“I can define ‘meaning of life’ as a feeling that human beings generally have when they achieve a sufficient number of objectives that they have set themselves, or when they can bring about the realisation of values they recognise” (Rudolf Wohlgennant, p34 life and meaning)

If one were to address this question to people in the form of a street survey, this question may boil down to pure semantics, as there may be no immediate distinction between purpose and meaning for those not engaged in philosophy. Wohlgennant is clear that humans create their own meaning based on purposes that are self given or learned over time. This viewpoint is fraught with difficulty though, as it reduces meaning and purpose to nothing more than individual creation, leaving no room for religion or a greater reason behind life. Though Wohlgennant may make little significant distinction between the two, it is helpful at this stage to draw out both the relationship and the differences in the title. I would argue that the major difference between meaning and purpose is a matter of depth. This can be identified in a simple analogy. A car has a very definite purpose,

The Christian argument over meaning is in many ways related to the discussion of values, for if there is a God who gives a value system to work on it stands to reason that there would be a purpose and a meaning behind it. We previously considered that an objective purpose in Christian terms could be someone who tries to emulate Jesus. How then does this relate to meaning in a Christian framework? Christians might suggest that God’s purpose in bringing us into being was just that, so we might know what it is to be alive. They might also say that our purpose here is to worship God because he made us, and go onto an afterlife once we die. It is interesting that whilst many people reject the existence of a God, most people have some notion of an afterlife and a hope that the death of the body does not mean death of the soul. If there is no objective meaning or purpose to life, why is the idea of death so terrifying? Those believing in a creator God could argue that an inherent belief in the afterlife, however unclear, and the existence of a recognised morality mean that life has a well defined meaning.

JJC Smart offers a refreshing perspective on the title question in one of his essays:

Some topics in this essay:
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