Meaning Of Life Essay

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What is the meaning of life? What is the point of living if we all eventually die? Philosophers have come up with many different theories regarding this subject. However, there remains a lack of any agreed upon theory for the meaning of life. Thomas Nagel and Harry Frankfurt are two philosophers who have offered their opinions on this issue. In his book called What Does it All Mean?, Nagel distinguishes between meaning within a life and the meaning of life as a whole. The differences between the two create a discrepancy that does not provide a clear conclusion which attributes meaning to our lives. On the other hand, in his book called The Reasons of Love, Frankfurt argues that love is the key to a meaningful life. He describes the idea of self-love, the purest form of love that commits us to finding meaning in our lives. This paper discusses Nagel’s distinction between the two types of meaningfulness, Frankfurt’s analysis of the love-meaning connection, and my argument that Frankfurt’s point of view addresses Nagel’s meaning within a life but not meaning of life as a whole. Then, the paper concludes with my belief that the search for the meaning of life is the meaning of life itself. Nagel looks at life from two perspectives—internal and external. In his opinion, life is only meaningful from an internal subjective standpoint in which we can explain the reasons behind what we do in life. For instance, we can say that we go to school to get smarter, or we apply for jobs to earn more money for the family. In this way, we can attribute meaning to most of the everyday events that occur in our lives. Nagel categorizes this as meaning within a life because we internally and subjectively assign meaning to the activities in our lives. H... ... middle of paper ... ...ng it right now. The journey is the destination. Ultimately, Nagel’s, Frankfurt’s, and my theory are just three of many possible theories regarding the meaning of life. Neither Nagel’s explanation of the contradiction between meaning within a life and meaning of life as a whole, Frankfurt’s idea that love functions to make lives meaningful, nor my argument that the search for the meaning of life is the meaning itself are universally accepted views. Open-ended problems such as this one about the meaning of life are rooted in the subject of philosophy, since there is often no right answer. Philosophy allows people to come up with a variety of theories and opinions that attempts to solve certain philosophical issues. Therefore, the debate on what the meaning of life really is will continue in the future as others take their turns in searching for the meaning of life.

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