Different Approaches to the Meaning of Life Essay

The school principall(a)and what is the meaning of behavior? is often enured as a paradigmatic head in the clouds sort of philosophical promontory that to a greater extent applicative people shouldnt have the time for, but its actually a foreland of tremendous practical importance. Further, it is a question to which to the highest degree people, in time those who claim to have no liaison in such questions, solving inexplicitly with the blend ins they chose to transcend. So if you dont extremity to bother with such questions, and honourable motive to enjoy yourself, you argon effectively reflection that enjoyment is the ultimate point of man sprightliness.If you snuff it your animation pursuing bingle of, say, m nonpareily, power, pleasure, or religious understanding, then you implicitly commit yourself to such organizing formulas representing what is palpablely most-valuable in brio. The choices we consume in our lives are often governed by such implicit conceptions of what is most classical to us, and while it may be that, say, being happy is the most important thing, it may present a certain amount of reflection on these larger questions to be uprise clear astir(predicate) this.Some office think that sentiment about questions same(p) the meaning of behavior is itself the most important thing for us to do, but even if we dont, we merchantman still see that it is very important to spend at least around time doing, since such organizing principles are likewise important for us to accept without reflecting on them at all. Further, if at that place really is a point or meaning to our lives, and we live our lives according to a diverse principle (say if we live for enjoyment when serving deity is the real purpose of spirittime, or (conversely) if we spend our lives in prayer when enjoying dungeon is its real purpose) then we may have literally wasted our lives.Since that is something we shouldnt want to do, it seems th at, if intent does have a purpose, we would do vigorous to know what it is. On the other hand, if life doesnt have a purpose, it baron be good to know that preferably than spending it serving some illusive ideal, though this latter point is more controversial. If life did have no meaning, and in that respect was no point to anything we did, then it might seem stop not to go over this topic at all, since looking in to it would only cause us distress.(Though if life really were meaningless, the fact that we were so mad would not really matter. ) 2. Four Approaches to the question of lifes meaning. While the authors cover in the class picture many an(prenominal) varied answers to the question of what the meaning of life is, and some dont give a clear answer to it at all, they all fall into virtuoso of iv groups when it comes to thinking about that kind of answer the questions should have. That is to say, there are four different approaches to the question What is it that experiences the meaning of our lives? 1 I. root word Objectivists.This first group (which includes Plato, Epictetus, Schopenhauer, as intimately as pack and Tolstoy in their post-crisis periods) micturate what really matters to be determined by factors that are completely independent of us (be it God, Reason, constitution, the Form of the Good or just the way things are). Its our state to live up to these standards, but there is no sense in which these standards come from us. (Schopenhauer, while he denies that God exists, has a touch of this when he insists that a life of intellect just is intentionly better (and not just happier) than a life of passion and allowing).This might, of course, seem to make lifes purpose too contradictory from our actual lives, which might lead peerless to become iodine of the II. Theorists of Human Nature In this second group we bottom of the inning include Aristotle, Marx and Epicurus. Like the foot objectivists they condense the purpose of life to be something given(p), that is, its an objective fact that we arent at liberty to change, but unlike the radical objectivists, they think that this fact is worlded in objective facts about our own natures.Our shared humane nature is what determines what is the best life for all of us. Still, it may be hard to tolerate this sort of view unless one were already a radical objectivist, since without such an overarching framework, its much harder to think of humans as having a such a mulish essence or nature, which might lead one to become one of the III. Constructivists This thirdly group (which includes Nietzsche, Sartre, Hare, and Nagel (from his more subjective perspective)) ground the purpose of our lives in our own drives, desires and wants.However, unlike the theorists of human nature, they dont take such drives to be objective in the sense of being independent of our attitudes towards them. For these philosophers, the drives and so on that ground the purpose o f our lives throne change, and are (to a certain extent) under our (not unceasingly conscious) control. Because of this, the meanings of our lives, such as they are, are things that we make.Unfortunately, one might doubt that transient creatures like ourselves are up to the task of fashioning such meanings, in which case one might become one of the IV. Nihilists This cultivation group (which includes Camus, Nagel (from his more objective perspective) and James & Tolstoy (when they were in crisis mode)) agree with the constructivists that there are no objective facts which could determine a purpose to our lives, but similarly believe that something as ephemeral as our passing desires and drives is not enough to make a life really meaningful.Consequently, in the absence of any objective meaning, life must ultimately have no meaning at all, and there is, ultimately, no point in doing anything. This final placement is not a happy one to be in, and its perhaps not surprise that James and Tolstoy both bounce from 4 back to 1 when the prospect of living with 4 becomes too bleak.Still, while it can seem natural to slip from 1 to 2, from 2 to 3 and from 3 to 4, and 4 to despair, lots of people have argued that the slip ones mind can be stopped at various points along the way. 1 As a result, every point on the spectrum has it supporters, though no position on it seems completely stable, which is why the question will probably always continue to be debated. 1 H a r e , f o r in s ta n c e , c a n b e u n d e r s to o d a s a r g u in g th a t th e th r o u g h th a t 3 le a d s to 4 c o m e s f r o m a c o n f u s io n a b o u t w h a t it is to m a tte r .