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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 178.151.236.221 (talk) at 09:49, 18 November 2020 (→Objective psychology: new section). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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Article milestones
DateProcessResult
November 30, 2007Articles for deletionKept
March 18, 2008Peer reviewReviewed

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 27 August 2018 and 17 December 2018. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Johnapp3 (article contribs).

Article needs African perspectives

Africans have no meaning of life like other advanced people. I just realized it after reading this article. Africa does not appear once. So the Masai and all those billions of people in Africa have no notable meaning of life. It never comes up. Again Africa is on the outside of higher philosophy. I wonder if the accusation of systemic racism applies here. Opps maybe I offended a liberal who can never be wrong. --169.0.4.21 (talk) 16:33, 20 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

If you have a reliable source (WP:RS) that discusses the meaning of life among African people, then please add it to the article, it would be a welcome addition. I don't believe the omission of Africa is intentional and does not imply that people in Africa have no notable meaning of life. Wikipedia relies on reliable published sources and if there is no information on Africa in this article it means that it is not referenced in the sources. Hopefully there are some books or scholarly articles that deal with this issue. - cheers - Epinoia (talk) 16:50, 20 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Why would it offend a person who is willing to respect or accept behaviour or opinions different from one's own; someone open to new ideas? Is that a typo or something? You did indeed say the word "liberal"... did you mean something else? A liberal is someone who would welcome additional material relating to what you have said because it would broaden the perspective of the article.--92.238.227.68 (talk) 12:37, 29 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
For more information on African meanings of life, see African philosophy. Perhaps some of the editors of African philosophy—such as Editor2020, Jmabel, Nannus, ScottsdalePrincess, and Tamsier—can help fill in the African gap on this page? I also left a message about this at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Africa § Meaning of life. Biogeographist (talk) 18:08, 29 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
I don't have access, but this journal article "Meaning in life within an African context: a mixed method study" might be of limited use. -Indy beetle (talk) 00:14, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
That's a nice little article! If you search for the title of it on Google Scholar you'll find an author-hosted copy of it. It's very short but does point to some of the important African ideas that should be included in this article, such as ubuntu and batho pele. Google Scholar also shows that some interesting sources have cited that article, including an article published in Metaphilosophy titled "Is philosophy all about the meaning of life?" Biogeographist (talk) 03:14, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for pinging me. I think Indy beetle's article is a good start. Molefi Kete Asante's book - Encyclopedia of African Religion has info about the meaning of life in some traditional African religions and societies. On page 846 he addresses Serer religion and the Serer creation myth and the meaning of life among the Serer. On page 749 he also mentions meaning of life in Africa within the context of African proverbs and teachings especially among the Akan people. Also see page 403 for the Akan's Kwa Ba philosophy and page 648 for Akan's Nkwa (life) philosophy. The Jom philosophy among the Serer also addresses this topic as detailed here in Gravrand's paper L’HERITAGE SPIRITUEL SEREER : VALEUR TRADITIONNELLE D’HIER, D’AUJOURD’HUI ET DE DEMAIN available in Éthiopiques (a review site in French [1]). Hope that helps. I will try and find sources for the the meaning of life in Dogon and Jola societies. I think both will provide an interesting read. In other to understand the meaning of life within the African context, one must look at African ethnic groups who have managed to preserve the traditional beliefs of their ancestors intact and unsyncretised despite the advance of Christianity and Islam. In other words, one must look at what their traditional beliefs/spirituality says about this topic free from any syncretism. These are just some of the groups I know of who have managed to preserve their way of life.Tamsier (talk) 13:57, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Campbell Shittu Momoh's book The Substance of African Philosophy (1989) [2] provides some info about the Dogon perspective, but it is in snippets and I can't read it in full. I will buy the book for my own collection (if available) or borrow it from my library. In the meantime, if anyone has it, please share.Tamsier (talk) 16:40, 1 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

42

WP:NOTFORUM and WP:NOTJOKE

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

It is 42

And what is said

But also 42 PercabethForMePlz (talk) 11:41, 6 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Douglas Adams' writing is already mentioned in the article. Grayfell (talk) 21:19, 22 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

This article could perhaps benefit from edits for clarity and punctuation. However, I myself know too little about the material to edit it without fear I might unwittingly damage the meaning being expressed. Pkanella (talk) 21:14, 25 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 3 October 2019

the meaning of life is to die. 173.244.134.168 (talk) 14:15, 3 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

As to that, the one who would know is God. But she uses original research, and unfortunately on Wikipedia we have to use reliable secondary sources. ——SerialNumber54129 14:19, 3 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 4 May 2020 regarding the Theism sub-section of 20th Century Philosphy nested beneath Western Philosophical Perspectives

The Theism section listed in the Western Philosophical Perspectives below 20th Century Philosophies should be nested elsewhere. Theism is not a 20th century philosophy, as it originally developed sometime BCE several thousand years priors to the 20th century. Theism is also not exclusively a Western philosophical perspective. As there is an entire section of this page devoted to Religious perspectives on the meaning of life, Theism does not necessarily need its own section; especially an entry that is only three sentences in length. If the sub-section is to remain I posit that it needs some expansion and should also be changed to read from :"Theists believe God created the universe and that God had a purpose in doing so. Theists also hold the view that humans find their meaning and purpose for life in God's purpose in creating. Theists further hold that if there were no God to give life ultimate meaning, value, and purpose, then life would be absurd." to "Theists believe a god created the universe and that a god had a purpose in doing so. Theists also hold the view that humans find their meaning and purpose for life in a god's purpose in creating. Theists further hold that if there were not a god to give life ultimate meaning, value, and purpose, then life would be absurd." This section is is not well sourced and is biased towards Judeo-Christian Theists in its current format, and should be made to read more inclusively of multiple theistic perspectives. Furthermore, it should have more citations added and be more developed to encompass the perspectives of multiple Theists, especially those views that truly did develop in the 20th century. Mystic Crewman (talk) 23:01, 4 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Mystic Crewman:  Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. GoingBatty (talk) 01:05, 5 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 22 June 2020

At the start of the section on Religious perspectives there is a broken link to the Charter for Compassion. 77.37.103.143 (talk) 21:15, 22 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

 Done Danski454 (talk) 21:29, 22 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Possible wrong link?

The text "the program was ruined by the unexpected arrival of the Golgafrinchans" links to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_in,_garbage_out. Is that really intentional or is it a misdirect? Very Fantastic Dude (talk) 13:10, 11 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

It looks intentional to me. Biogeographist (talk) 16:59, 11 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Objective psychology

According to objective psychology, the purpose of human life on Earth is the development of the initial spiritual energy invested in it by nature. As the peasant sows the seeds and waits for the harvest, so nature invests in man the element of the spirit and waits for its development, the replenishment of the general spiritual energy necessary for future life on Earth. Man can develop the spirit only by his mind, creative work, creation of spiritual values, upbringing of children as harmonious individuals, charity and the pursuit of absolute moral principles that connect man with the natural beginning of nature.

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