Purpose is a result, end, aim, or goal A goal or objective is a projected state of affairs that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve—a personal or organizational desired end-point in some sort of assumed development. Many people endeavor to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines of an action intentionally undertaken^[1], or of an object being brought into use or existence In common usage, existence is the world we are aware of through our senses, and that persists independently without them. In academic philosophy the word has a more specialized meaning, being contrasted with essence, which specifies different forms of existence as well as different identity conditions for objects and properties. Philosophers, whether or not the purpose was a primary or secondary effect. It is possible that an intentional act may have multiple purposes, only one of which is a primary intention while the remainder are secondary intentions. For example, the introduction of a gene A gene is a unit of heredity in a living organism. It is normally a stretch of DNA that codes for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. All living things depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains. Genes hold the information to build and maintain an organism's cells and pass genetic into a species In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are often used, such as based on similarity of DNA or of rice Rice is the seed of the monocot plant Oryza sativa. As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East, South, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the West Indies. It is the grain with the second highest worldwide production, after maize may have the primary intention of providing resistance Plant Disease Resistance is crucial to the reliable production of food, and it provides significant reductions in agricultural use of fuel, water, land and other inputs. There are numerous examples of devastating plant disease impacts as well as recurrent severe plant disease issues (see Rice blast, Soybean cyst nematode, Citrus canker). However, to disease and a secondary intention of reducing nutritional value. The diminished nutritional value, though perhaps regrettable, would be a secondary intention in that it is a known effect willingly accepted.

First attested in c.1290, from earl Old French Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century. It is a direct descendent of Old Gallo-Romance. It was then known as the langue d'oïl to distinguish it from the langue d'oc (Occitan language, porpos "aim, intention", purpose is related to from porposer "to put forth," from Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin was the nonstandard form of the Latin language; because of its nonstandard nature, it had no official orthography, and only Classical Latin was used in writing. It is sometimes called colloquial Latin corruption of por- "forth" (Latin pro- "forth") and Old French poser "to put, place".^[2] Purpose is related to the term pose used from 1374 as to "put in a certain position," or "suggest, propose, suppose, assume," a term use in Late Latin Late Latin is the scholarly name for the written Latin of Late Antiquity. The English dictionary definition of Late Latin dates this period from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD. extending in Spain to the 7th. This somewhat ambiguously defined period fits between Classical Latin and Medieval Latin. Although there is no scholarly certainty when debating (c.300–c.700) from pausare "to halt, rest, pause".^[3]

In human life

“There is a fundamental human need for guiding ideals that give meaning to our actions”, states Roger Fisher Fisher specializes in negotiation and conflict management. He is the co-author of Getting to YES, the classic book on "interest-based" negotiation, as well as numerous other publications. After serving in WWII as a weather reconnaissance pilot, Fisher worked on the Marshall Plan in Paris under W. Averell Harriman. After finishing his law. Renowned psychiatrist Victor Frankl Viktor Emil Frankl M.D., Ph.D. was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor. Frankl was the founder of logotherapy, which is a form of Existential Analysis, the "Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy". His best-selling book, Man's Search for Meaning (published under a different title in 1959: From Death-’s premise is that ‘man’s search for meaning’ is the primary motivation of his life. He speaks of the ‘will to meaning’ as opposed to Freud Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud (6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939), was a Jewish Austrian neurologist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychiatry. Freud is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and the defense mechanism of repression, and for creating the clinical practice of psychoanalysis for treating’s’ ‘will to pleasure’ and Alfred Adler Alfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor, psychologist and founder of the school of individual psychology. In collaboration with Sigmund Freud and a small group of Freud's colleagues, Adler was among the co-founders of the psychoanalytic movement as a core member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. He was the first major figure to break away’s ‘will to power Power is a measure of an entity's ability to control the environment around itself, including the behavior of other entities. The term authority is often used for power, perceived as legitimate by the social structure. Power can be seen as evil or unjust, but the exercise of power is accepted as endemic to humans as social beings. Often, the study’. William Damon Damon is the author of 16 books and numerous book chapters and articles on education and human development, especially moral development. His work has been influential for research and theory in academic developmental psychology and in the broader society, especially around questions of childrearing and schooling that supports children’s social, Director of Stanford University's Center on Adolescence and leading scholar of human development, defines purpose as, "A stable and generalized intention to accomplish something that is at once meaningful to the self and of consequence to the world beyond the self."

According to some philosophies Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. It is distinguished from other ways of addressing fundamental questions by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument. The word "philosophy" comes from the, purpose is central to a good human life. Helen Keller Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. The story of how Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate, has become known wrote that happiness comes from "fidelity Fidelity is the quality of being faithful or loyal. Its original meaning regarded duty to a lord or a king, in a broader sense than the related concept of fealty. Both derive from the Latin word fidēlis , meaning "faithful or loyal" to a worthy purpose".^{[citation needed]} Ayn Rand Ayn Rand , was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism. Born and educated in Russia, Rand immigrated to the United States in 1926. She worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood and had a play produced on wrote that the three ruling values of life should be "reason, purpose, self-esteem".^{[citation needed]} Some people hold that God God is the English name given to the singular omnipotent being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism, as the force that created life, assigns purposes to people and that it is their mission to fulfill them. Others hold that purpose is not fixed, but instead freely chosen (or not chosen) by individuals and can change throughout life. Among these, some say that natural propensities may determine what sorts of purposes a person needs to pursue, but do not guarantee that he or she will pursue them, that being dependent on free choice, or external factors such as available resources. Oftentimes, it is fundamental for one to attempt to fulfill the purpose one feels is theirs. But in some occasions, fulfillment of purpose is halted by fear, the fear that the purpose one is trying to fulfill won't be fulfilled due to personal failures. In other words, someone who feels that they have a purpose that they must fulfill, might not attempt to do so because of fear due to lack of resources.

Pursuing a career, raising a family and creative vocation are all long terms for all cultures. It is as one could say, the American ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language Dream. These aspects take a Westernized position. The eudaimonism Eudaimonia is a classical Greek word commonly translated as 'happiness'. Etymologically, it consists of the word "eu" ("good" or "well being") and "daimōn" ("spirit" or "minor deity", used by extension to mean one's lot or fortune). Although popular usage of the term happiness refers to and objectivism that claim self-sacrificial goals are destructive take more of a Western philosophy and cannot be generalized into the Eastern philosophy. Eastern philosophy such as Buddhism shows that self-sacrificial goals are not destructive because one can bring out their own happiness through self-sacrificial goals especially when it comes to family. In eastern cultures it is more of a collectivistic perspective than an individualistic one.

Modern spiritual philosophy sees the purpose in life as improving the environment and world condition for all beings. In the most immediate sense this means each individual finding the special talents which are a gift to serve others. This in turn is found in pursuing a soul level joy, so that the personal and highest individual purpose of life is pursuit of soul level joy. This is the first joy, that which has followed the individual from birth. In most instances it begins with the desire for acceptance and evolves to discovery of each person's genius or gift to serve. Several methods exist for determining the soul's particular gifts and strengths, and thus its life purpose, such as the Life-Purpose System, originally formulated by Dan Millman in his book The Life You Were Born to Live^[4].

From a biological point of view the purpose of evolution is the progression of genes. However, this is not necessarily the same thing as a human being's purpose, according to popular evolutionary biologist and TV personality Richard Dawkins Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science author. He was formerly Professor for Public Understanding of Science at Oxford and was a fellow of New College, Oxford, who states that purpose is something that "grows up in the universe" (see: Growing Up in the Universe Growing Up in the Universe was a series of lectures given by Richard Dawkins as part of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, in which he discussed the evolution of life in the universe).^[5] Dawkins believes that humans have the complex genetic make-up that allows them to choose purposes for themselves that extend beyond the goal of passing on their individual genes.

Another view is exemplified by a famous work by the Christian Rick Warren Richard Duane "Rick" Warren is an American evangelical Christian minister and author. He is the founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch located in Lake Forest, California, currently the eighth-largest church in the United States (this ranking includes multi-site churches). He is also a bestselling author who wrote the best-selling book Purpose Driven Life The Purpose Driven Life is a devotional book written by Christian author Rick Warren and published by Zondervan. The book has been on the New York Times Best Seller list for advice books for one of the longest periods in history, while also becoming arguably one of the best-selling non-fiction books of all time, topping the Wall Street Journal.^[6]. This work expresses the common religious belief that there exists an inherent purpose of life, as provided by God, which is the force that created life. There has also been a lot of scientific criticism of Rick Warren's book. An opinionated critique was done by Dan Dennet Daniel Clement Dennett is a prominent American philosopher whose research centers on philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science. He is currently the co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of.^[7] But both ideas of purpose are based on the goal of seeking to clarify one's purpose in life, in which case the purpose of life is to be aware of one's purpose in life.

Another position is the “purpose-guided education Purpose-guided education prioritizes intrinsic motivation and helps students to become more engaged in learning experiences through connecting their beliefs and life goals to curricular requirements. Jerry Pattengale first coined the phrase “purpose-guided education”, and began its application at Indiana Wesleyan University in 1997. The” approach developed by Jerry Pattengale Jerry A. Pattengale is the founder of Purpose-Guided Education, and his mantra is “The dream needs to be stronger than the struggle.” He coined “purpose-guided education” in 1997 while leading the implementation of student success programs at Indiana Wesleyan University. In 2004, IWU received national recognition for these efforts through. It structures one's understanding about their purpose in relation to their evaluation of worthwhile causes and how their lives and gifts are attached to one.

Relationship as a purpose

The Dalai Lama Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: ལྷ་མོ་དོན་འགྲུབ་; Wylie: Lha-mo Don-'grub; (simplified Chinese: 拉莫顿珠; traditional Chinese: 拉莫頓珠; pinyin: Lāmò Dùnzhū) (born 6 July 1935 in Taktser, Qinghai) is the 14th Dalai Lama, a spiritual leader revered among the people of Tibet, a Buddhist, states in The Art of Happiness The Art of Happiness is a book by the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler, a psychiatrist who posed deeply probing questions to the Dalai Lama. Cutler quotes the Dalai Lama at length, providing context and describing some details of the settings in which the interviews took place, as well as adding his own reflections on issues raised. The book explores that the purpose of life is the pursuit of happiness Happiness is a state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy. A variety of biological, psychological, religious, and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources, which would seem to present a circular argument with the definition of purpose according to other philosophies mentioned above if purpose and happiness are the same thing. One important distinction to make is that statistically, those people who behave or appear happy tend to be altruistic Altruism is selfless concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures, and a core aspect of various religious traditions such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Sikhism, and many others. Altruism is the opposite of selfishness and less egotistic Egotism is the motivation to maintain and enhance favorable views of oneself. Egotism means placing oneself at the center of one's world with no direct concern for others, including those loved or considered as "close", in any other terms by the "egoist". It would follow that an appropriate choice of purpose altruistic in nature leads to happiness, or that a willful drive to happiness develops altruistic traits.

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology, proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation. Maslow subsequently extended the idea to include his observations of humans' innate curiosity. His theories parallel many other theories of human Developmental psychology, all of which focus on describing the stages of, belongingness, and usefulness to others, are fundamental to meeting human needs and conducive to building happiness. Or moreover, that the pursuit of these things, though not necessarily directly, are major underlying purposes of one's actions, these motivations can include sexual intimacy, but there is no evidence that sexual intimacy as a motivation is universal in the way other kinds of intimacy are. Concerning sexual intimacy, the Dalai Lama's view is that sexual intimacy is not necessarily conducive to happiness and fulfillment. Sexual intimacy serves at least on purpose, which is to provide temporary gratification and a committed bond, which is brought-about by the secretion of oxytocin Oxytocin (sold as Pitocin, Syntocinon) is a mammalian hormone that acts primarily as a neurotransmitter in the brain. Also known as alpha-hypophamine (α–hypophamine), oxytocin has the distinction of being the very first polypeptide hormone to be sequenced and synthesized biochemically by Vincent du Vigneaud et al. in 1953 during orgasm. This promotes the desire for intimacy between the two individuals. Daniel Maguire says in his article Sex and the Sacred:

"It used to be said animal humanum post coitum triste, humans after love-making are sad. 'A pity beyond all telling is hid in the heart of love,' said the poet Yeats. That can happen. Sex awakens hopes for intimacy and the priceless gift of mutual trust."^[8]

It would follow that one key purpose of sexual intimacy is to build a lasting bond between two people. According to the Dalai Lama, contemporary Western culture falsely holds that deep intimacy between individuals is not possible outside of romantic or marital attachments. Deep relational intimacy is possible and appropriate between all individuals regardless of status. In light of this, the Dalai Lama's views, and Maslow's hierarchy, all indicate an underlying biological purpose of life to diligently build and retain intimate bonds with other people, either genetically or otherwise, with the goal of passing on information through genes or ideas memes A meme is a unit of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. (The etymology of the term relates to the Greek word μιμητισμός ([mɪmetɪsmos]) for "something imitated".) Supporters of the concept regard memes as.

Life stances and purpose

The purpose in life has different explanations from different life stances A person's life stance or lifestance is their relation with what they accept as being of ultimate importance, the presuppositions and theory of this, and the commitments and practice of working it out in living. It may differ substantially within the communities of each life stance, but the examples below are the purposes that are generally accepted as the main for each life stance.

Teleology

Purpose is similar to teleology, the idea that a final goal is implicit in all living organisms. Until the modern age, philosophy followed Aristotle's and Plato's depiction of a teleological cosmos in which all things had a final purpose (namely, to realize their implicit perfection). Perhaps most^[who?] modern philosophers of science have reversed the idea of purpose inherent in nature; they do not consider an eye explicable as being "in order to see"; instead, cause-and-effect processes are credited with bringing about the eye organ, which allows us to see.^{[citation needed]} Though this latter definition is also included in the definition of the word purpose. The difference, for some philosophers is between a cause as pushing from behind (movements of billiard balls) and a cause as pulling from within (movement of a growing plant). With teleology (purpose) matter is fulfilling some aim from within^{[citation needed]}.

Non-philosophers' views

• One particular religious point of view on purpose is expounded in the best-selling book The Purpose Driven Life.

• Nikos Mourkogiannis argues in his book Purpose: The Starting point of great companies that purpose is crucial to a firm’s success: it is the primary source of achievement and reveals the underlying human dynamics of any human activity. He starts with a discussion of purpose, what it is, and what it is not, and also identifies four possible sources of energy for purpose, four sets of moral ideas that provide the basis for action. The second part of the book contains great stories of purpose, illustrating each of these four ideas. The third part explores the connection between purpose and the four attributes of greatness – morale, innovation, competitive advantage and leadership. The author then details how to develop purpose and put it into action and also discusses four purpose driven companies.

• The Broadway play Avenue Q describes purpose as helping others, especially in "The Money Song", which has the line "When you help others, you can't help helping yourself."

See also

• Function (biology) (often informally called 'purpose', but a very different concept; compare design and designoid)
• Archeo-purpose
• Meaning of life
• Value (personal and cultural)
• Telesis
• Intention
• Goal setting

External links

• Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Causation in the Seventeenth Century: Final Causes
• The One Question Articles, exercises and tests on finding purpose in life.
• Development of awareness Evolution is the purpose of life.
• The Sacred Path, Joyful Journey This model links the discovery of one's life purpose, the creation of personal vision (expectations about the future), and daily living behaviors together into one single model of purpose, meaning, and optimism.

References

1. ^ "purpose." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 02 Oct. 2009.
2. ^ purpose, Online Etymological Dictionary, http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=purpose
3. ^ pose, Online Etymological Dictionary, http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pose
4. ^ Dan Millman, The Life Purpose App, WisdomTitles.com, http://www.lifepurposeapp.com
5. ^ Richard Dawkins (video), Richard Dawkins: The universe is queerer than we can suppose, TED conferences, http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/richard_dawkins_on_our_queer_universe.html
6. ^ Rick Warren (video), Rick Warren: Living a life of purpose, TED conferences, http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/rick_warren_on_a_life_of_purpose.html
7. ^ Dan Dennet (video), Dan Dennett: A secular, scientific rebuttal to Rick Warren, TED conferences, http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/dan_dennett_s_response_to_rick_warren.html
8. ^ Daniel C. Maguire (Fall 2004), Sex and the Sacred, Cross Currents (Association for Religion & Intellectual Life), http://www.crosscurrents.org/Maguire0304.htm, retrieved 2009-04-11
9. ^ Dan Cohn-Sherbok (2003), Judaism: History, Belief, and Practice, Routledge, pp. 512, ISBN 0415236614
10. ^ Abraham Joshua Heschel (2005), Heavenly Torah: As Refracted Through the Generations, Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 0826408028
11. ^ Wilfred Shuchat (2006), The Garden of Eden & the Struggle to Be Human: According to the Midrash Rabbah, Devora Publishing, pp. 584, ISBN 1932687319
12. ^ The Westminster Confession of Faith

Categories: Philosophical terminology | Personal life | Planning | Intention | Philosophy of life

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