Whether or not life has any purpose is a profoundly important question to answer. As conscious beings, the effect we have upon the world is dependent upon the choices we make and the actions we take. If life has a purpose, and yet we operate in ignorance of it, we run the risk of frustrating that purpose.
Those who believe that life has a purpose view the whole world fundamentally different from those who do not. Those who believe that life has a purpose believe that the universe is fundmamentally ordered. Those who believe there is no purpose believe that the universe is fundamentally chaotic. Observation can be used to support either view. When we look out into the cosmos, we see a universe of discrete objects - galaxies, stars, etc. Matter obeys a consistent set of laws. Everything has order. Yet entropy is a law that seems unbreakable, insisting that chaos constantly increases in the universe, never decreasing, thus guaranteeing an eventual fall into absolute chaos. What purpose could life have in a universe doomed for absolute chaos, and lifelessness? On the other hand, how could order currently exist if entropy was the whole of the law? The existence of order in the universe implies a purposeful creation. And if the universe has order and purpose, then so must self-aware life, arguably the most significant thing in existence.
Among other reasons, I must assume that life has a purpose, because if it does not, ther is no reason for philosophy or reason, or anything at all.
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