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then why do we have emotions. Why arent we all just savage killing machines. Or are we? Also, Why is this more apparent with higher life forms. Lower life forms have no problem just killing, higher life forms create morals and emotuions. Why? Keep answers to less than one page please. LOL

2006-12-11 18:00:37 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities Philosophy

The first answer is a good answer, so is compassion a sickness?

2006-12-11 18:14:33 · update #1

or weakness.

and meaningless is that when we die, we ceasse to exist so it really is meaningless.

2006-12-11 18:15:49 · update #2

Seriously though, what has Carl Sagan done that is significant, except pontificating some inane theories noone can possibly prove, like the predecessors of galileo.

2006-12-11 18:21:55 · update #3

7 answers

Negativity is the black hole in mans mind. Tell your mind to drop all negativity,tell your mind ,have only positive uplifting thoughts of unconditional love. The essence of your being is unconditional love, Silently say to everyone, "I know you, you are unconditional love & I love you too. Toddlers will break out in this big Grin and reach to hug you. Your life will soon be so full of love there will be no room for negative thoughts. Your actions in thought, word & deed create your life circumstances,choose wisely your thoughts. LOVE gives life meaning.

2006-12-11 21:25:15 · answer #1 · answered by Weldon 5 · 0 0

Clearly, you haven't been paying attention to current events. Here in the US, at least, we ARE just savage killing machines. Both at home and abroad. Against armed opponents and against poor bastards who are handcuffed. Ooh, baby! Ain't we the shizzle?

But I digress.

Life has no intrinsic meaning. All meaning resides in the mind of the person doing the interpretation. That is, you and I create meaning out of nothing. And given the way our minds work, there really is nothing else we can do. We must create meaning. Hence, your question.

If one cannot conceptualize, then there can be no meaning attached to things. Ergo, "lower" life forms cannot make meanings, or if they do, those meanings are pretty simple. Interestingly, those very same lower life forms which have no problem just killing don't seem to torture and kill their own. Doesn't seem lower to me.

2006-12-11 18:45:19 · answer #2 · answered by Bears 2 · 0 0

First of all existence is meaningless. The only reason we have emotions is because emotions are a "side-effect" of intelligence and the consciousness behind it. We are the only living things capable of it because like i said, it doesn't just take the ability to be intelligent (because there are intelligent animals) but more importantly it's all in the ability to recognize it, then and only then are we capable of higher perceptive abilites like emotions, which animals lack, all they have are the perceptive sensations of pain and pleasure, the most primal "feelings" to all life forms.
We aren't savage killing machines for the same reason, through the thousands of years of evolution we have not only evolved physically and mentally, but also morally. What are morals though? To me, they're simply ideals through which a society can live in peace, in other words they balance each other, we have morals because we aren't killing machines, and we aren't killing machines because we have morals. Although this is a circular fallicious argument, there aren't any more logical proofs for the reason behind the lack of intrinsic meaning in life. Life is what it is, what you see in front of you is what you have. For example, the names we provide to things are ways of escaping this realization of this lack of meaning, a way to block this realization. The way our minds have been conditioned to think through societal norms, religion, etc, is another way to combat this fact.
About the lower life forms having no problem with killing, like i said above, although they might be intelligent they don't realize they are, they're not capable of consciously accepting intelligence, because of this they're not capable of the ability to perceive the morals which only come with this acceptance, the acceptance of intelligence and the fact that morality is just an attribute of this ability.

2006-12-11 20:13:17 · answer #3 · answered by Lexus-Nut 3 · 0 0

We have emotions because our brain has the capacity to function on that level. Would life be more meaningful without man's best friend (dog)? I would say that emotions gives existence more meaning. Existence may be less meaningful to an animal because it does not have emotions.

Meaningless, or less meaningful? I perfer to live with "more meaningful".

2006-12-11 22:22:56 · answer #4 · answered by tristan-adams 4 · 0 0

I have frequently quoted Carl Sagan on quesitons of this type, and will do so again: If you want your life to have significance, do something significant.

2006-12-11 18:17:10 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

Evolution is based on survival of the fittest.
Part of this survival is based on how others treat us.
Our emotions determine how we treat others and therefore are an essential part of our evolution.

Maybe you should first define "meaningless".

2006-12-11 18:10:07 · answer #6 · answered by rumplestiltskin12357 3 · 0 0

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2006-12-11 18:19:22 · answer #7 · answered by kgirjb001m k 1 · 0 0

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