Philosophers and the Meaning of Life
Mohit Mookim

13 June 2018

What's the meaning of life?

There have been moments in philosophy that placed a deal of emphasis on questions like this. We can think of French existentialists like Sartre and Camus that seem to be very sensitive to concerns about the futility of existence.

Currently, academic philosophers in the English speaking world are not prone to take this question seriously on its own terms. At least this is what Professor of Philosophy Kieran Setiya argues in this Aeon article.

Many philosophers nowadays think of the question as confused or misguided. Or they try to explain what individuals can do to make their lives meaningful. But that does not, for Setiya, offer the same existential solace as explaining what makes life itself valuable.

Why has this question been overlooked by contemporary Western philosophers, and how can we make any headway on this behemoth endeavor of finding an answer?

Check out Professor Setiya's article: https://aeon.co/ideas/philosophers-should-be-keener-to-talk-about-the-meaning-of-life

 

Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay 

Comments (2)

Harold G. Neuman's picture

Harold G. Neuman

Wednesday, June 13, 2018 -- 2:26 PM

I hope I am able to navigate

I hope I am able to navigate the CAPTCHA test for this one. It gets more difficult with the passing of time. I am not a robot, though I understand there are many. So, we'll see. The meaning of life has puzzled philosophers. And ordinary people. Whether or not life is meaningful is not so hard, as I have illustrated before this post. But, here it is, more succinctly put than in my previous ruminations, and reduced to something more quintessential than meaning, this being happiness. Now, you can ruminate all you wish, but here it is:
HAPPINESS IS KNOWING WHO YOU ARE; WHERE YOU ARE; AND, WHAT TO DO. This, my philosophical brethren, is equivalent to meaning, by any measure you choose to assign. Check it out, and go back to go, do not collect 200 dollars...

MJA's picture

MJA

Saturday, June 23, 2018 -- 8:45 PM

The meaning of life is to

The meaning of life is to live. =

 
 

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