If death is inevitable, why bother?

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If there is no afterlife, then there is nothing. Being dead/the nothingness of non-existence/whatever will never become a reality to you as you are not there to be able to perceive it. Thus, as far as you are concerned you will never actually be dead. So 'after you die' isn't even a concept worth contemplating. It simply won't 'happen' to you. It won't be possible for your actions whilst alive to be considered irrelevant, irrelevancy is not a concept that exists in a state of nothingness.

touche, what are your reasons for bothering then?

Reply 81

DonJuan

Original post by corallie13

touche, what are your reasons for bothering then?

I don't really think about it anymore. I just do. Succeeding gives me satisfaction and having fun makes me happy, and that is as deep as I go these days. I don't ask why.

Reply 82

ian.slater

Original post by K the Failure

No, you have inherited the genes of ancestors who F***ED.

and then spent several years raising their children to maturity.

Reply 83

emilie18

Original post by beingbannedsucks

I don't think so. How often do you stop and think to yourself "my purpose in life is to be happy"? I wouldn't think that very often.

I don't necessarily mean consciously, people wouldn't remind themselves everyday - right, remember, you're on a quest for happiness! I just think that deep down, everyone is ultimately looking for what will make them happy. Whether that be by falling in love, having a family, chasing your dream career, travelling, etc. :rolleyes:

That might be the "ultimate" purpose of life, and then there may be others. E.g. to help other people, to make a difference, etc etc. I don't know, this is just my opinion :smile:

Reply 84

Talkin and Orcyn

I'd say the flip side of the why bother coin is to do as much as possible in the time you have.

Either, do nothing or do everything you can because you only get a short amount of time.

Reply 85

jon64

i used to think like that but i am more hedonistic now

Reply 86

onda

Original post by Clickety

Reincarnation could exist because as some of us are uncertain of the future of the universe, which means there are essentially infinite possibilities for the future, then there is a strong chance that at some point we will 'wake up' or be 'reborn' if our brain was somehow reproduced in <> billion years, whether or not we have any memories of the past is also down to chance.

Also when saying there is 'no point' to doing certain things, you could also say there is 'no point' in 'not' doing certain things. There is no choice between living and doing pointless actions, or death, the fact that you are alive now and were born, coupled with the fact that death is inevitable for everyone means that there is no need to choose, its been chosen for us already. Some things make you feel good, some things make you feel bad, sometimes if you do something that makes you feel good, it makes you feel bad as a consequence, so you avoid those things. That's life.

This

Reply 87

Politricks

Original post by Rtcw

What happens after the death is much more important. This is reason why we have religions to delude and comfort ourselves into believing we're going to meet our loved ones*

Corrected for you.

Reply 88

SpecticalBear

YOLO. that's why you should bother to live now.

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 89

. . .

Original post by im so academic

YOLO.

No **** captain obvious.

Reply 90

miser

The fact that life is finite doesn't detract any meaning from it - if anything it gives it more meaning because it imposes scarcity. Each day is more valuable if you only have 10,000 compared with an infinite number. It's also the case that having an eternal life doesn't imbue it with any meaning either - just consider the case of Sisyphus, who was condemned by Zeus(?) to push a boulder up a hill only to watch it roll down again over and over forever.

If there is a value in life, it is because it is finite, because that makes each moment count. Once a moment is spent, it is spent forever, so be careful how you spend it. Time is, after all, the only thing we do have to spend.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 91

Jabberwox

There is no purpose in life. That's what makes it all the more awesome :biggrin:

Reply 92

EnigmaticSpirit

Original post by MereBeing

I am female and I don't plan on turning to crime in the near future...I am however leaving the rest of my future open to whatever happens :biggrin:

I do have to reiterate that this is not really my attitude to life; the question just popped into my mind so I thought I'd find out people's opinions on it.

This may be slightly off-topic, but what is the purpose of concealing one's sex on a public forum, only to declare that sex regardless?

Reply 93

EnigmaticSpirit

YOLO is a preposterous concept. One cannot have certain knowledge of there being just one life, while still entertaining the liveliness of this particular one.

Reply 94

Dirac Delta Function

I have an eternity to be dead, might as well try to enjoy being alive while I can.

Reply 95

EnigmaticSpirit

Original post by i-sure-hope-so

Because we are surrounded by people.

and it looks like people are going to be around for a long time.

Unfortunately the world isn't about to hit a mass existential crisis any time soon and there won't be a world-wide suicide pact any time soon - smiling is too good for that.

We should stick around to make other people happy, and make the place a better place to live in for all the people alive and kicking until the sun wants to call it a day.

Crux of argument: small pleasures and other people are worth living for.

Is happiness really the highest good?

Reply 96

MereBeing

Original post by EnigmaticSpirit

This may be slightly off-topic, but what is the purpose of concealing one's sex on a public forum, only to declare that sex regardless?

I don't see the point in displaying my gender - it's quite funny that people automatically assume I am male; I have no problem in declaring my sex, just feel at ease not displaying it, if that makes any sense at all.

Reply 97

Harolinho

Welcome to Nihilism, people are gonna hate you and supposedly pity you because truly they believe that to believe that nothing is objective and that the world is defined by the individual is some kind of heresy that would apparently doom yourself to a life of apparent pointlessness.

In fact life is pointless, because meaning gives way to meaning and so on, and it is almost always what one does not have that one sees as what is wanted (ethics - an ill man wants health, a poor man wants riches), but ultimately reasoning brings you to a dead end where logic proves itself autonomous, thus defining it's importance and also rejecting the notion that importance is anything but value given by the individual.

But because life is ultimately 'pointless' in the sense it achieves nothing but giving way to more pointlessness, you have much more freedom than people seem to notice. You have the power to give your life the meaning you wish it to have, to fulfill life for yourself and enjoy it.

Life could therefore be considered as full of meaning, if only the meaning is to find your own happiness and make your own preceding choices.

Reply 98

UniversalAutocrat

Original post by MereBeing

My question is why we feel the need to do all this if every breath we take leads to our death, as we have nothing to gain at the end of it all.

Don't you get it?

Look, listen and ask yourself the question below:

Do you know of anything else besides existence (i.e. what you are in now)?

If your answer is no (which I expect it to be, of course!), then such questions are futile. You have found yourself in existence with only limited answers (provided for by science) and no defined purpose (except for an archaic and outdated 'to pass on your genes and survive' purpose). Therefore, I can't see what the problem is. Do anything you want, but be careful to abide by state laws. However, others have gone through this stage and instead decided to live according to created precepts or followed the way of the society in which they find themselves in (e.g working toward a career, a family, holidays, a spouse, a house, car, money etc). Others (such as I) have ascended further and look to the stars and work towards securing funds, status and self-establishment in preparation for the future (technological advancement, space exploration).

Reply 99

UniversalAutocrat

Original post by MrsLovett112

Why bother eating a chocolate bar? It's just gonna be gone after you eat it

Same sorta logic in my opinion

Original post by IgorYakov

If hunger is inevitable why eat?
If thirst is inevitable why drink?
If death is inevitable why bother?

Its because we want to and more importantly we physically and mentally NEED to.