Purpose of Human Action

  • Epicureans – They held that humankind’s happiness consists in obtaining pleasure that life can offer, thereby ultimate purpose of human action is pleasure.
  • Stoics – They claimed that the ultimate purpose of human action is to cultivate the human mind or acquire knowledge.
  • Materialism – They maintain that people’s happiness consists in acquiring material goods, thus the acquisition of wealth is or should be the ultimate purpose of human action.
  • Humanism – They hold that the ultimate end of human action is in achieving prosperity and progress for the human race.
  • Humanitarianism – They held that the ultimate end of human action is service – Be it service to humankind in general or to a nation, an organization or a group in particular.