content, you cannot suffer, and have completed your purpose in life.