title: Meaning of life

text: Theoretical cosmology studies many alternative speculative models for the origin and fate of the universe beyond the Big Bang theory. A recent trend has been models of the creation of 'baby universes' inside black holes, with our own Big Bang being a white hole on the inside of a black hole in another parent universe. Many-worlds theories claim that every possibility of quantum mechanics is played out in parallel universes.


title: Meaning of life

text: The nature and origin of consciousness and the mind itself are also widely debated in science. The explanatory gap is generally equated with the hard problem of consciousness, and the question of free will is also considered to be of fundamental importance. These subjects are mostly addressed in the fields of cognitive science, neuroscience (e.g. the neuroscience of free will) and philosophy of mind, though some evolutionary biologists and theoretical physicists have also made several allusions to the subject.


title: Meaning of life

text: Reductionistic and eliminative materialistic approaches, for example the Multiple Drafts Model, hold that consciousness can be wholly explained by neuroscience through the workings of the brain and its neurons, thus adhering to biological naturalism.


title: Meaning of life

text: On the other hand, some scientists, like Andrei Linde, have considered that consciousness, like spacetime, might have its own intrinsic degrees of freedom, and that one's perceptions may be as real as (or even more real than) material objects. Hypotheses of consciousness and spacetime explain consciousness in describing a "space of conscious elements", often encompassing a number of extra dimensions. Electromagnetic theories of consciousness solve the binding problem of consciousness in saying that the electromagnetic field generated by the brain is the actual carrier of conscious experience; there is however disagreement about the implementations of such a theory relating to other workings of the mind. Quantum mind theories use quantum theory in explaining certain properties of the mind. Explaining the process of free will through quantum phenomena is a popular alternative to determinism.


title: Meaning of life

text: Based on the premises of non-materialistic explanations of the mind, some have suggested the existence of a cosmic consciousness, asserting that consciousness is actually the "ground of all being". Proponents of this view cite accounts of paranormal phenomena, primarily extrasensory perceptions and psychic powers, as evidence for an incorporeal higher consciousness. In hopes of proving the existence of these phenomena, parapsychologists have orchestrated various experiments, but successful results might be due to poor experimental controls and might have alternative explanations.


title: Meaning of life

text: Reker and Wong define personal meaning as the "cognizance of order, coherence and purpose in one's existence, the pursuit and attainment of worthwhile goals, and an accompanying sense of fulfillment" (p. 221). In 2016, Martela and Steger defined meaning as coherence, purpose, and significance. In contrast, Wong has proposed a four-component solution to the question of meaning in life, with the four components purpose, understanding, responsibility, and enjoyment (PURE):


title: Meaning of life

text: Thus, a sense of significance permeates every dimension of meaning, rather than standing as a separate factor.


title: Meaning of life

text: Although most psychology researchers consider meaning in life as a subjective feeling or judgment, most philosophers (e.g., Thaddeus Metz, Daniel Haybron) propose that there are also objective, concrete criteria for what constitutes meaning in life. Wong has proposed that whether life is meaningful depends not only on subjective feelings but, more importantly, on whether a person's goal-striving and life as a whole is meaningful according to some objective normative standard.


title: Meaning of life

text: The philosophical perspectives on the meaning of life are those ideologies that explain life in terms of ideals or abstractions defined by humans.


title: Meaning of life

text: Plato, a pupil of Socrates, was one of the earliest, most influential philosophers. His reputation comes from his idealism of believing in the existence of universals. His theory of forms proposes that universals do not physically exist, like objects, but as heavenly forms. In the dialogue of the "Republic", the character of Socrates describes the Form of the Good. His theory on justice in the soul relates to the idea of happiness relevant to the question of the meaning of life.


title: Meaning of life

text: In Platonism, the meaning of life is in attaining the highest form of knowledge, which is the Idea (Form) of the Good, from which all good and just things derive utility and value.


title: Meaning of life

text: Aristotle, an apprentice of Plato, was another early and influential philosopher, who argued that ethical knowledge is not "certain" knowledge (such as metaphysics and epistemology), but is "general" knowledge. Because it is not a theoretical discipline, a person had to study and practice in order to become "good"; thus if the person were to become virtuous, he could not simply study what virtue "is", he had to "be" virtuous, via virtuous activities. To do this, Aristotle established what is virtuous:


title: Meaning of life

text: Yet, if action A is done towards achieving goal B, then goal B also would have a goal, goal C, and goal C also would have a goal, and so would continue this pattern, until something stopped its infinite regression. Aristotle's solution is the "Highest Good", which is desirable for its own sake. It is its own goal. The Highest Good is not desirable for the sake of achieving some other good, and all other "goods" desirable for its sake. This involves achieving "eudaemonia", usually translated as "happiness", "well-being", "flourishing", and "excellence".


title: Meaning of life

text: Antisthenes, a pupil of Socrates, first outlined the themes of Cynicism, stating that the purpose of life is living a life of Virtue which agrees with Nature. Happiness depends upon being self-sufficient and master of one's mental attitude; suffering is the consequence of false judgments of value, which cause negative emotions and a concomitant vicious character.


title: Meaning of life

text: The Cynical life rejects conventional desires for wealth, power, health, and fame, by being free of the possessions acquired in pursuing the conventional. As reasoning creatures, people could achieve happiness via rigorous training, by living in a way natural to human beings. The world equally belongs to everyone, so suffering is caused by false judgments of what is valuable and what is worthless per the customs and conventions of society.


title: Meaning of life

text: Aristippus of Cyrene, a pupil of Socrates, founded an early Socratic school that emphasized only one side of Socrates's teachings—that happiness is one of the ends of moral action and that pleasure is the supreme good; thus a hedonistic world view, wherein bodily gratification is more intense than mental pleasure. Cyrenaics prefer immediate gratification to the long-term gain of delayed gratification; denial is unpleasant unhappiness.


title: Meaning of life

text: Epicurus, a pupil of the Platonist Pamphilus of Samos, taught that the greatest good is in seeking modest pleasures, to attain tranquility and freedom from fear (ataraxia) via knowledge, friendship, and virtuous, temperate living; bodily pain (aponia) is absent through one's knowledge of the workings of the world and of the limits of one's desires. Combined, freedom from pain and freedom from fear are happiness in its highest form. Epicurus' lauded enjoyment of simple pleasures is quasi-ascetic "abstention" from sex and the appetites:


title: Meaning of life

text: "When we say ... that pleasure is the end and aim, we do not mean the pleasures of the prodigal or the pleasures of sensuality, as we are understood to do, by some, through ignorance, prejudice or willful misrepresentation. By pleasure, we mean the absence of pain in the body and of trouble in the soul. It is not by an unbroken succession of drinking bouts and of revelry, not by sexual lust, nor the enjoyment of fish, and other delicacies of a luxurious table, which produce a pleasant life; it is sober reasoning, searching out the grounds of every choice and avoidance, and banishing those beliefs through which the greatest tumults take possession of the soul."


title: Meaning of life

text: The Epicurean meaning of life rejects immortality and mysticism; there is a soul, but it is as mortal as the body. There is no afterlife, yet, one need not fear death, because "Death is nothing to us; for that which is dissolved, is without sensation, and that which lacks sensation is nothing to us."


title: Meaning of life

text: Zeno of Citium, a pupil of Crates of Thebes, established the school which teaches that living according to reason and virtue is to be in harmony with the universe's divine order, entailed by one's recognition of the universal "logos", or reason, an essential value of all people. The meaning of life is "freedom from suffering" through "apatheia" (Gr: απαθεια), that is, being objective and having "clear judgement", "not" indifference.


title: Meaning of life

text: Stoicism's prime directives are virtue, reason, and natural law, abided to develop personal self-control and mental fortitude as means of overcoming destructive emotions. The Stoic does not seek to extinguish emotions, only to avoid emotional troubles, by developing clear judgment and inner calm through diligently practiced logic, reflection, and concentration.


title: Meaning of life

text: The Stoic ethical foundation is that "good lies in the state of the soul", itself, exemplified in wisdom and self-control, thus improving one's spiritual well-being: ""Virtue" consists in a "will" which is in agreement with Nature." The principle applies to one's personal relations thus: "to be free from anger, envy, and jealousy".


title: Meaning of life

text: The Enlightenment and the colonial era both changed the nature of European philosophy and exported it worldwide. Devotion and subservience to God were largely replaced by notions of inalienable natural rights and the potentialities of reason, and universal ideals of love and compassion gave way to civic notions of freedom, equality, and citizenship. The meaning of life changed as well, focusing less on humankind's relationship to God and more on the relationship between individuals and their society. This era is filled with theories that equate meaningful existence with the social order.


title: Meaning of life

text: Classical liberalism is a set of ideas that arose in the 17th and 18th centuries, out of conflicts between a growing, wealthy, propertied class and the established aristocratic and religious orders that dominated Europe. Liberalism cast humans as beings with inalienable natural rights (including the right to retain the wealth generated by one's own work), and sought out means to balance rights across society. Broadly speaking, it considers individual liberty to be the most important goal, because only through ensured liberty are the other inherent rights protected.


title: Meaning of life

text: There are many forms and derivations of liberalism, but their central conceptions of the meaning of life trace back to three main ideas. Early thinkers such as John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith saw humankind beginning in the state of nature, then finding meaning for existence through labor and property, and using social contracts to create an environment that supports those efforts.


title: Meaning of life

text: Kantianism is a philosophy based on the ethical, epistemological, and metaphysical works of Immanuel Kant. Kant is known for his deontological theory where there is a single moral obligation, the "Categorical Imperative", derived from the concept of duty. Kantians believe all actions are performed in accordance with some underlying maxim or principle, and for actions to be ethical, they must adhere to the categorical imperative.


title: Meaning of life

text: Simply put, the test is that one must universalize the maxim (imagine that all people acted in this way) and then see if it would still be possible to perform the maxim in the world without contradiction. In "Groundwork", Kant gives the example of a person who seeks to borrow money without intending to pay it back. This is a contradiction because if it were a universal action, no person would lend money anymore as he knows that he will never be paid back. The maxim of this action, says Kant, results in a contradiction in conceivability (and thus contradicts perfect duty).


title: Meaning of life

text: Kant also denied that the consequences of an act in any way contribute to the moral worth of that act, his reasoning being that the physical world is outside one's full control and thus one cannot be held accountable for the events that occur in it.


title: Meaning of life

text: The origins of utilitarianism can be traced back as far as Epicurus, but, as a school of thought, it is credited to Jeremy Bentham, who found that "nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure"; then, from that moral insight, he derived the "Rule of Utility": "that the good is whatever brings the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people". He defined the meaning of life as the "greatest happiness principle".


title: Meaning of life

text: Jeremy Bentham's foremost proponent was James Mill, a significant philosopher in his day, and father of John Stuart Mill. The younger Mill was educated per Bentham's principles, including transcribing and summarizing much of his father's work.


title: Meaning of life

text: Friedrich Nietzsche characterized nihilism as emptying the world, and especially human existence, of meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, and essential value; succinctly, nihilism is the process of "the devaluing of the highest values". Seeing the nihilist as a natural result of the idea that God is dead, and insisting it was something to overcome, his questioning of the nihilist's life-negating values returned meaning to the Earth.


title: Meaning of life

text: To Martin Heidegger, nihilism is the movement whereby "being" is forgotten, and is transformed into value, in other words, the reduction of being to exchange value. Heidegger, in accordance with Nietzsche, saw in the so-called "death of God" a potential source for nihilism:


title: Meaning of life

text: If God, as the supra-sensory ground and goal, of all reality, is dead; if the supra-sensory world of the Ideas has suffered the loss of its obligatory, and above it, its vitalizing and up-building power, then nothing more remains to which Man can cling, and by which he can orient himself.


title: Meaning of life

text: The French philosopher Albert Camus asserts that the absurdity of the human condition is that people search for external values and meaning in a world which has none and is indifferent to them. Camus writes of value-nihilists such as Meursault, but also of values in a nihilistic world, that people can instead strive to be "heroic nihilists", living with dignity in the face of absurdity, living with "secular saintliness", fraternal solidarity, and rebelling against and transcending the world's indifference.


title: Meaning of life

text: The current era has seen radical changes in both formal and popular conceptions of human nature. The knowledge disclosed by modern science has effectively rewritten the relationship of humankind to the natural world. Advances in medicine and technology have freed humans from significant limitations and ailments of previous eras; and philosophy—particularly following the linguistic turn—has altered how the relationships people have with themselves and each other are conceived. Questions about the meaning of life have also seen radical changes, from attempts to reevaluate human existence in biological and scientific terms (as in pragmatism and logical positivism) to efforts to meta-theorize about meaning-making as a personal, individual-driven activity (existentialism, secular humanism).


title: Meaning of life

text: Pragmatism originated in the late-19th-century US, concerning itself (mostly) with truth, and positing that "only in struggling with the environment" do data, and derived theories, have meaning, and that "consequences", like utility and practicality, are also components of truth. Moreover, pragmatism posits that "anything" useful and practical is not always true, arguing that what most contributes to the most human good in the long course is true. In practice, theoretical claims must be "practically verifiable", i.e. one should be able to predict and test claims, and, that, ultimately, the needs of humankind should guide human intellectual inquiry.


title: Meaning of life

text: Pragmatic philosophers suggest that the practical, useful understanding of life is more important than searching for an impractical abstract truth about life. William James argued that truth could be made, but not sought. To a pragmatist, the meaning of life is discoverable only via experience.


title: Meaning of life

text: 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. Some theists further hold that if there were no God to give life ultimate meaning, value, and purpose, then life would be absurd.


title: Meaning of life

text: According to existentialism, each person creates the essence (meaning) of their life; life is not determined by a supernatural god or an earthly authority, one is free. As such, one's ethical prime directives are "action", "freedom", and "decision", thus, existentialism opposes rationalism and positivism. In seeking meaning to life, the existentialist looks to where people find meaning in life, in course of which using only reason as a source of meaning is insufficient; this gives rise to the emotions of anxiety and dread, felt in considering one's free will, and the concomitant awareness of death. According to Jean-Paul Sartre, existence precedes essence; the (essence) of one's life arises "only" after one comes to existence.


title: Meaning of life

text: Søren Kierkegaard spoke about a "", arguing that life is full of absurdity, and one must make his and her own values in an indifferent world. One can live meaningfully (free of despair and anxiety) in an unconditional commitment to something finite and devotes that meaningful life to the commitment, despite the vulnerability inherent to doing so.


title: Meaning of life

text: Arthur Schopenhauer answered: "What is the meaning of life?" by stating that one's life reflects one's will, and that the will (life) is an aimless, irrational, and painful drive. Salvation, deliverance, and escape from suffering are in aesthetic contemplation, sympathy for others, and asceticism.


title: Meaning of life

text: For Friedrich Nietzsche, life is worth living only if there are goals inspiring one to live. Accordingly, he saw nihilism ("all that happens is meaningless") as without goals. He stated that asceticism denies one's living in the world; stated that values are not objective facts, that are rationally necessary, universally binding commitments: our evaluations are interpretations, and not reflections of the world, as it is, in itself, and, therefore, all ideations take place from a particular perspective.


title: Meaning of life

text: In absurdist philosophy, the Absurd arises out of the fundamental disharmony between the individual's search for meaning and the apparent meaninglessness of the universe. As beings looking for meaning in a meaningless world, humans have three ways of resolving the dilemma. Kierkegaard and Camus describe the solutions in their works, "The Sickness Unto Death" (1849) and "The Myth of Sisyphus" (1942):


title: Meaning of life

text: Per secular humanism, the human species came to be by reproducing successive generations in a progression of unguided evolution as an integral expression of nature, which is self-existing. Human knowledge comes from human observation, experimentation, and rational analysis (the scientific method), and not from supernatural sources; the nature of the universe is what people discern it to be. Likewise, "values and realities" are determined "by means of intelligent inquiry" and "are derived from human need and interest as tested by experience", that is, by critical intelligence. "As far as we know, the total personality is [a function] of the biological organism transacting in a social and cultural context."


title: Meaning of life

text: People determine human purpose without supernatural influence; it is the human personality (general sense) that is the purpose of a human being's life which humanism seeks to develop and fulfill: "Humanism affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity". Humanism aims to promote enlightened self-interest and the common good for all people. It is based on the premises that the happiness of the individual person is inextricably linked to the well-being of all humanity, in part because humans are social animals who find meaning in personal relations and because cultural progress benefits everybody living in the culture.


title: Meaning of life

text: The philosophical subgenres posthumanism and transhumanism (sometimes used synonymously) are extensions of humanistic values. One should seek the advancement of humanity and of all life to the greatest degree feasible and seek to reconcile Renaissance humanism with the 21st century's technoscientific culture. In this light, every living creature has the right to determine its personal and social "meaning of life".


title: Meaning of life

text: From a humanism-psychotherapeutic point of view, the question of the meaning of life could be reinterpreted as "What is the meaning of "my" life?" This approach emphasizes that the question is personal—and avoids focusing on cosmic or religious questions about overarching purpose. There are many therapeutic responses to this question. For example, Viktor Frankl argues for "Dereflection", which translates largely as cease endlessly reflecting on the self; instead, engage in life. On the whole, the therapeutic response is that the question itself—what is the meaning of life?—evaporates when one is fully engaged in life. (The question then morphs into more specific worries such as "What delusions am I under?"; "What is blocking my ability to enjoy things?"; "Why do I neglect loved-ones?".)


title: Meaning of life

text: Logical positivists ask: "What is the meaning of life?", "What is the meaning in asking?" and "If there are no objective values, then, is life meaningless?" Ludwig Wittgenstein and the logical positivists said: "Expressed in language, the question is meaningless"; because, "in" life the statement the "meaning of x", usually denotes the "consequences" of x, or the "significance" of x, or "what is notable" about x, etc., thus, when the meaning of life concept equals "x", in the statement the "meaning of x", the statement becomes recursive, and, therefore, nonsensical, or it might refer to the fact that biological life is essential to having a meaning in life.


title: Meaning of life

text: The things (people, events) in the life of a person can have meaning (importance) as parts of a whole, but a discrete meaning of (the) life, itself, aside from those things, cannot be discerned. A person's life has meaning (for themselves, others) as the life events resulting from their achievements, legacy, family, etc., but, to say that life, itself, has meaning, is a misuse of language, since any note of significance, or of consequence, is relevant only "in" life (to the living), so rendering the statement erroneous. Bertrand Russell wrote that although he found that his distaste for torture was not like his distaste for broccoli, he found no satisfactory, empirical method of proving this:


title: Meaning of life

text: When we try to be definite, as to what we mean when we say that this or that is "the Good," we find ourselves involved in very great difficulties. Bentham's creed, that pleasure is the Good, roused furious opposition, and was said to be a pig's philosophy. Neither he nor his opponents could advance any argument. In a scientific question, evidence can be adduced on both sides, and, in the end, one side is seen to have the better case—or, if this does not happen, the question is left undecided. But in a question, as to whether this, or that, is the ultimate Good, there is no evidence, either way; each disputant can only appeal to his own emotions, and employ such rhetorical devices as shall arouse similar emotions in others ... Questions as to "values"—that is to say, as to what is good or bad on its own account, independently of its effects—lie outside the domain of science, as the defenders of religion emphatically assert. I think that, in this, they are right, but, I draw the further conclusion, which they do not draw, that questions as to "values" lie wholly outside the domain of knowledge. That is to say, when we assert that this, or that, has "value", we are giving expression to our own emotions, not to a fact, which would still be true if our personal feelings were different.


title: Meaning of life

text: Postmodernist thought—broadly speaking—sees human nature as constructed by language, or by structures and institutions of human society. Unlike other forms of philosophy, postmodernism rarely seeks out "a priori" or innate meanings in human existence, but instead focuses on analyzing or critiquing "given" meanings in order to rationalize or reconstruct them. Anything resembling a "meaning of life", in postmodernist terms, can only be understood within a social and linguistic framework and must be pursued as an escape from the power structures that are already embedded in all forms of speech and interaction. As a rule, postmodernists see awareness of the constraints of language as necessary to escaping those constraints, but different theorists take different views on the nature of this process: from a radical reconstruction of meaning by individuals (as in deconstructionism) to theories in which individuals are primarily extensions of language and society, without real autonomy (as in poststructuralism).


title: Meaning of life

text: According to naturalistic pantheism, the meaning of life is to care for and look after nature and the environment.


title: Meaning of life

text: Embodied cognition uses the neurological basis of emotion, speech, and cognition to understand the nature of thought. Cognitive neuropsychology has identified brain areas necessary for these abilities, and genetic studies show that the gene FOXP2 affects neuroplasticity which underlies language fluency.


title: Meaning of life

text: George Lakoff, a professor of cognitive linguistics and philosophy, advances the view that metaphors are the usual basis of meaning, not the logic of verbal symbol manipulation. Computers use logic programming to effectively query databases but humans rely on a trained biological neural network. Postmodern philosophies that use the indeterminacy of symbolic language to deny definite meaning ignore those who feel they know what they mean and feel that their interlocutors know what they mean. Choosing the correct metaphor results in enough common understanding to pursue questions such as the meaning of life. Improved knowledge of brain function should result in better treatments producing healthier brains. When combined with more effective training, a sound personal assessment as to the meaning of one's life should be straightforward.


title: Meaning of life

text: The Mohist philosophers believed that the purpose of life was universal, impartial love. Mohism promoted a philosophy of impartial caring—a person should care equally for all other individuals, regardless of their actual relationship to him or her. The expression of this indiscriminate caring is what makes a man a righteous being in Mohist thought. This advocacy of impartiality was a target of attack by the other Chinese philosophical schools, most notably the Confucians who believed that while love should be unconditional, it should not be indiscriminate. For example, children should hold a greater love for their parents than for random strangers.


title: Meaning of life

text: Confucianism recognizes human nature in accordance with the need for discipline and education. Because humankind is driven by both positive and negative influences, Confucianists see a goal in achieving virtue through strong relationships and reasoning as well as minimizing the negative. This emphasis on normal living is seen in the Confucianist scholar Tu Wei-Ming's quote, "We can realize the ultimate meaning of life in ordinary human existence."


title: Meaning of life

text: The Legalists believed that finding the purpose of life was a meaningless effort. To the Legalists, only practical knowledge was valuable, especially as it related to the function and performance of the state.


title: Meaning of life

text: The religious perspectives on the meaning of life are those ideologies that explain life in terms of an implicit purpose not defined by humans. According to the Charter for Compassion, signed by many of the world's leading religious and secular organizations, the core of religion is the golden rule of 'treat others as you would have them treat you'. The Charter's founder, Karen Armstrong, quotes the ancient Rabbi Hillel who suggested that 'the rest is commentary'. This is not to reduce the commentary's importance, and Armstrong considers that its study, interpretation, and ritual are the means by which religious people internalize and live the golden rule.


title: Meaning of life

text: In the [[Judaism|Judaic]] world view, the meaning of life is to elevate the physical world ('Olam HaZeh') and prepare it for the world to come ('[[Jewish eschatology|Olam HaBa]]'), the [[Jewish messianism|messianic era]]. This is called [[Tikkun Olam]] ("Fixing the World"). Olam HaBa can also mean the spiritual afterlife, and there is debate concerning the eschatological order. However, Judaism is not focused on personal salvation, but on communal (between man and man) and individual (between man and God) spiritualised actions in this world.


title: Meaning of life

text: Judaism's most important feature is the worship of a single, incomprehensible, [[transcendence (religion)|transcendent]], one, indivisible, [[God in Judaism|absolute Being]], who created and governs the universe. Closeness with the God of Israel is through a study of His [[Torah]], and adherence to its [[mitzvot]] (divine laws). In traditional Judaism, God established a special [[Covenant (Israel)|covenant]] with a people, the people of Israel, at [[Mount Sinai]], giving the [[613 mitzvot|Jewish commandments]]. Torah comprises the written [[Pentateuch]] and the transcribed [[Oral Torah|oral tradition]], further developed through the generations. The Jewish people are intended as "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" and a "[[Light Unto the Nations|light to the Nations]]", influencing the other peoples to keep their own religio-ethical [[Seven Laws of Noah]]. The messianic era is seen as the perfection of this dual path to God.


title: Meaning of life

text: Jewish observances involve ethical and ritual, affirmative, and prohibitive injunctions. Modern [[Jewish denominations]] differ over the nature, relevance, and emphases of mitzvot. [[Jewish philosophy]] emphasises that God is not affected or benefited, but the individual and society benefit by drawing close to God. The rationalist [[Maimonides]] sees the ethical and ritual divine commandments as a necessary, but insufficient preparation for philosophical understanding of God, with its love and awe. Among fundamental [[Jewish ethics|values]] in the Torah are pursuit of justice, compassion, peace, kindness, hard work, prosperity, humility, and education. The world to come, prepared in the present, elevates man to an everlasting connection with God. [[Simeon the Just|Simeon the Righteous]] says, "The world stands on three things: on Torah, on worship, and on acts of loving kindness." The [[Siddur|prayer book]] relates, "Blessed is our God who created us for his honor ... and planted within us everlasting life." Of this context, the [[Talmud]] states, "Everything that God does is for the good." including suffering.


title: Meaning of life

text: The Jewish mystical [[Kabbalah]] gives complementary esoteric meanings of life. As well as Judaism providing an [[Divine immanence|immanent]] relationship with God (personal [[theism]]), in Kabbalah the spiritual and physical creation is a paradoxical manifestation of the immanent aspects of God's Being ([[panentheism]]), related to the [[Shekhinah]] (Divine feminine). Jewish observance unites the [[sephirot]] (Divine attributes) on high, restoring harmony to creation. In [[Lurianic Kabbalah]], the meaning of life is the messianic rectification of the shattered sparks of God's persona, exiled in physical existence (the [[Kelipot]] shells), through the actions of Jewish observance. Through this, in [[Hasidic Judaism]] the ultimate essential "desire" of God is the revelation of the Omnipresent Divine essence through materiality, achieved by a man from within his limited physical realm when the body will give life to the soul.


title: Meaning of life

text: [[Christianity]] has its roots in Judaism, and shares much of the latter faith's [[ontology]]. Its central beliefs derive from the teachings of [[Jesus Christ]] as presented in the [[New Testament]]. Life's purpose in Christianity is to seek divine [[Salvation in Christianity|salvation]] through the grace of God and intercession of Christ. The New Testament speaks of God wanting to have a relationship with humans both in this life and the life to come, which can happen only if one's [[Atonement in Christianity|sins are forgiven]].


title: Meaning of life

text: In the Christian view, humankind was made in the [[Image of God]] and perfect, but the [[Fall of Man]] caused the progeny of the [[Adam and Eve|First Parents]] to inherit [[Original Sin]] and its consequences. Christ's [[Passion of Jesus|passion]], [[Crucifixion of Jesus|death]] and [[Resurrection of Jesus|resurrection]] provide the means for transcending that impure state ([[Epistle to the Romans|Romans]] 6:23). The good news that this restoration from sin is now possible is called the [[gospel]]. The specific process of appropriating salvation through Christ and maintaining a relationship with God varies between different [[List of Christian denominations|denominations]] of Christians, but all rely on faith in Christ and the gospel as the fundamental starting point. Salvation through faith in God is found in [[Epistle to the Ephesians|Ephesians]] 2:8–9 – "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast." ([[New American Standard Bible|NASB]]; 1973). The gospel maintains that through this belief, the barrier that sin has created between man and God is destroyed, thereby allowing believers to be [[Regeneration (theology)|regenerated]] by God and to instill in them a new heart after God's own will with the ability to live righteously before him. This is what the term [[Salvation in Christianity|saved]] almost always refer to.


title: Meaning of life

text: In Reformed theology it is believed the purpose of life is to glorify God. In the "[[Westminster Shorter Catechism]]", an extremely important creed for Reformed Christians, the first question is: "What is the chief end of Man?" (that is, "What is Man's main purpose?"). The answer is: "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever". God requires one to obey the revealed moral law, saying: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself". The "[[Baltimore Catechism]]" answers the question "Why did God make you?" by saying "God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven."


title: Meaning of life

text: The Apostle Paul also answers this question in his speech on the [[Areopagus]] in [[Athens]]: "And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us."


title: Meaning of life

text: [[Catholicism]]'s way of thinking is better expressed through the Principle and Foundation of [[St. Ignatius of Loyola]]: "The human person is created to praise, reverence, and serve God Our Lord, and by doing so, to save his or her soul. All other things on the face of the earth are created for human beings in order to help them pursue the end for which they are created. It follows from this that one must use other created things, in so far as they help towards one's end, and free oneself from them, in so far as they are obstacles to one's end. To do this, we need to make ourselves indifferent to all created things, provided the matter is subject to our free choice and there is no other prohibition. Thus, as far as we are concerned, we should not want health more than illness, wealth more than poverty, fame more than disgrace, a-long life more than a short one, and similarly for all the rest, but we should desire and choose only what helps us more towards the end for which we are created."


title: Meaning of life

text: [[Mormonism]] teaches that the purpose of life on Earth is to gain knowledge and experience and to have joy. Mormons believe that humans are literally the spirit children of God the Father, and thus have the potential to progress to become like Him. Mormons teach that God provided his children the choice to come to Earth, which is considered a crucial stage in their development—wherein a mortal body, coupled with the freedom to choose, makes for an environment to learn and grow. The Fall of Adam is not viewed as an unfortunate or unplanned cancellation of God's original plan for a paradise; rather, the opposition found in mortality is an essential element of God's plan because the process of enduring and overcoming challenges, difficulties, and temptations provides opportunities to gain wisdom and strength, thereby learning to appreciate and choose good and reject evil. Because God is just, he allows those who were not taught the gospel during mortality to receive it after death in the spirit world, so that all of his children have the opportunity to return to live with God, and reach their full potential.


title: Meaning of life

text: A recent alternative Christian theological discourse interprets Jesus as revealing that the purpose of life is to elevate our compassionate response to human suffering; nonetheless, the conventional Christian position is that people are justified by belief in the [[Propitiation|propitiatory sacrifice]] of Jesus' death on the cross.


title: Meaning of life

text: In [[Islam]], humanity's ultimate purpose is to worship their creator, [[Allah]] (), through his signs, and be grateful to him through sincere love and devotion. This is practically shown by following the divine guidelines revealed in the [[Qur'an]] and the tradition of the [[Muhammad|Prophet]] (with the exception of [[Quranism|Quranists]]). Earthly life is a test, determining one's position of closeness to [[Allah]] in the hereafter. A person will either be close to him and his love in "[[Jannah]]" (Paradise) or far away in "[[Jahannam]]" (Hell).


title: Meaning of life

text: For Allah's satisfaction, via the Qur'an, all Muslims must believe in God, his revelations, his [[Angels in Islam|angels]], his [[Prophets in Islam|messengers]], and in the "[[Qiyamah|Day of Judgment]]". The Qur'an describes the purpose of creation as follows: "Blessed be he in whose hand is the kingdom, he is powerful over all things, who created death and life that he might examine which of you is best in deeds, and he is the almighty, the forgiving." (Qur'an 67:1–2) and "And I (Allâh) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should be obedient (to Allah)." (Qur'an 51:56). Obedience testifies to the [[Tawhid|oneness of God]] in his lordship, his names, and his attributes. Terrenal life is a test; how one "acts" (behaves) determines whether one's soul goes to Jannat (Heaven) or to Jahannam (Hell). However, on the day of Judgement the final decision is of Allah alone.


title: Meaning of life

text: The [[Five Pillars of Islam]] are duties incumbent to every Muslim; they are: [[Shahada]]h (profession of faith); [[Salah|Salat]] (ritual prayer); [[Zakat]] (charity); [[Sawm]] (fasting during [[Ramadan]]), and [[Hajj]] (pilgrimage to [[Mecca]]). They derive from the [[Hadith]] works, notably of [[Sahih Al-Bukhari]] and [[Sahih Muslim]]. The five pillars are not mentioned directly in the Quran.


title: Meaning of life

text: Beliefs differ among the [[Kalam]]. The [[Sunni]] and the [[Ahmadiyya]] concept of pre-destination is [[Qadr (doctrine)|divine decree]]; likewise, the [[Shi'a]] concept of pre-destination is [[Adalah|divine justice]]; in the [[esoteric]] view of the [[Sufi]]s, the universe exists only for God's pleasure; Creation is a grand game, wherein Allah is the greatest prize.


title: Meaning of life

text: The Sufi view of the meaning of life stems from the [[hadith qudsi]] that states "I (God) was [[a Hidden Treasure]] and loved to be known. Therefore I created the Creation that I might be known." One possible interpretation of this view is that the meaning of life for an individual is to know the nature of God, and the purpose of all of creation is to reveal that nature and to prove its value as the ultimate treasure, that is God. However, this hadith is stated in various forms and interpreted in various ways by people, such, as [['Abdu'l-Bahá]] of the [[Baháʼí Faith]], and in [[Ibn Arabi|Ibn'Arabī]]'s Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam.


title: Meaning of life

text: The [[Baháʼí Faith]] emphasizes the unity of humanity. To Baháʼís, the purpose of life is focused on spiritual growth and service to humanity. Human beings are viewed as intrinsically spiritual beings. People's lives in this material world provide extended opportunities to grow, to develop divine qualities and virtues, and the [[Manifestation of God (Baháʼí Faith)|prophets]] were sent by God to facilitate this.


title: Meaning of life

text: [[Hinduism]] is a religious category including many beliefs and traditions. Since Hinduism was the way of expressing meaningful living for a long time before there was a need for naming it as a separate religion, Hindu doctrines are supplementary and complementary in nature, generally non-exclusive, suggestive, and tolerant in content. Most believe that the [[Ātman (Hinduism)|ātman]] (spirit, soul)—the person's true "self"—is eternal. In part, this stems from Hindu beliefs that spiritual development occurs across many lifetimes, and goals should match the state of development of the individual. There are four possible aims to human life, known as the "[[purusharthas]]" (ordered from least to greatest): (i) "[[Kāma]]" (wish, desire, love and sensual pleasure), (ii) "[[Artha]]" (wealth, prosperity, glory), (iii) "[[Dharma]]" (righteousness, duty, morality, [[virtue]], [[ethics]]), encompassing notions such as "[[ahimsa]]" (non-violence) and [[satya]] (truth) and (iv) "[[Moksha]]" (liberation, i.e. liberation from [[Saṃsāra]], the cycle of [[reincarnation]]).


title: Meaning of life

text: In all schools of Hinduism, the meaning of life is tied up in the concepts of [[karma]] (causal action), [[sansara]] (the cycle of birth and rebirth), and [[moksha]] (liberation). Existence is conceived as the progression of the ātman (similar to the western concept of a [[Soul (spirit)|soul]]) across numerous lifetimes, and its ultimate progression towards liberation from karma. Particular goals for life are generally subsumed under broader [[yoga]]s (practices) or [[dharma]] (correct living) which are intended to create more favorable reincarnations, though they are generally positive acts in this life as well. Traditional schools of Hinduism often worship [[Deva (Hinduism)|Devas]] which are manifestations of [[Ishvara]] (a personal or chosen God); these Devas are taken as ideal forms to be identified with, as a form of spiritual improvement.


title: Meaning of life

text: In short, the goal is to realize the fundamental truth about oneself. This thought is conveyed in the [[Mahāvākyas]] ("[[Tat Tvam Asi]]" (thou art that), "Aham Brahmāsmi", "Prajñānam Brahma" and "Ayam Ātmā Brahma" (This Ātman is Brahman)).


title: Meaning of life

text: Later schools reinterpreted the [[vedas]] to focus on [[Brahman]], "The One Without a Second", as a central God-like figure.


title: Meaning of life

text: In [[monist]] Advaita Vedanta, ātman is ultimately indistinguishable from Brahman, and the goal of life is to know or realize that one's [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Ātman]] (soul) is identical to [[Brahman]]. To the [[Upanishads]], whoever becomes fully aware of the Ātman, as one's core of self, realizes identity with Brahman, and, thereby, achieves [[Moksha]] (liberation, freedom).


title: Meaning of life

text: Dvaita Vedanta and other [[bhakti]] schools have a [[Theistic dualism|dualist]] interpretation. [[Brahman]] is seen as a supreme being with a personality and manifest qualities. The Ātman depends upon Brahman for its existence; the meaning of life is achieving Moksha through the love of God and upon His grace.


title: Meaning of life

text: [[Vaishnavism]] is a branch of Hinduism in which the principal belief is the identification of [[Vishnu]] or [[Narayana]] as the one supreme God. This belief contrasts with the [[Krishnaism|Krishna-centered]] traditions, such as [[Vallabha]], [[Nimbaraka]] and [[Gaudiya]], in which [[Krishna]] is considered to be the One and only Supreme God and the [[Svayam Bhagavan|source of all avataras]].


title: Meaning of life

text: Vaishnava theology includes the central beliefs of Hinduism such as [[monotheism]], [[reincarnation]], [[samsara]], [[karma]], and the various [[Yoga]] systems, but with a particular emphasis on devotion ([[bhakti]]) to Vishnu through the process of [[Bhakti yoga]], often including singing Vishnu's name's ([[bhajan]]), meditating upon his form ([[dharana]]) and performing [[deity]] worship ([[puja (Hinduism)|puja]]). The practices of deity worship are primarily based on texts such as [[Pañcaratra]] and various [[Samhita]]s.


title: Meaning of life

text: One popular school of thought, [[Gaudiya Vaishnavism]], teaches the concept of [[Achintya Bheda Abheda]]. In this, Krishna is worshipped as the single true God, and all living entities are eternal parts and the Supreme Personality of the Godhead Krishna. Thus the constitutional position of a living entity is to serve the Lord with love and devotion. The purpose of human life especially is to think beyond the animalistic way of eating, sleeping, mating, and defending and engage the higher intelligence to revive the lost relationship with Krishna.


title: Meaning of life

text: [[Jainism]] is a religion originating in [[Iron Age India|ancient India]], its ethical system promotes self-discipline above all else. Through following the [[asceticism|ascetic]] teachings of [[Tirthankara|Jina]], a [[human]] achieves [[Moksa (Jainism)|enlightenment (perfect knowledge)]]. Jainism divides the universe into living and non-living beings. Only when the living becomes attached to the non-living does suffering result. Therefore, happiness is the result of self-conquest and freedom from external objects. The meaning of life may then be said to be to use the physical body to achieve self-realization and bliss.


title: Meaning of life

text: Jains believe that every human is responsible for his or her actions and all living beings have an eternal [[Soul (spirit)|soul]], "[[jiva]]". Jains believe all souls are equal because they all possess the potential of being liberated and attaining [[Moksa (Jainism)|Moksha]]. The [[Karma in Jainism|Jain view of karma]] is that every action, every word, every thought produces has effect on the soul.


title: Meaning of life

text: Jainism includes strict adherence to [[Ahimsa in Jainism|ahimsa]] (or "ahinsā"), a form of [[nonviolence]] that goes far beyond [[vegetarianism]]. Jains refuse food obtained with unnecessary cruelty. Many practice a lifestyle similar to [[veganism]] due to the violence of modern dairy farms, and others exclude [[root vegetable]]s from their diets in order to preserve the lives of the plants from which they eat.


title: Meaning of life

text: Buddhists practice embracing mindfulness, the ill-being (suffering) and well-being that is present in life. Buddhists practice seeing the causes of ill-being and well-being in life. For example, one of the causes of suffering is an unhealthy attachment to objects material or non-material. The Buddhist [[sūtras]] and [[tantras]] do not speak about "the meaning of life" or "the purpose of life", but about the potential of human life to end suffering, for example through embracing (not suppressing or denying) cravings and conceptual attachments. Attaining and perfecting dispassion is a process of many levels that ultimately results in the state of [[Nirvana]]. Nirvana means freedom from both [[Dukkha|suffering]] and [[Rebirth (Buddhism)|rebirth]].


title: Meaning of life

text: [[Theravada|Theravada Buddhism]] is generally considered to be close to the early Buddhist practice. It promotes the concept of [[Vibhajjavada]] ([[Pāli|Pali]]), literally "Teaching of Analysis", which says that insight must come from the aspirant's experience, critical investigation, and reasoning instead of by blind faith. However, the Theravadin tradition also emphasizes heeding the advice of the wise, considering such advice and evaluation of one's own experiences to be the two tests by which practices should be judged. The Theravadin goal is liberation (or freedom) from suffering, according to the [[Four Noble Truths]]. This is attained in the achievement of [[Nirvana]], or Unbinding which also ends the [[reincarnation|repeated cycle]] of birth, old age, sickness, and death. The way to attain Nirvana is by following and practicing the [[Noble Eightfold Path]].


title: Meaning of life

text: Mahayana Buddhist schools de-emphasize the traditional view (still practiced in [[Theravada]]) of the release from individual Suffering ([[Duḥkha|Duhkha]]) and attainment of Awakening ([[Nirvana]]). In Mahayana, the Buddha is seen as an eternal, immutable, inconceivable, [[omnipresent]] being. The fundamental principles of Mahayana doctrine are based on the possibility of universal liberation from suffering for all beings, and the existence of the transcendent [[Buddha-nature]], which is the eternal Buddha essence present, but hidden and unrecognised, in all living beings.


title: Meaning of life

text: Philosophical schools of Mahayana Buddhism, such as [[zen|Chan/Zen]] and the [[Vajrayana]] Tibetan and Shingon schools, explicitly teach that [[Bodhisattva]] should refrain from full liberation, allowing themselves to be reincarnated into the world until all beings achieve enlightenment. Devotional schools such as [[Pure Land Buddhism]] seek the aid of celestial buddhas—individuals who have spent lifetimes accumulating positive karma, and use that accumulation to aid all.


title: Meaning of life

text: The followers of Sikhism are ordained to follow the teachings of the ten [[Sikh Gurus]], or enlightened leaders, as well as the holy scripture entitled the "[[Gurū Granth Sāhib]]", which includes selected works of many philosophers from diverse socio-economic and religious backgrounds.


title: Meaning of life

text: The Sikh Gurus say that salvation can be obtained by following various spiritual paths, so Sikhs do not have a monopoly on salvation: "The Lord dwells in every heart, and every heart has its own way to reach Him." Sikhs believe that all people are equally important before [[Waheguru|God]]. Sikhs balance their moral and spiritual values with the quest for knowledge, and they aim to promote a life of peace and equality but also of positive action.


title: Meaning of life

text: A key distinctive feature of Sikhism is a non-[[Anthropomorphism#In religion and mythology|anthropomorphic]] concept of God, to the extent that one can interpret God as the [[Universe]] itself ([[pantheism]]). Sikhism thus sees life as an opportunity to understand this God as well as to discover the divinity which lies in each individual. While a full understanding of God is beyond human beings, [[Guru Nanak Dev|Nanak]] described God as not wholly unknowable, and stressed that God must be seen from "the inward eye", or the "heart", of a human being: devotees must [[meditate]] to progress towards enlightenment and the ultimate destination of a Sikh is to lose the ego completely in the love of the lord and finally merge into the almighty creator. Nanak emphasized the revelation through meditation, as its rigorous application permits the existence of communication between God and human beings.


title: Meaning of life

text: [[Taoist]] [[cosmogony]] emphasizes the need for all sentient beings and all men to return to the "primordial" or to rejoin with the "Oneness" of the Universe by way of self-cultivation and self-realization. All adherents should understand and be in tune with the ultimate truth.


title: Meaning of life

text: Taoists believe all things were originally from [[Taiji (philosophy)|Taiji]] and [[Tao]], and the meaning in life for the adherents is to realize the temporal nature of the existence. "Only introspection can then help us to find our innermost reasons for living ... the simple answer is here within ourselves."


title: Meaning of life

text: [[Shinto]] is the native religion of Japan. Shinto means "the path of the [[kami]]", but more specifically, it can be taken to mean "the divine crossroad where the kami chooses his way". The "divine" crossroad signifies that all the universe is divine spirit. This foundation of [[free will]], choosing one's way, means that life is a creative process.


title: Meaning of life

text: Shinto wants life to live, not to die. Shinto sees death as pollution and regards life as the realm where the divine spirit seeks to purify itself by rightful self-development. Shinto wants individual human life to be prolonged forever on earth as a victory of the divine spirit in preserving its objective personality in its highest forms. The presence of evil in the world, as conceived by Shinto, does not stultify the divine nature by imposing on divinity responsibility for being able to relieve human suffering while refusing to do so. The sufferings of life are the sufferings of the divine spirit in search of progress in the objective world.


title: Meaning of life

text: There are many [[new religious movements]] in East Asia, and some with millions of followers: [[Chondogyo]], [[Tenrikyo]], [[Cao Đài]], and [[Seicho-No-Ie]]. New religions typically have unique explanations for the meaning of life. For example, in Tenrikyo, one is expected to live a [[Joyous Life]] by participating in practices that create happiness for oneself and others.


title: Meaning of life

text: Zoroastrians believe in a universe created by a transcendent God, [[Ahura Mazda]], to whom all worship is ultimately directed. Ahura Mazda's creation is "[[asha]]", truth and order, and it is in conflict with its [[antithesis]], "druj", falsehood and disorder.


title: Meaning of life

text: Since humanity possesses [[free will]], people must be responsible for their moral choices. By using free will, people must take an active role in the universal conflict, with good thoughts, good words and good deeds to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.


title: Meaning of life

text: "What is the meaning of life?" is a question many people ask themselves at some point during their lives, most in the context "What is the purpose of life?". Some popular answers include:


title: Meaning of life

text: The mystery of life and its true meaning is an often recurring subject in [[popular culture]], featured in [[mass media|entertainment media]] and [[the arts|various forms]] of art.


title: Meaning of life

text: "[[Monty Python's The Meaning of Life]]" includes a character played by [[Michael Palin]] is handed an envelope containing "the meaning of life", which she opens and reads out to the audience: "Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try to be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations."


title: Meaning of life

text: In [[Douglas Adams]]' book "[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]", the [[Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything]] is given the numeric solution "[[42 (number)|42]]", after seven and a half million years of calculation by a giant [[supercomputer]] called [[Minor characters from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy#Deep Thought|Deep Thought]]. When this answer is met with confusion and anger from its constructors, Deep Thought explains that "I think the problem such as it was, was too broadly based. You never actually stated what the question was." Deep Thought then constructs another computer—the Earth—to calculate what the Ultimate Question actually is. Later Ford and Arthur manage to extract the question as the Earth computer would have rendered it. That question turns out to be "what do you get if you multiply six by nine", and it is realised that [[Garbage in, garbage out|the program was ruined by the unexpected arrival of the Golgafrinchans]] on Earth, and so the actual Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, And Everything remains unknown.


title: Meaning of life

text: In [[Person of Interest (TV series)|"Person of Interest"]] season 5 episode 13, an artificial intelligence referred to as The Machine tells [[Harold Finch (Person of Interest)|Harold Finch]] that the secret of life is "Everyone dies alone. But if you mean something to someone, if you help someone, or love someone. If even a single person remembers you then maybe you never really die at all." This phrase is then repeated at the very end of the show to add emphasis to the finale.


title: Meaning of life

text: [[Existential crises]] are crises of meaning. They are triggered by the impression that life lacks meaning. This impression can lead to an inner conflict because there is a strong [[desire]] to find some form of meaning in life. In the [[Existentialism|existentialist]] literature, the discrepancy between the individual's desire for meaning and the world's apparent lack thereof is termed [[Absurdism|the absurd]]. It may be summarized by the question "How does a being who needs meaning find meaning in a universe that has no meaning?". While this conflict may affect different people at least to some extent, it reaches a more severe level in the case of existential crises. This level leads to various negative [[experiences]], such as [[Stress (biology)|stress]], [[anxiety]], despair, and [[Depression (mood)|depression]]. In the more serious cases, these symptoms disturb the individual's normal functioning in everyday life. A positive side effect of these negative experiences is that they push the affected individual to address the underlying issue. This opens the opportunity of [[Personal development|developing as a person]] and improving one's way of life.


title: Meaning of life

text: Therapists often try to treat existential crises by helping their patients discover meaning in life. An important distinction in this regard is the difference between personal meaning and cosmic meaning. In the cosmic sense, the term "meaning of life" refers to the purpose of the world as a whole or why we are here. One way to solve an existential crisis is to discover a satisfying answer to this question. This often takes the form of a [[religious]] explanation involving a divine entity that created the world for a certain purpose. Another approach to solving existential crises is to seek meaning not on the cosmic but on the personal level. This usually takes a more secular form: the therapist helps the individual realize what matters to them or why their life is worth living. In this regard, they may discover how their personal life can be meaningful, for example, by dedicating themselves to their family or their career. This approach may mitigate or solve an existential crisis even if the individual still lacks an answer to the bigger question of the deeper meaning behind everything.


title: Meaning of life

text: The question of the meaning of life is closely related to the question of what has [[importance]] or what matters. This is reflected in the fact that finding meaning in life is often associated with dedicating oneself to some kind of higher purpose, which is seen as having special importance. Nonetheless, some theorists have argued that the two concepts are not identical. This distinction is often motivated by the observation that seeking the meaning of life is usually regarded as an admirable goal associated with [[self-transcendence]]. Craving importance, on the other hand, seems to be a more [[Egoism|egoistic]] or [[Narcissism|narcissistic]] aim in comparison.


title: Meaning of life

text: Various theorists have argued that to be important means to have an impact on the world or to make a difference. Some only require that this causal impact is big enough. Others include as an additional element that the difference in question has to affect the value of the world. This is often interpreted with reference to [[well-being]]: the degree of importance of a thing is given by the extent to which it affects the well-being of sentient entities. However, the relation to a purpose is usually not required for importance. In this regard, some things may be important accidentally or [[Intention|unintentionally]] without being guided by a higher goal. For example, a person may by chance bump into something and thereby unwittingly trigger a [[butterfly effect]] of extreme proportions. In such a case, the person's life has acquired high importance due to the consequences it caused. Nonetheless, this does not imply that it has also acquired some form of deeper meaning or higher purpose.


title: Meaning of life

text: Another difference is that seeking and realizing the meaning of life is usually seen by most theorists as a positive and worthwhile undertaking. Importance, however, can be either positive or negative depending on the type of value difference involved. For example, [[Alexander Fleming]] was important in a positive sense since his discovery of [[penicillin]] helped many people cure their [[bacterial infection]]s. [[Adolf Hitler]], on the other hand, was important in a negative sense since his policies caused widespread suffering to innumerous people.


title: Convolution

text: In mathematics (in particular, functional analysis), convolution is a mathematical operation on two functions ( and ) that produces a third function (formula_1) that expresses how the shape of one is modified by the other. The term "convolution" refers to both the result function and to the process of computing it. It is defined as the integral of the product of the two functions after one is reflected about the y-axis and shifted. The choice of which function is reflected and shifted before the integral does not change the integral result (see commutativity). The integral is evaluated for all values of shift, producing the convolution function.


title: Convolution

text: Some features of convolution are similar to cross-correlation: for real-valued functions, of a continuous or discrete variable, convolution (formula_1) differs from cross-correlation (formula_3) only in that either or is reflected about the y-axis in convolution; thus it is a cross-correlation of and , or and . For complex-valued functions, the cross-correlation operator is the adjoint of the convolution operator.


title: Convolution

text: Convolution has applications that include probability, statistics, acoustics, spectroscopy, signal processing and image processing, geophysics, engineering, physics, computer vision and differential equations.


title: Convolution

text: The convolution can be defined for functions on Euclidean space and other groups (as algebraic structures). For example, periodic functions, such as the discrete-time Fourier transform, can be defined on a circle and convolved by periodic convolution. (See row 18 at .) A "discrete convolution" can be defined for functions on the set of integers.


title: Convolution

text: Generalizations of convolution have applications in the field of numerical analysis and numerical linear algebra, and in the design and implementation of finite impulse response filters in signal processing.


title: Convolution

text: The convolution of and is written , denoting the operator with the symbol . It is defined as the integral of the product of the two functions after one is reflected about the y-axis and shifted. As such, it is a particular kind of integral transform:


title: Convolution

text: While the symbol is used above, it need not represent the time domain. At each "t", the convolution formula can be described as the area under the function weighted by the function shifted by the amount . As changes, the weighting function emphasizes different parts of the input function ; If is a positive value, then is equal to that slides or is shifted along the formula_6-axis toward the right (toward ) by the amount of , while if is a negative value, then is equal to that slides or is shifted toward the left (toward ) by the amount of .


title: Convolution

text: For functions , supported on only (i.e., zero for negative arguments), the integration limits can be truncated, resulting in:


title: Convolution

text: which has to be interpreted carefully to avoid confusion. For instance, is equivalent to , but is in fact equivalent to .


title: Convolution

text: Given two functions formula_9 and formula_10 with bilateral Laplace transforms (two-sided Laplace transform)


title: Convolution

text: respectively, the convolution operation formula_13 can be defined as the inverse Laplace transform of the product of formula_14 and formula_15. More precisely,


title: Convolution

text: Note that formula_19 is the bilateral Laplace transform of formula_13. A similar derivation can be done using the unilateral Laplace transform (one-sided Laplace transform).


title: Convolution

text: The convolution operation also describes the output (in terms of the input) of an important class of operations known as "linear time-invariant" (LTI). See LTI system theory for a derivation of convolution as the result of LTI constraints. In terms of the Fourier transforms of the input and output of an LTI operation, no new frequency components are created. The existing ones are only modified (amplitude and/or phase). In other words, the output transform is the pointwise product of the input transform with a third transform (known as a transfer function). See Convolution theorem for a derivation of that property of convolution. Conversely, convolution can be derived as the inverse Fourier transform of the pointwise product of two Fourier transforms.


title: Convolution

text: One of the earliest uses of the convolution integral appeared in D'Alembert's derivation of Taylor's theorem in "Recherches sur différents points importants du système du monde," published in 1754.


title: Convolution

text: is used by Sylvestre François Lacroix on page 505 of his book entitled "Treatise on differences and series", which is the last of 3 volumes of the encyclopedic series: "Traité du calcul différentiel et du calcul intégral", Chez Courcier, Paris, 1797–1800. Soon thereafter, convolution operations appear in the works of Pierre Simon Laplace, Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier, Siméon Denis Poisson, and others. The term itself did not come into wide use until the 1950s or 60s. Prior to that it was sometimes known as "Faltung" (which means "folding" in German), "composition product", "superposition integral", and "Carson's integral". Yet it appears as early as 1903, though the definition is rather unfamiliar in older uses.


title: Convolution

text: is a particular case of composition products considered by the Italian mathematician Vito Volterra in 1913.


title: Convolution

text: When a function is periodic, with period , then for functions, , such that exists, the convolution is also periodic and identical to:


title: Convolution

text: When is a periodic summation of another function, , then is known as a "circular" or "cyclic" convolution of and .


title: Convolution

text: And if the periodic summation above is replaced by , the operation is called a "periodic" convolution of and .


title: Convolution

text: For complex-valued functions defined on the set Z of integers, the "discrete convolution" of and is given by:


title: Convolution

text: The convolution of two finite sequences is defined by extending the sequences to finitely supported functions on the set of integers. When the sequences are the coefficients of two polynomials, then the coefficients of the ordinary product of the two polynomials are the convolution of the original two sequences. This is known as the Cauchy product of the coefficients of the sequences.


title: Convolution

text: Thus when has finite support in the set formula_26 (representing, for instance, a finite impulse response), a finite summation may be used:


title: Convolution

text: When the non-zero durations of both and are limited to the interval ,  reduces to these common forms:


title: Convolution

text: The notation () for "cyclic convolution" denotes convolution over the cyclic group of integers modulo.


title: Convolution

text: Circular convolution arises most often in the context of fast convolution with a fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm.


title: Convolution

text: In many situations, discrete convolutions can be converted to circular convolutions so that fast transforms with a convolution property can be used to implement the computation. For example, convolution of digit sequences is the kernel operation in multiplication of multi-digit numbers, which can therefore be efficiently implemented with transform techniques (; ).


title: Convolution

text: The most common fast convolution algorithms use fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithms via the circular convolution theorem. Specifically, the circular convolution of two finite-length sequences is found by taking an FFT of each sequence, multiplying pointwise, and then performing an inverse FFT. Convolutions of the type defined above are then efficiently implemented using that technique in conjunction with zero-extension and/or discarding portions of the output. Other fast convolution algorithms, such as the Schönhage–Strassen algorithm or the Mersenne transform, use fast Fourier transforms in other rings.


title: Convolution

text: If one sequence is much longer than the other, zero-extension of the shorter sequence and fast circular convolution is not the most computationally efficient method available. Instead, decomposing the longer sequence into blocks and convolving each block allows for faster algorithms such as the overlap–save method and overlap–add method. A hybrid convolution method that combines block and FIR algorithms allows for a zero input-output latency that is useful for real-time convolution computations.


title: Convolution

text: The convolution of two complex-valued functions on is itself a complex-valued function on , defined by:


title: Convolution

text: and is well-defined only if and decay sufficiently rapidly at infinity in order for the integral to exist. Conditions for the existence of the convolution may be tricky, since a blow-up in at infinity can be easily offset by sufficiently rapid decay in . The question of existence thus may involve different conditions on and :


title: Convolution

text: If and are compactly supported continuous functions, then their convolution exists, and is also compactly supported and continuous . More generally, if either function (say ) is compactly supported and the other is locally integrable, then the convolution is well-defined and continuous.


title: Convolution

text: Convolution of and is also well defined when both functions are locally square integrable on and supported on an interval of the form (or both supported on ).


title: Convolution

text: The convolution of and exists if and are both Lebesgue integrable functions in (), and in this case is also integrable . This is a consequence of Tonelli's theorem. This is also true for functions in , under the discrete convolution, or more generally for the convolution on any group.


title: Convolution

text: In the particular case , this shows that is a Banach algebra under the convolution (and equality of the two sides holds if and are non-negative almost everywhere).


title: Convolution

text: More generally, Young's inequality implies that the convolution is a continuous bilinear map between suitable spaces. Specifically, if satisfy:


title: Convolution

text: The Young inequality for convolution is also true in other contexts (circle group, convolution on ). The preceding inequality is not sharp on the real line: when , there exists a constant such that:


title: Convolution

text: where formula_35 is the weak norm. Convolution also defines a bilinear continuous map formula_36 for formula_37, owing to the weak Young inequality:


title: Convolution

text: In addition to compactly supported functions and integrable functions, functions that have sufficiently rapid decay at infinity can also be convolved. An important feature of the convolution is that if "f" and "g" both decay rapidly, then "f"∗"g" also decays rapidly. In particular, if "f" and "g" are rapidly decreasing functions, then so is the convolution "f"∗"g". Combined with the fact that convolution commutes with differentiation (see #Properties), it follows that the class of Schwartz functions is closed under convolution .


title: Convolution

text: Under some circumstances, it is possible to define the convolution of a function with a distribution, or of two distributions. If "f" is a compactly supported function and "g" is a distribution, then "f"∗"g" is a smooth function defined by a distributional formula analogous to


title: Convolution

text: More generally, it is possible to extend the definition of the convolution in a unique way so that the associative law


title: Convolution

text: The convolution of any two Borel measures "μ" and "ν" of bounded variation is the measure formula_41 defined by


title: Convolution

text: This agrees with the convolution defined above when μ and ν are regarded as distributions, as well as the convolution of L functions when μ and ν are absolutely continuous with respect to the Lebesgue measure.


title: Convolution

text: where the norm is the total variation of a measure. Because the space of measures of bounded variation is a Banach space, convolution of measures can be treated with standard methods of functional analysis that may not apply for the convolution of distributions.


title: Convolution

text: The convolution defines a product on the linear space of integrable functions. This product satisfies the following algebraic properties, which formally mean that the space of integrable functions with the product given by convolution is a commutative associative algebra without identity . Other linear spaces of functions, such as the space of continuous functions of compact support, are closed under the convolution, and so also form commutative associative algebras.


title: Convolution

text: If "f" and "g" are integrable functions, then the integral of their convolution on the whole space is simply obtained as the product of their integrals:


title: Convolution

text: This follows from Fubini's theorem. The same result holds if "f" and "g" are only assumed to be nonnegative measurable functions, by Tonelli's theorem.


title: Convolution

text: where "d"/"dx" is the derivative. More generally, in the case of functions of several variables, an analogous formula holds with the partial derivative:


title: Convolution

text: A particular consequence of this is that the convolution can be viewed as a "smoothing" operation: the convolution of "f" and "g" is differentiable as many times as "f" and "g" are in total.


title: Convolution

text: These identities hold under the precise condition that "f" and "g" are absolutely integrable and at least one of them has an absolutely integrable (L) weak derivative, as a consequence of Young's convolution inequality. For instance, when "f" is continuously differentiable with compact support, and "g" is an arbitrary locally integrable function,


title: Convolution

text: These identities also hold much more broadly in the sense of tempered distributions if one of "f" or "g" is a


title: Convolution

text: compactly supported tempered distribution or a Schwartz function and the other is a tempered distribution. On the other hand, two positive integrable and infinitely differentiable functions may have a nowhere continuous convolution.


title: Convolution

text: In the discrete case, the difference operator "D" "f"("n") = "f"("n" + 1) − "f"("n") satisfies an analogous relationship:


title: Convolution

text: where formula_69 denotes the Fourier transform of formula_70, and formula_71 is a constant that depends on the specific normalization of the Fourier transform. Versions of this theorem also hold for the Laplace transform, two-sided Laplace transform, Z-transform and Mellin transform.


title: Convolution

text: where formula_74 is face-splitting product, formula_75 denotes Kronecker product, formula_76 denotes Hadamard product (this result is an evolving of count sketch properties).


title: Convolution

text: If "f" is a Schwartz function, then "τf" is the convolution with a translated Dirac delta function "τ""f" = "f" ∗ "τ" "δ". So translation invariance of the convolution of Schwartz functions is a consequence of the associativity of convolution.


title: Convolution

text: Furthermore, under certain conditions, convolution is the most general translation invariant operation. Informally speaking, the following holds


title: Convolution

text: Thus some translation invariant operations can be represented as convolution. Convolutions play an important role in the study of time-invariant systems, and especially LTI system theory. The representing function "g" is the impulse response of the transformation "S".


title: Convolution

text: A more precise version of the theorem quoted above requires specifying the class of functions on which the convolution is defined, and also requires assuming in addition that "S" must be a continuous linear operator with respect to the appropriate topology. It is known, for instance, that every continuous translation invariant continuous linear operator on "L" is the convolution with a finite Borel measure. More generally, every continuous translation invariant continuous linear operator on "L" for 1 ≤ "p" < ∞ is the convolution with a tempered distribution whose Fourier transform is bounded. To wit, they are all given by bounded Fourier multipliers.


title: Convolution

text: If "G" is a suitable group endowed with a measure λ, and if "f" and "g" are real or complex valued integrable functions on "G", then we can define their convolution by


title: Convolution

text: It is not commutative in general. In typical cases of interest "G" is a locally compact Hausdorff topological group and λ is a (left-) Haar measure. In that case, unless "G" is unimodular, the convolution defined in this way is not the same as formula_80. The preference of one over the other is made so that convolution with a fixed function "g" commutes with left translation in the group:


title: Convolution

text: Furthermore, the convention is also required for consistency with the definition of the convolution of measures given below. However, with a right instead of a left Haar measure, the latter integral is preferred over the former.


title: Convolution

text: On locally compact abelian groups, a version of the convolution theorem holds: the Fourier transform of a convolution is the pointwise product of the Fourier transforms. The circle group T with the Lebesgue measure is an immediate example. For a fixed "g" in "L"(T), we have the following familiar operator acting on the Hilbert space "L"(T):


title: Convolution

text: By the commutativity property cited above, "T" is normal: "T"* "T" = "TT"* . Also, "T" commutes with the translation operators. Consider the family "S" of operators consisting of all such convolutions and the translation operators. Then "S" is a commuting family of normal operators. According to spectral theory, there exists an orthonormal basis {"h"} that simultaneously diagonalizes "S". This characterizes convolutions on the circle. Specifically, we have


title: Convolution

text: which are precisely the characters of T. Each convolution is a compact multiplication operator in this basis. This can be viewed as a version of the convolution theorem discussed above.


title: Convolution

text: A discrete example is a finite cyclic group of order "n". Convolution operators are here represented by circulant matrices, and can be diagonalized by the discrete Fourier transform.


title: Convolution

text: A similar result holds for compact groups (not necessarily abelian): the matrix coefficients of finite-dimensional unitary representations form an orthonormal basis in "L" by the Peter–Weyl theorem, and an analog of the convolution theorem continues to hold, along with many other aspects of harmonic analysis that depend on the Fourier transform.


title: Convolution

text: If μ and ν are finite Borel measures on "G", then their convolution "μ"∗"ν" is defined as the pushforward measure of the group action and can be written as


title: Convolution

text: for each measurable subset "E" of "G". The convolution is also a finite measure, whose total variation satisfies


title: Convolution

text: In the case when "G" is locally compact with (left-)Haar measure λ, and μ and ν are absolutely continuous with respect to a λ, so that each has a density function, then the convolution μ∗ν is also absolutely continuous, and its density function is just the convolution of the two separate density functions.


title: Convolution

text: If μ and ν are probability measures on the topological group then the convolution "μ"∗"ν" is the probability distribution of the sum "X" + "Y" of two independent random variables "X" and "Y" whose respective distributions are μ and ν.


title: Convolution

text: In convex analysis, the infimal convolution of proper (not identically formula_87) convex functions formula_88 on formula_89 is defined by:


title: Convolution

text: It can be shown that the infimal convolution of convex functions is convex. Furthermore, it satisfies an identity analogous to that of the Fourier transform of a traditional convolution, with the role of the Fourier transform is played instead by the Legendre transform:


title: Convolution

text: Let ("X", Δ, ∇, "ε", "η") be a bialgebra with comultiplication Δ, multiplication ∇, unit η, and counit "ε". The convolution is a product defined on the endomorphism algebra End("X") as follows. Let "φ", "ψ" ∈ End("X"), that is, "φ", "ψ": "X" → "X" are functions that respect all algebraic structure of "X", then the convolution "φ"∗"ψ" is defined as the composition


title: Convolution

text: The convolution appears notably in the definition of Hopf algebras . A bialgebra is a Hopf algebra if and only if it has an antipode: an endomorphism "S" such that


title: Convolution

text: Convolution and related operations are found in many applications in science, engineering and mathematics.


title: Ad hominem

text: Ad hominem (), short for argumentum ad hominem (), refers to several types of arguments, most of which are fallacious.


title: Ad hominem

text: Typically, this term refers to a rhetorical strategy where the speaker attacks the character, motive, or some other attribute of the person making an argument rather than addressing the substance of the argument itself. The most common form of "ad hominem" is "A makes a claim "x", B asserts that A holds a property that is unwelcome, and hence B concludes that argument "x" is wrong".


title: Ad hominem

text: Fallacious "ad hominem" reasoning occurs where the validity of an argument is not based on deduction or syllogism, but on an attribute of the person putting it forward.


title: Ad hominem

text: Valid "ad hominem" arguments occur in informal logic, where the person making the argument relies on arguments from authority such as testimony, expertise, or a selective presentation of information supporting the position they are advocating. In this case, counterarguments may be made that the target is dishonest or lacks the claimed expertise. Another type of valid "ad hominem" argument generally only encountered in specialized philosophical usage refers to the dialectical strategy of using the target's own beliefs and arguments against them, while not agreeing with the validity of those beliefs and arguments. Since the validity of an argument is found within its content, which stands apart from any property of the one making the argument, these 'valid' "ad hominem" exceptions are of questionable validity regardless of rhetorical effect.


title: Ad hominem

text: "Ad hominem" arguments were first studied in ancient Greece. John Locke revived the examination of "ad hominem" arguments in the 17th century.


title: Ad hominem

text: The various types of "ad hominem" arguments have been known in the West since at least the ancient Greeks. Aristotle, in his work "Sophistical Refutations", detailed the fallaciousness of putting the questioner but not the argument under scrutiny. Many examples of ancient non-fallacious "ad hominem" arguments are preserved in the works of the Pyrrhonist philosopher Sextus Empiricus. In these arguments, the concepts and assumptions of the opponents are used as part of a dialectical strategy against the opponents to demonstrate the unsoundness of their own arguments and assumptions. In this way, the arguments are to the person ("ad hominem"), but without attacking the properties of the individuals making the arguments.


title: Ad hominem

text: Italian polymath Galileo Galilei and British philosopher John Locke also examined the argument from commitment, a form of the "ad hominem" argument, meaning examining an argument on the basis of whether it stands true to the principles of the person carrying the argument. In the mid-19th century, the modern understanding of the term "ad hominem" started to take shape, with the broad definition given by English logician Richard Whately. According to Whately, "ad hominem" arguments were "addressed to the peculiar circumstances, character, avowed opinions, or past conduct of the individual".


title: Ad hominem

text: The earlier notion of "ad hominem" arguments would be maintained among later Catholic Aristotelian scholastics, into the 19th century and even the 20th century. For instance, the Dominican friar and Cardinal, Tommaso Maria Zigliara, doubtlessly drawing on earlier scholastic discussions, distinguished between absolute and relative demonstrations, referring to the latter as "ad hominem" arguments: “An ‘absolute’ demonstration is "one which proceeds from premises whose truth we admit and assume in order to then draw an inference, absolutely speaking," as when we demonstrate the real existence of God on the basis of the contingent character of creatures, and other such demonstrations. However, a "relative" (that is, "ad hominem") demonstration is "one which proceeds from principles which are admitted by the person we are arguing against and which we assume for the sake of refutation, setting aside the question of the truth of such principles," as when someone assumes principles admitted by materialists or by rationalists, in order to convince them that their doctrine is false.”


title: Ad hominem

text: Over time, the term acquired a different meaning; by the beginning of the 20th century, it was linked to a logical fallacy, in which a debater, instead of disproving an argument, attacked their opponent. This approach was also popularized in philosophical textbooks of the mid-20th century, and it was challenged by Australian philosopher Charles Leonard Hamblin in the second half of the 20th century. In a detailed work, he suggested that the inclusion of a statement against a person in an argument does not necessarily make it a fallacious argument since that particular phrase is not a premise that leads to a conclusion. While Hablin's criticism was not widely accepted, Canadian philosopher Douglas N. Walton examined the fallaciousness of the "ad hominem" argument even further. Nowadays, except within specialized philosophical usages, the usage of the term "ad hominem" signifies a straight attack at the character and ethos of a person, in an attempt to refute their argument.


title: Ad hominem

text: The Latin phrase "argumentum ad hominem" stands for "argument against the person". "Ad" corresponds to "against" but it could also mean "to" or "towards".


title: Ad hominem

text: The terms "ad mulierem" and "ad feminam" have been used specifically when the person receiving the criticism is female.


title: Ad hominem

text: Fallacious "ad hominem" reasoning is categorized as an informal fallacy, more precisely as a genetic fallacy, a subcategory of fallacies of irrelevance. Several types of "ad hominem" fallacies exist. All of these follow a general scheme where instead of dealing with the essence of someone's argument or trying to refute it, the interlocutor attacks the character of the proponent of the argument and concludes that the attack refutes the argument.


title: Ad hominem

text: "Circumstantial ad hominem" is an attack on the bias of a source. It points out that someone is in a circumstance (for instance, their job, wealth, property, or relations) such that they are disposed to take a particular position. A simple example is: a father may tell his daughter not to start smoking because she will damage her health, and she may point out that he is or was a smoker. This does not alter the fact that smoking might cause various diseases. Her father's inconsistency is not a proper reason to reject his claim.


title: Ad hominem

text: Circumstantial "ad hominem" arguments are not necessarily fallacious. They can be fallacious because a disposition to make a certain argument does not make the argument invalid (this overlaps with the genetic fallacy – an argument that a claim is incorrect due to its source). They can also be sound arguments if the premises are correct and the bias is relevant to the argument. This could be the case when someone (A) attacks the personality of another person (B), making an argument (a) while the personality of B is relevant to argument a, for example, B speaks from their position as an authority figure.


title: Ad hominem

text: "Appeal to motive" is a special case of the "ad hominem" circumstantial argument in which an argument is challenged by calling into question the motives of its proposer. The argument is deemed as invalid because an ulterior motive is believed to be in play other than the facilitation of dialogue.


title: Ad hominem

text: "Ergo decedo", Latin for "therefore leave" or "then go off", a truncation of "argumentum ergo decedo", also known as the "traitorous critic fallacy", denotes responding to the criticism of a critic by implying that the critic is motivated by undisclosed favorability or affiliation to an out-group, rather than responding to the criticism itself. The fallacy implicitly alleges that the critic does not appreciate the values and customs of the criticized group or is traitorous, and thus suggests that the critic should avoid the question or topic entirely, typically by leaving the criticized group.


title: Ad hominem

text: Guilt by association, that is accusing an arguer because of his alleged connection with a discredited person or group, can sometimes also be a type of "ad hominem" fallacy when the argument attacks a source because of the similarity between the views of someone making an argument and other proponents of the argument.


title: Ad hominem

text: Academic Leigh Kolb gives as an example that the 2008 US vice‐presidential candidate Sarah Palin attacked Barack Obama for having worked with Bill Ayers, who had been a leader in the Weather Underground terrorist group in the 1960s. Despite Obama denouncing every act of terrorism, he was still associated by his opponents with terrorism.


title: Ad hominem

text: Guilt by association is frequently found in social and political debates. It also appears after major events (such as scandals and terrorism) linked to a specific group. An example, given also by Leigh Kolb, is the peak of attacks against Muslims in the US after the September 11 attacks.


title: Ad hominem

text: "Ad hominem tu quoque" (literally: "You also") is a response to a personal attack (or "ad hominem" argument) that itself is a personal attack.


title: Ad hominem

text: Here is an example given by philosophy professor George Wrisley to illustrate the above: A businessman and politician is giving a lecture at a University about how good his company is and how nicely the system works. A student asks him "Is it true that you and your company are selling weapons to third world rulers who use those arms against their own people?" and the businessman replies "is it true that your university gets funding by the same company that you are claiming is selling guns to those countries? You are not a white dove either". The "ad hominem" accusation of the student is relevant to the narrative the businessman tries to project thus not fallacious. On the other hand, the attack on the student (that is, the student being inconsistent) is irrelevant to the opening narrative. So the businessman's "tu quoque" response is fallacious.


title: Ad hominem

text: Canadian philosopher Christopher Tindale approaches the "tu quoque" fallacy somewhat differently. According to Tindale, a "tu quoque" fallacy appears when a response to an argument is made concerning the history of the arguer. This argument is also invalid because it does not disprove the premise. If the premise is true, then source A may be a hypocrite or even may have changed their mind, but this does not make the statement less credible from a logical perspective. A common example, given by Tindale, is when a doctor advises a patient to lose weight, but the patient argues that there is no need for him to go on a diet because the doctor is also overweight.


title: Ad hominem

text: "Whataboutism", also known as "whataboutery", is a variant of the "tu quoque" logical fallacy that attempts to discredit an opponent's position by charging them with hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving their argument.


title: Ad hominem

text: The term "ad hominem" is sometimes used to refer to abusive language which is not directly connected to an argument over a particular proposition. For example, a politician who refers to an opponent as "a crook", might be accused of arguing "ad hominem".


title: Ad hominem

text: "Poisoning the well" (or attempting to "poison the well") is a type of informal fallacy where adverse information about a target is preemptively presented to an audience with the intention of discrediting or ridiculing something that the target person is about to say. The term was first used in the sense of an "ad hominem" by John Henry Newman in his work "Apologia Pro Vita Sua" (1864). The origin of the term lies in well poisoning, an ancient wartime practice of pouring poison into sources of fresh water before an invading army, to diminish the attacked army's strength.


title: Ad hominem

text: An "ad hominem" argument from commitment is a type of valid argument that employs, as a dialectical strategy, the exclusive utilization of the beliefs, convictions, and assumptions of those holding the position being argued against, i.e., arguments constructed on the basis of what other people hold to be true. This usage is generally only encountered in specialist philosophical usage or in pre-20th century usages. This type of argument is also known as the "ex concessis" argument (Latin for "from what has been conceded already").


title: Ad hominem

text: Ad hominem arguments are relevant where the person being criticised is advancing arguments from authority, or testimony based on personal experience, rather than proposing a formal syllogism.


title: Ad hominem

text: An example is a dialogue at the court, where the attorney cross-examines an eyewitness, bringing to light the fact that the witness was convicted in the past for lying. This might suggest the conclusion that the witness should not be trusted, which would not be a fallacy.


title: Ad hominem

text: "Ad hominem" fallacies are considered to be uncivil and do not help create a constructive atmosphere for dialogue to flourish. An "ad hominem" attack is an attack on the character of the target, who tends to feel the necessity to defend himself or herself from the accusation of being hypocritical. Walton has noted that it is so powerful an argument that it is employed in many political debates. Since it is associated with negativity and dirty tricks, "ad hominem" attacks have erroneously been assumed to always be fallacious.


title: Ad hominem

text: Eithan Orkibi describes two forms of "ad hominem" attacks that are common during election periods. The first is the "precedent ad hominem", according to which the previous history of someone means that they are not fit for the office. For example: "My opponent was (allegedly) wrong in the past, therefore he is wrong now". The second one is a "behavioral ad hominem": "My opponent was not decent in his arguments in the past, so now he is not either". These kinds of attacks are based on the inability of the audience to have a clear view of the amount of false statements by both parties of the debate.