World Purpose and Life Purpose 175construct organisms according to the same formula. This
false concept of purpose is disappearing from the sciences
only very gradually. To this day, it still works quite a bit
of mischief in philosophy, where the question is raised as
to the extra-worldly purpose of the world, of the extra-hu-
man destiny (and consequently also the purpose) of human
beings, and so forth.
Monism rejects the concept of purpose in all spheres—
with the single exception of human action. It looks for
laws of nature, but not purposes of nature.Purposes of
nature, like imperceptible forces (pp.114 ff.), are arbi-
trary assumptions. From the standpoint of monism, pur-
poses of life, if not set by humans for themselves, are
likewise unjustified assumptions. Only what a human be-
ing has made purposeful is purposeful, for it is only
through the realization of an idea that purposefulness aris-
es. But the idea becomes effective in a realistic sense only
in human beings. Therefore human life has only the pur-
pose and direction that human beings give it. To the ques-
tion: What kind of task do human beings have in life?
Monism can answer only: the one that they set for them-
selves. My mission in the world is not predetermined but,
at each moment, it is the one I choose for myself. I do not
enter my life’s path with fixed marching orders.
Ideas are realized purposefully only through human be-
ings. It is therefore invalid to speak of the embodiment of
ideas through history. From a monistic point of view,
such phrases as, “History is the evolution of human be-
ings toward freedom,” or “the realization of the moral
world order” and so forth, are untenable.