Meaning Of Life Essay

1237 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Argument essay meaning of life

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.

Show More
Related

  • Concerning Thomas Nagel and Permanent Death

    732 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the beginning of Death, Nagel presented the question of whether it is a bad thing to die. He furnished two positions on the subject. The first position is that life is all one possesses and to lose life is the greatest loss one can encounter. The second position is that death is a blank, not an unimaginable condition, that has no positive or negative value whatsoever. Stating his aim to be considering whether death is in itself an evil, Nagel clarified that the state of being dead, or nonexistent, is not in itself evil for several reasons. First, death is not an evil that one is able to accumulate more of. A person cannot receive a larger portion of death no matter how long they have been in that state. Secondly, one would not regard temporary life suspension as harmful. In the case of long-term suspended animation or freezing, one can view this as a continuation of their present life. Thirdly, few people regard the long period of time before their birth as a misfortune. From these points, Nagel concluded that humanity does not object to death because it involves indeterminable periods of nonexistence. He then proposed that if death is an evil at all, it can only be because of what it deprives us of, since it has no positive features. He did not, however, agree with the idea that death is bad because it brings an end to all the good things in life. Nagel formulated that if all good and bad life experiences were removed, what i...

    Read More

  • Summary Of Susan Wolf The Meanings Of Lives

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    Susan Wolf, born in 1952, is widely considered one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th and 21st century. One of Wolf’s most renowned works is The meanings of Lives, which drew a lot of attention in the philosophical world for a number of questions that arose from it. Arguably her most widely debated and questioned assertion in The meanings of Lives is “If you care about yourself you’re living as if you’re the center of the universe, which is false.” This however I don’t not believe to be true. Every human being, no matter how successful or unsuccessful, has the right to care for them sleeves and not believe they are the center of the universe while doing so.

    Read More

  • The Meaningless Life of Grendel in John Gardner's Grendel

    2577 Words  | 6 Pages

    "People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive...." Joseph Campbell made this comment on the search for meaning common to every man's life. His statement implies that what we seem bent on finding is that higher spark for which we would all be willing to live or die; we look for some key equation through which we might tie all of the experiences of our life and feel the satisfaction of action toward a goal, rather than the emptiness which sometimes consumes the activities of our existence. He states, however, that we will never find some great pure meaning behind everything, because there is none. What there is to be found, however, is the life itself. We seek to find meaning so that emptiness will not pervade our every thought, our every deed, with the coldness of reality as the unemotional eye chooses to see it. Without color, without joy, without future, reality untouched by hope is an icy thing to view; we have no desire to see it that way. We forget, however, that the higher meaning might be found in existence itself. The joy of life and the experience of living are what make up true meaning, as the swirl of atoms guided by chaotic chance in which we find our existence has no meaning outside itself.

    Read More

  • Joyas Voladoras Analysis

    455 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the text “Joyas Voladoras” by Brian Doyle, he explains the meaning of life. Doyle infers that all hearts, minds, and souls are different. Doyle’s message is that people should be prepared that life will throw things at them that will make them somber or broken, but eventually everybody in our world will have to have to accept life and live life to the fullest.

    Read More

  • Love And Happiness And Sigmund Freud's Theory Of Happiness

    1972 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Civilization and Its Discontents (Ch. 2), Sigmund Freud argues that happiness is routed in two basic ideas: the first having to do with no pain and the other having to do with pleasure. Along with his idea of what the root of happiness is, he also describes multiple ways this happiness can be attained. Freud states that love and beauty are both means of achieving happiness. Although love and beauty cannot completely prevent all worldly suffering, they both offer a powerful explanation that can help an individual determine the true meaning of their life. In this presentation, we will argue that this argument succeeds because true happiness is difficult to come by in this life, but things such as love and beauty provide a basis for passionate strife in an individual, while also causing an intoxicating kind of sensation that may lead to a definite meaning to Earthly existence for a human being.

    Read More

  • Who Is Man By Abraham J. Heschel

    1217 Words  | 3 Pages

    In his work, Who is Man, Abraham J. Heschel embarks on a philosophical and theological inquiry into the nature and role of man. Through analysis of the meaning of being human, Heschel determines eight essential traits of man. Heschel believes that the eight qualities of preciousness, uniqueness, nonfinality, process and events, solitude and solidarity, reciprocity, and sanctity constitute the image of man that defines a human being. Yet Heschel’s eight qualities do not reflect the essential human quality of the realization of mortality. The modes of uniqueness and opportunity, with the additional singular human quality of the realization of mortality, are the most constitutive of human life as uniqueness reflects the fundamental nature of humanity,

    Read More

  • Experience Machine Nozick Analysis

    751 Words  | 2 Pages

    We are more than just a receptacle that holds a collection of good emotions and pleasures. We are more than just a “happy” internal life. If happiness is the only thing that matters, what are we to be happy? Nozick asks, “How could the most important thing about our life be what it contains, though? What makes the felt experiences of pleasure or happiness more important than what we ourselves are like?” (Mulnix). It is by thinking about the Experience Machine, and wondering what it would be like to live an eternal, positive internal life, that we realize we would not want to spend our lives connected to the Experience Machine. We realize that there is more to life that we value than just our experiences. Perhaps we want to make a change in our lives, or in the lives of others. Perhaps we want to impact the world in some way. I agree with Nozick and find that it is quite reasonable to believe we, as human beings, want more out of life than just

    Read More

  • Meaning Of Life In Ayer And Nagel's Absurdity

    517 Words  | 2 Pages

    When reading over both Ayer and Nagel pieces addressing the meaning of life it was clear to see some similarity’s and some differences in-between the two. As I was addressing the question of what is the meaning of life, I would argue that saying there is a meaning of life is bizarre. I would argue that there is no real cause and effect on life, if the action didn’t affect anyone in the first place there is no reason it will affect anyone later in life. A question that could be made up to better understand the answer would be, “what do we mean when we say life is absurd and how can we change that?”

    Read More

  • Healing and Faith: A Journey Towards Wholeness

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    What is the best thing you can do for one another? I have always thought it is to lead them to Christ; the second best thing you could do is heal them. With either action, you are helping to make another person whole. The gift of life is precious and finite; so imagine what goes into making the people- apart from God- who hold it. There is a reason physicians go through years of education, internships, residencies, and fellowships. If it was easy, anyone could become one. But not everyone does, because it takes a special calling.

    Read More

  • Islam: Prophet Muhammad ibn Abdallah

    995 Words  | 2 Pages

    Davies-Stofka, Beth. "Human Nature and the Purpose of Existence." Patheos Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2013. .

    Read More

  • Virtue Ethics: Aristotle Vs. Al’ Ghazili

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    What is the purpose of life? This is a question that has been argued since the beginning of time. Countless honorable and wise men have pondered and made conclusions about what our true purpose is in life. Aristotle and al’Ghazili are two philosophers that studied this purpose of life for almost all of their human existence. Their two proposals about the purpose of life and the ethics that are required to accomplish this purpose share some common ideas, while also having serious contrasts.

    Read More

  • Value of Life Essay

    909 Words  | 2 Pages

    Human life is full of meaning. As humans, we assign value to many things. However, what happens when we assign a specific value to a human life? This is the issue being presented in the article, “What is a Life Worth,” by Amanda Ripley. The government is determining a monetary value to a human life, and it does not appeal to the masses. There are many problems with the cold calculation, and most people cannot see the other side of the numbers. The economic value of a human life is calculated based on the income the person was receiving, but when the check is given to a loved one of a small amount, the compensation is misinterpreted as an overall value of the human life. The true value of a human life should not be combined with the monetary value that is determined by the government, or the value of life would be worth very little.

    Read More

  • What Is The Meaning Of Life Essay

    2295 Words  | 5 Pages

    The first theory, the meaning of life is happiness. Many theories try to convey life requires happiness, however this is untrue. Happiness can take many forms and can be achieved through objects or feelings. Also, people can change what makes them happy every day, so the happiness that may be one’s meaning to life may change throughout the year. Furthermore, people are not content, so happiness isn’t what they particularly want. Maybe they want to be financially stable or find closure with a family member who passed. Life isn’t always happy, so why should that be the meaning to life? Lastly, being happy and making that the meaning to life doesn’t ideally go together. An article states, “Feeling happy was strongly correlated with seeing life as easy, pleasant, and free from difficult or troubling events. However, none of these things were correlated with a greater sense of meaning” (Grewal). The quote emphasizes how a meaning to life is different from feeling happy. There are many actions that make up happiness, but there is only one meaning to life. People use happiness as a tool to find their meaning in life, but it’s not the

    Read More

  • Defining A Meaningful Life Essay: What Makes A Meaningful Life

    718 Words  | 2 Pages

    What makes a meaningful life? It varies for each person as we are all very unique and different from one another. Even the definition of what is meaningful will vary as it may be making an imprint/significance in their lifetime or a happy life is enough to be meaningful. Though there is so much variation among the definition, there are some essentials that could relate across the board. The recipe to having a meaningful life may contain the ingredients of: happiness, fulfillment, authenticity, living more fully in the present and having a sense of purpose.

    Read More

  • Death In Life Essay

    915 Words  | 2 Pages

    Death is something that causes fear in many peoples lives. People will typically try to avoid the conversation of death at all cost. The word itself tends to freak people out. The thought of death is far beyond any living person’s grasp. When people that are living think about the concept of death, their minds go to many different places. Death is a thing that causes pain in peoples lives, but can also be a blessing.

    Read More

More about Meaning Of Life Essay

Open Document