The way of LIFE

Is Reason a Sufficient Guide?

Why do we eat?' 'Why do we sleep?' 'Why do we work?' The answers we would get to these questions would be similar. 'I eat to live.' 'I sleep to rest.' 'I work to support myself and my family.' But when it comes to what the purpose of life is, people are confused. We see their confusion by the type of answers we receive. Youths may say, "I live for booze and bikinis." The middle aged professional might say, "I live to save enough for a comfortable retirement." The old man would probably say, "I've been asking why I'm here most of my life. If there's a purpose, I don't care anymore." And perhaps the most common answer will be, "I really don't know!"

How, then, do you discover the purpose of life? We basically have two options. The first is to let 'human reason' - the celebrated achievement of the Enlightenment - guide us. After all, the Enlightenment gave us modern science based on careful observation of the natural world. But have post-Enlightenment philosophers figured it out?