What are some of the main flaws in this argument

[ilya]

, Either our universe arose spontaneously or it was created intentionally

,,,,, If it arose spontaneously, it has no purpose, for the purpose of an object is to fulfill the intent with which it was created

,,,,, If it was created intentionally, then the universe that created it was either created intentionally or arose spontaneously

,,,,,,,,,,The "root" or initial universe in this chain had to have arisen sponatenously, for if it had been created intentionally, there would have had to be a creating universe around, which would precede the created one and defeat its claim to being the "root" universe.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Therefore the "root" universe, having arisen spontaneously, has no purpose. Therefore, as a subset of the "root" universe, our universe has no purpose. Therefore life has no purpose; in fact, life can not possibly have any purpose.

[doucy]

ask the person if making this argument has any purpose. then hopefully he will see that

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Therefore, as a subset of the "root" universe, our universe has no purpose.

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is wrong

Just because human consciousness may have arisen spontaneously doesn't mean that all actions performed by that consciousness have no purpose.

[amplify]

The main flaw is assumed temporal linearity.

[kerowo]

"for the purpose of an object is to fulfill the intent with which it was created" assumes that the object can't create or change it's purpose after creation.

Your life can have as many or few purposes as you want it to.

[Nielsio]

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Therefore life has no purpose; in fact, life can not possibly have any purpose.

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Yes, it has no objective purpose. It just 'is'.


And even if the universe was created, or man was 'created', then that still wouldn't matter to us.


To resolve this issue and lead a peaceful life becomes the exercise. And yes, grasping reality as it is is THE way of doing that. If you don't do that, then you're just playing some silly, imposed, game.

[EnderIII]

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, Either our universe arose spontaneously or it was created intentionally

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or it always existed

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,,,,, If it arose spontaneously, it has no purpose, for the purpose of an object is to fulfill the intent with which it was created

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linking purpose with intent of the creator is a significant error. consider if i am trying to make a simple calculator to add two numbers together, but i screw up the code and it multiplies them instead. i intended to make an adding machine, but is a machine that multiplies numbers together have the purpose of being an adding machine. this seems dubious at best.

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our universe has no purpose. Therefore life has no purpose; in fact, life can not possibly have any purpose.

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this smacks of assuming that characteristics at the macro-level will persist at the micro-level. quantum phenomena are evidence that this is at least sometimes incorrect.

[thylacine]

Your use of the word "purpose" is completely arbitrary and doesn't relate to anything.

What is a "Spherical Bastard"?

[Sephus]

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What is a "Spherical Bastard"?

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a heavyset illegitimate son.

[Bataglin]

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What is a "Spherical Bastard"?

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A bastard any way you look at it. I don't recall who came up with that, but he was a fan of symmetry...

[gull]

Hypothetical scenario:

I am walking along a path.
I find a dead tree branch.
I pick up the stick and use it as a walking stick.


Now, the stick was created without a purpose. Yet I am still able to make it useful, purposeful. The stick helps me walk. That is its purpose. From what did its purpose arise? I assigned it purpose.

Similarly, there may be no inherent purpose to the universe or us, but we still can assign purpose and make our lives purposeful, right?