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True or False?

randombanana
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Posted 04/11/03 - 08:42 AM:	#1
In a world, time and place where billions of things happen everyday I find myself constantly asking myself one question, does everything happen for a reason, if so, why?

Ripper
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Posted 04/11/03 - 08:51 AM:	#2
Tbh i'd have 2 say no, but not with a very philosophical reason. Only that i dont believe there is nothing objective of us to creat e a reason, and thus the world is what we make of it. we make our own reason so to speak

Vecsus
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Posted 04/11/03 - 09:09 AM:	#3
hard to say true or false to a yes-or-no question. I think some things happen for a reason. The reason my car started this morning was because i turned the key (which of course initiated a series of actions that actually started the vehicle). There was a large branch lying in my driveway from a storm last night. Was it there for any specific reason? No, I don't think it landed there with the intent to make me get out of my car to remove it. Sometimes things just happen. They might have causes but not necessarily reasons.

teamaster
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Posted 04/11/03 - 11:45 AM:	#4
I love this philosophical/quasi religious supporting argument. Of course everything happens for a reason. How? Why?

teamaster
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Posted 04/11/03 - 11:59 AM:	#5
I love this philosophical/quasi religious supporting argument. Of course everything happens for a reason. How? Why? If a car hits yours in an intersection, what is the reason for it? Divine providence? Did a creator decree that your insurance bills go up? Is it retribution for some previous sin? Are there spirits who caused the other driver to become blinded to your car? Were those "spirits" punishing the other driver, or you? Or both? I say NO! The reason is usually nothing more than the other driver wanted to hear a better radio station and was not paying attention. Why does there need to be a deeper reason? A child gets hit by a car......Divine providence? Or the lack of supervision by the parent? Or the inattention of the driver? Your girlfriend breaks up with you.......Were you "never meant to be together"? Or is it simply clashing personalities? You are fired from your job......Divine decree that you suffer financially? Or were you too lazy at work? Or did the company just simple need to cut overhead? I never understood why people must look for "meaning" in any circumstance, looking for that mysterious "reason" as to why things happen. I guess it is my long standing complaint about religion, we assign responsibility to a phantom force, a "protector" who gives us the power of choice, but then lays down a plan that cannot be changed. We commit and endure the worst of human nature, meanwhile alleviating ourselves from the responsibilities of our own actions by assigning them to the will of an invisible man who lives in the clouds. The reasons for anything negative in our lives usually needs no more definitions than the actions we take ourselves. You are in control of your own life half the time, the other half, we are at the mercy of how other people control their own.

onenat
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Posted 04/11/03 - 12:59 PM:	#6
I think most things in life DO occur for a reason. The words in this sentence did not create themselves, for example; I typed them. It's part of human nature to ascertain why things occur.

leucrotta
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Posted 04/11/03 - 01:13 PM:	#7
of course there is a reason for everthing, previous events that cause things to turn out as they do, but that doesn't mean everthing that happens is building towards something or has meaning. of course, it doesn't mean that things that happen aren't leading up to something else. but if they are, what could they possibly be leading up to or mean on any level independent of our own thinking? none, i believe.
if no body speaks of remarkable things...

TecnoTut
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Posted 04/11/03 - 01:14 PM:	#8
No. There's no reason for anything although there is a cause for everything. Probably the two most confused and equivocated terms are 'reason' and 'cause'. For example, if I drop a hammer, there is a cause why it dropped (physical laws such as gravity etc., etc.). But there's no reason why it went down. It's possible it could have went up because of gravity .
He that dies pays all debts - Shakespeare's Stephano from The Tempest Truth is its own measure - Spinoza, Ethics IIp43s Those who deny [Aristotle's] first principle should be flogged or burned until they admit that it is not the same thing to be burned and not burned, or whipped and not whipped. - Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

Brad
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Posted 04/11/03 - 01:31 PM:	#9
TT, But certainly there are reasons, or at least justifications, for what we do.

Vecsus
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Posted 04/12/03 - 04:37 AM:	#10
i think some people are confusing reason and intent. The reason this words are appearing on the screen is because i intend to say something. For what intent did a branch fall onto my driveway? I know what the causes were but did that branch have a desired outcome of its actions? No.

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