RANDOM THOUGHTS ON PHILOSOPHY AND LIFE

Author: Ebo, Socrates 

ABSTRACT

Life is a puzzle. Man is the only animal that is faced with this puzzle due to man’s capacity to reflect. As an animal that has the capacity to reflect, man is not just programmed to exist per existence. Man needs a purpose to live. He is the only animal that questions existence. He alone among animals is capable of suicide. Man, questions even his own existence. He is perennially seeking to understand the cosmos. He is not content to just exist; he seeks meaning. In the animal kingdom, only man can set a purpose higher than life. In the cosmos, only man can sacrifice his life on purpose. All these capabilities result from his ability to reflect. This innate ability to reflect makes every man, ontologically a philosopher. Although not everyman is a professional philosopher, there is no man without some sort of philosophy of life. There is no man without values or principles that guide his life. There is no man without deliberate goals or expectations about his life. So, to say, everyman has his own philosophy of life which he seeks to realize. This work is about meaning; it seeks the meaning of man’s existence in the cosmos. It highlights the critical role of philosophy in man’s quest to give meaning to his existence. This research is predominantly introspective.

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