Reflection on Purpose and a Different Existentialism
This article is semi meditative and semi reflective. Meditative in that I am working in a semi-train-of-thought (I have a pre-hand written overview) kind of manner, and reflective in that I am just sort of musing at things of philosophical common knowledge. I am writing in this form because, in all honesty, I think philosophy has been missing something as of late — a rather honest and critical introspection. Among the rigor of hardened analytic philosophy, of which I consider myself a part, there is also a yearning for navel gazing based philosophy that isn’t meant to be considered as a masterpiece of infallible logic (though the goal herein is still to remain logically sound, of course) that introduces one tiny nugget of new information, but large sweeping understandings of a general topic. The topic today, is of Purpose.
The main folks I want to take a look at are Aristotle and his teleology as well as Sartre and his notion of “becoming.” Aristotle’s teleology essentially says that all things have a purpose. This is because everything is made in some way shape or form, and that the maker of the thing doesn’t make it for nothing (including natural selection if that’s your thing) and so it is made for the purpose of what the maker makes it for. That sounds odd, let’s take an example I use when I teach this concept to middle and high schoolers: take a chair. When we see a chair, we can think about the person who made the chair. Lets call the maker of the chair Bob. When Bob makes this chair, I would suppose it is fair to say he made the chair for the purposes of being a chair: to sit on it comfortably. The chair didn’t just come to be from nothing, it came from the maker of the chair. One might complain that this logic is supposedly leading to notions of a creator of “us.” Please spare me your quick judgment, before we get there, allow me to express Aristotle’s argument in extraction:
(1) I was created. (Basic)
(2) Created things are created for a purpose. (Basic)
(3) Therefore, I was created for a purpose. (Categorical Syllogism 1, 2)
If you didn’t understand why someone might claim that this leads to a theological claim, now it should be clear. The argument claims that I have had a creator; Aristotle’s argument, in this way, doesn’t exactly say who. While Aristotle’s teleology does generally claim that there is a prime creator and is cited by theologians as a sort of proof or at least guidance for purpose seeking, I disagree — mainly on the grounds that some things were made unintentionally, such as myself. Even if intentionally, though, you have fulfilled your expected purpose by just being born to your parents (since they made you to love you, and they love you unconditionally.) As such, my argument in extraction is as follows:
(4) If something was made unintentionally, then it couldn’t have been made to do any specific thing. (Basic)
(5) If it couldn’t have been made to do any specific thing, then it can’t have any purpose. (Basic)
(6) Therefore, if something was made unintentionally, then it can’t have any purpose. (Hypothetical Syllogism 4, 5)
However, Sartre may be able to help us out here. Sartre concerns himself with notions of “becoming.” To understand this notion, we must understand first that Sartre thinks about us humans as existing before our purpose is given to us, or, as Sartre puts it “existence precedes essence.” Furthermore, and as further proof, Sartre says:
“First of all man exists, appears on the scene, and only afterwards defines himself.”
Ultimately, Sartre notes that we as humans just simply exist before we have any sort of being. That things that are made are made for a purpose, like Aristotle. However, there is no god, and so we are not born with a purpose, and so must create our own. His argument, in extraction is as follows:
(7) If there is no inherent meaning or purpose to life, then we must create our own. (Basic)
(8) There is no inherent meaning or purpose to life. (Basic)
(9) Therefore, we must create our own. (Modus Ponens 7, 8)
The absurdist will be quick to exclaim “Hey! If there is no meaning or purpose, why try to shoehorn one in where it doesn’t exist?!” I am hearing Camus fans wanting to jump on this one quickly. “Accept that there is no meaning and find peace, even laugh in the face of the absurd nature of the universe!” they might continue. While they might have had a point if only looking at this through the lens of Sartre’s argument on the topic of purpose, in combination with his view that we are in a constant state of “becoming,” I don’t think we have to create our own purpose, or even that we can create our own purpose. We just do create our own purpose, even if by accident. Ultimately, through Sartre’s process of “becoming,” I am creating my life. I am, by making my own choices, directing my will to become who I am becoming next. I am, in that sense, creating my own life, and am my own creator. So my purpose is whatever I really am just doing anything for, why I live, as that is what I am creating in my life with my choices, or else I wouldn’t make the choices to continue living, though that sounds a little morbid. I wouldn’t carry on creating the next version of myself unless I did so for a reason, and that reason, is my purpose. In extraction, my argument can be seen as the following:
(10) If I create myself, then I create myself for a reason. (Basic)
(11) I create myself. (Basic, Sartre’s “becoming”)
(12) Therefore, I create myself for a reason. (Modus Ponens 10, 11)
Just as a short reminder, that in Aristotle’s teleology, purpose is given as the reason the creator creates what it creates. Again, a mouthful, so back to Bob. Bob creates the chair for sitting comfortably, that’s its purpose, and we create our lives for some reason (though we may not have really thought about it, the question, “why do I live?” is all you need to ask to figure out what your purpose may be at any given moment) in the same way, and that’s our purpose. This is because we don’t do something for no reason, so if I am creating myself, I am doing it for some reason. Everything has a reason for being done, and I am my own creator, so I do so for a reason, and thus I find my purpose. It might just take a little conscious, and responsible effort to become the person you want to be; that is your purpose. If not, it’s at least mine.
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