Does Life Have Meaning?

- Calmus claims that the “only truly serious philosophical problem… is suicide”
because “many people die because they judge that life is not worth living”
- Paradoxically, those things which (for some) makes life worth living--family,
freedom, love, etc.--are those things that people are willing to die for
- The “insignificance of human life… unconcern and uncaring impersonal coldness
of the universe” make “things seem to have no value” and “pointless”
- The question itself is meaningless because it cannot be answered through
observation
- Most people reject the idea that we can’t perceive or sense an answer; we turn to
different elements to try and make meaning of life

1. The Theistic Approach to Meaning

- One’s relationship with God gives meaning to life
- Human life has meaning because humans are part of a lager plan devised by
God
- All things in the universe have purpose and value
- Faith gives meaning and the possibility of life
- All religions give meaning to life by relating the individual to a divine reality that is
larger and more important than the individual
↳ Hindu rebirth and karma
↳ Buddhist and the great wheel of rebirth
↳ Christianity, Judaism, Islam and the afterlife
- This approach relies on a belief in God’s existence; something not everyone
possesses
- Irrelevant for those who don’t believe in a divine power
- Are humans just tools for a divine purpose? Does being a tool give your life
value?

2. Meaning and Human Progress

- This approach claims that the meaning of life is found in contributions in human
progress
- You must contribute to history’s movement towards a better and more perfect
world
- The individual must become part of this movement in their lifetime; scientific,
social, political
- Critics argue that we are no longer progressing towards a goal; in many ways,
we are declining (i.e. the environment); in some ways we have it as good as it
can be (i.e. liberal democracy)
- If we have reached the end of historical progress, we cannot find meaning in life
through progress

3. The Nihilistic Response to Meaning

- “Unable to find meaning in God or human progress, many philosophers have
argued that life has no meaning”
- Schopenhauer argues that “the life of the individual is a constant struggle” and
that “human life must be some kind of mistake”
- He argues that “boredom is a direct proof that existence is in itself valueless, for
boredom is nothing other than the sensation of the emptiness of existence”
- Is there is no longer a larger plan to contribute to, so we cannot find meaning in
progress
- Human life is “just an endless repetition of the same meaningless events that
came before”

4. Subjective Meaning in Life

- This philosophy rejects Nihilism and claims that the individual finds meaning in
life by choosing goals that give them direction; they value the achievement of
these goals
- Common goals: family, friends, religion, country, etc.
- The pleasure response to achieving goals is a primary source of happiness for
humans (google dopamine’s role in goal achievement/reward)
- Kierkegaard asserts that each person has a talent: political, artistic,
mathematical, writing, business, philosophical, etc.
- “Satisfaction in life, enjoyment, is sought in the unfolding of this talent…”; the
meaning of life is subjective to the individual
- Jean-Paul Sarte (an atheist) agreed that meaning in life is the result of choice; it
is our choice to commit ourselves to progress or God that makes them
meaningful and valuable
- One thing does not have more value than another thing until we choose to
commit ourselves to it
- Can we find meaning in our lives by choosing anything at all?
↳ would you feel like your life had meaning if you devoted yourself to collecting
sand into piles of 1000 grains?
- We have to devote ourselves to goals or causes that we feel have value and are
worth devoting ourselves to