THE MEANING OF LIFE

'Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and choice, seems to aim at some good; accordingly, the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim.'(EN 1094a 1-3)Aristotle
Is there an obvious candidate for the final good for human beings?

According to Christopher Shields a philosopher,the final good and ultimate reason for all our action is simply our happiness. We all wish to be happy. We wish happiness for its own sake, and not for the sake of anything beyond it, we pursue other things for the sake of happiness; happiness by itself, suffices to make our lives good. This is why, in fact, we wish for happiness above all else. Moreover, this is why the question 'yes, but why do you want to be happy' is otiose. In the domain of purposive behavior why questions come to an end with happiness.

What is it though, that we desire? Though we all agree that we seek happiness, it turns out that our agreement obscures important forms of disagreement because we turn out to disagree about the nature of happiness. When queried some of us will say that happiness consists in warm and fuzzy self-regard; others suppose that happiness is fame; others wealth; and many more are confident that happiness is pleasure.
Ayn Rand, another philosopher, came up with a philosophy she named objectivism and described it as a philosophy for living on earth. Objectivism, according to her is an integrated system of thought that defines the abstract principles by which a man must think and act if he is to live the life that is proper to a man. She argues that reason is mans only means of knowledge, his basic means of survival.

 Reason is mans only proper judge of values and his only proper guide to action. Man is an end in himself, not a means to the end of others, he must live for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others or others to himself; he must work for his rational interest, with the achievement of his own happiness as the highest moral of his life.

Rand seems to reject any form of altruism- the claim that morality consists in living for others or society. No matter how much we may dedicate ourselves to the service of others we are never truly appreciated and whatever appreciation we get is in itself a cold demand for more. We hope such service will bring us some sense of self achievement but in the end it erodes our sense of happiness. It is at this point that we begin to use our dedication to others as a means of domination. We then realize that what we are doing in essence is to try and find happiness and that we should have been focused on that initially.

In order for man to achieve happiness he must live in his head. Creating what he wants first in his head and then working to realize it. Trying to copy others only leads to self destruction. The government does not build infrastructure for the people, but to create opportunities to achieve the selfish goals of each of the individual leaders in such a government. That is why they never concentrate on what does not serve their interests. May be that is what man was made to be. Looking out for himself first and then the rest will fall into place. If everybody builds a road to their home and everywhere else they want to go, then we will never lack good roads and that is in the interest of everyone.

 However, remember that the purpose of philosophy is not to help men find the meaning of life, but to show them that there is none and that the duty of thinkers is not to explain, but to demonstrate that nothing can be explained.