6. The whole point of knowledge is to produce both meaning and purpose in our personal lives.

To what extend do you agree with this statement?

Name:

Shelly Clemente

Candidate Number:

000428-0011

Course:

Theory of Knowledge

Date:

February 19, 2015

Teacher:

Ms. Kukulowicz

Word Count:

1,513

The whole point of knowledge is to produce both meaning and purpose in our personal
lives. To what extend do you agree with this statement? To effectively answer that question,
we must first differentiate between meaning and purpose in life and define knowledge. Firstly,
knowledge is justified true belief (Organization, 2013). The meaning of life can be defined as
the reason for the creation of ones life, whereas the purpose of life can be defined as an
individuals mission during their life. Ones purpose and meaning in life may be mainly based
on personal knowledge, the gained knowledge through experience and personal involvement
(Organization, 2013). By examining the human sciences and religious knowledge systems,
knowledge might produce our meaning and purpose in life. When examining this statement
through both areas of knowledge, which base their knowledge on different methodologies and
have different purposes, knowledge can play either a major or minor role in defining our
meaning and purpose in life.

To answer how the whole point of knowledge of religious knowledge systems is to

produce meaning and purpose in our personal lives and to effectively understand the knowledge
involved, I must first determine the purpose of religion. Religious systems try to explain what is
unexplainable by scientific fact to provide a source of hope and to unite society through a
common goal. Thus a persons purpose and meaning in life can be to obey the teachings of their
religion, often using gained knowledge based on written works associated with their religion.
This is seen in Judaism where the goal of Jewish life is to embody the Torah, the living word of
the living God (Eron, 2014). The purpose of the Jewish people is found through gaining
knowledge from the Torah. The whole point of them acquiring knowledge is to better embody
the Torah. Knowing exactly what God expects of them is the purpose of learning more about the

Torah and Judaism. When they gain more knowledge and understanding of the Torah, they are
able to more fully understand their lifes purpose and fulfill it. This shows that in religious
knowledge systems the whole point of knowledge, communicated through religious teachings, is
to find ones meaning and purpose in life.

On the contrary, there are religions that do not expect their followers to abide by strict
traditions or conform to set standards of beliefs. Instead, they encourage free will and
independent thought. For example, Anabaptists, Christians of the Radical Reformation of 16th
century Europe, believed in the freedom of religion, separation of church and state, pacifism and
nonconformity to the world (Wikipedia, 2014). In Anabaptism, freedom is given to the
followers, allowing them to think for themselves and find their own lifes purpose. By the
absence of rules and conformity, the followers are free to learn, explore and gain knowledge
from various sources and apply their knowledge in the daily lives. As a result, they can use their
gained knowledge to create meaning and purpose in their lives. Hence religions, such as
Anabaptism, demonstrate that religion may lead to the discovery of ones purpose and meaning
in life, but it is ultimately ones personal experiences and beliefs that determine them, not the
knowledge gained through religious teachings.

The human sciences have different aims than religious systems. To explain, understand
and predict human behaviour is the main goal of the human sciences (Dunn, 2013). In the
human sciences, according to some philosophies, human meaning and purpose arises out of the
fear of something, leading us to find a purpose in our lives to escape that fear. The knowledge
and fear of something can motivate one to find values that offer some kind of immortality by

providing the sense that they are part of something greater that will ultimately outlive them. For
example, according to the Terror Management Theory, human meaning is derived from a
fundamental fear of death, and values are selected when they allow us to escape the mental
reminder of death (Strichow, 2013). The theory essentially says that since we know that we will
die eventually, we want to find a meaning and purpose in our lives to forget the inevitability of
death. The whole point of knowing that we are going to die gives us life, and therefore allows us
to discover our passions, goals and what we want to be notable for when we finally die. This
shows that through fear, caused by the knowledge of the inevitability of death, one may find their
meaning and purpose in life by finding ways to escape that fear.

On the other hand, other philosophies in the human sciences state that the meaning of life
is to increase ones happiness on Earth because there is no afterlife and therefore no chance at
eternal happiness. The knowledge and belief of no immortality frees us from the fear of death,
frees us from the fear of eternal punishment in places such as Hell and the Underworld and lets
us live for the physical and emotional pleasures in life. For example, Epicureanism denies the
existence of eternal life and states that the soul lives only as long as the physical body (Russell,
1946). Therefore, since there is no life after death, there is no need to fear death. Epicureans
have a carpe diem approach to life since they do not believe in the afterlife. Despite their
belief that there is no afterlife and are not certain of its existence, they are still able to create
meaning and purpose in their lives, since the belief in the afterlife is one way to determine ones
meaning and purpose in life but is not limited to it. Their purpose and meaning in life is to seize
the day because they will not have second chances after death. This example shows that when
we believe that something does not exist, but do not know if it actually exists, we can still have
meaning and purpose in our personal lives. In the case of Epicureanism, it is the lack of

knowledge of the existence of the afterlife that motivates us to live in the moment, giving us
purpose and meaning in our lives.

According to some philosophies, the purpose of life is living a life of goodness, free of
materialistic and conventional desires. In these philosophies, it is believed that in order to live a
happy life one must free oneself from their materialistic values. For example, according to
Cynicism, the purpose of life is to live naturally as humans, master ones mental attitude and to
reject conventional desires for wealth, power, sex, and fame (Piering, 1995).

Human nature

and how to master ones material and physical urges is the knowledge associated with Cynicism.
According to this philosophy, once you can figure that out and apply it, you are fulfilling your
purpose in life. The whole point of knowledge in Cynicism is to live by your lifes purpose,
which can only be done by understanding and knowing human nature and how to control your
mind. In this example, knowing what is conventional and rejecting it allows one to achieve
happiness and to live according to their purpose and meaning in life.

The purpose of life is to gratify ones body. This statement contrasts to the previous
example and means that knowing our physical and bodily desires gives us a purpose in life: to
fulfill those desires. This can be seen in Cyrenaicism, a hedonistic philosophical view of the
purpose of life (Wikipedia, 2014). In Cyrenaicism, the knowledge considered is the personal
knowledge of what satisfies ones physical desires. The goal of this philosophical view is to
maximize pleasure. The whole point of knowing what your body wants and enjoys is to fulfill
those desires. In turn, that creates ones meaning and purpose in life because once you know
what your body wants, your purpose is to satisfy it, according to Cyrenaicism. This shows that

the whole point of the knowledge of our bodily desires is to satisfy them and maximize our
pleasure. The purpose and meaning in our lives then come from the knowledge of our bodily
desires and in turn satisfying them and maximizing our pleasure by doing so.

Having explored the point of knowledge in both religious systems and the human
sciences, it can be seen that knowledge is a key contributor in producing our meaning and
purpose in life. The knowledge that contributes to our meaning and purpose may be personal or
it may be shared, both of which are found in religion and the human sciences. Through the
examination of the statement: The whole point of knowledge is to produce both meaning and
purpose in our personal lives, I agree that knowledge does produce meaning and purpose in our
personal lives, however depending on ones definition of their meaning and purpose in life, the
role of knowledge may be major or minor in that aspect. Therefore, I do not agree the whole
point of knowledge is produce meaning and purpose. Instead, knowledge is ultimately more of a
basic foundation on which one can define their meaning and purpose in life upon and bend that
knowledge as they see fit to match their personal philosophy or faith.

Bibliography
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Knowledge: http://www.theoryofknowledge.net/areas-of-knowledge/the-humansciences/what-are-the-aims-of-the-human-sciences/
Eron, R. L. (2014). The Goal of Life. Retrieved from http://www.jewishrecon.org/:
http://www.jewishrecon.org/resource/goal-life
Organization, I. B. (2013, March). Theory of knowledge guide. Retrieved from
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Wikipedia. (2014, October 17). Anabaptists. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabaptists
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynicism_(philosophy)

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