Essay on A Reflection on the Meaning of Life from Three Perspectives

The meaning of life is to find the meaning of life. Is it not? We all go through each day trying to figure out which road out the infinite amount of paths will lead us in a better direction where happiness is prominent and society is flawless. However, not every single human being is going to fit on that narrow, one-lane highway to success. Bad choices, accidents, fate, family matters, society, temptation, anger, rage, addiction, and loss of hope can all be deciding factors in opting to choose that wrong path to self-destruction. The adverse thing is, once you've traveled so far down the road, you get so discouraged that you feel like you can never turn back or make up for the "lost time."

We all sit and wonder what’s the meaning of life. People can research and write novels about the topic, but we will never understand the real meaning until people experience life for themselves-until people feel like they’re experiencing the beauty of life. Every person has their own ideas of their needs, wants, and desires. But people don’t know what their needs, wants, or desires unless they go and discover what they love. Everyone has their own ways to share their views on the meaning of life-everyone is unique. If people walk around a shopping mall and ask each person what they believe the meaning of life is, this topic would receive different answers and views from each person. The answer from many people would be “just to live a happy life,” but is that all people have to say about the meaning of life?

Life, it might be argued, is the distinguishing feature of all organisms and may most usefully be thought of as involving various kinds of complex systems of organization providing individual organisms with the ability to make use of those energy sources available to them for both self maintenance and reproduction. Underlying this deceptively persuasive definition, however, lie those persistent traditional problems inherent in the search for an essential, distinctive substance characteristic of all forms of life. Additionally, as evolution theory makes clear, there is the problem of borderline instances, organisms of which it is not easy to say whether or not they may be defined as being alive. One such case

What is the meaning of life? According to Chris McCandless living free and not conforming to the natural way of life is the meaning to life, as shown in the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. Similar to Chris McCandless, Ralph Emerson believes that following your dreams and making your own trail is the meaning of life according to his short story “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Emerson. The purpose of man's existence is to avoid conformity and following one's own instincts and ideas.

What is the meaning of life? What gives life meaning? Philosophers have asked these questions for decades, and there still is not a solid answer to the question. This paper will analyze one modern philosopher’s take on the question: What gives life meaning? Susan Wolf is a modern moral philosopher and philosopher of action and mind. She attended two Ivy League institutions for her undergraduate and graduate careers. Wolf received a Bachelor’s of Arts in Philosophy and Math from Yale University, and she received a PhD in Philosophy from Princeton University. Wolf taught at various prestigious institutions such as Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, and University of Maryland. She is currently a professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill where she teaches philosophy. Susan Wolf has written many works such as “Meaning in Life and Why It Matters,” “Freedom Within Reason.” This paper will focus on the article “Meaning in Life” from the journal “Happiness and Meaning: Two Aspects of the Good Life.”

This essay examines three brief works that introduce core concepts of philosophy. Comparisons are drawn between Plato’s The Allegory of the Cave, The Apology of Socrates and Voltaire’s The Story of the good Brahmin. Warnings about adopting a philosophically focused approach to life are extracted, as are the incentives. A central pursuit of truth above all is established to be my own prime goal, which ties closely to these two philosophers own.

What is the meaning of life? Many philosophers and religions have attempted to answer the question of what, if anything, gives an individual a purpose. Nevertheless, contrasting metaphysical interpretations have created a perpetual discussion on the ontology of an individual. Consider western monotheistic ideology, existentialism and nihilism. Western monotheistic ideology outlines the purpose of existence as living to the standard of perfection defined by the religion’s god and exemplified by the religion’s messiah1. Contrarily, Existentialism is based on the proposition of existence coming before purpose: an individual will give himself purpose through his own

In an effort to argue for what elements a life would need to include for it to be considered meaningful, Richard Taylor examines elements of a meaningless life in his piece, “The Meaning of Human Existence”. After establishing the criteria for a meaningless life, Taylor aims to use those elements to determine what would constitute a life meaningful through their comparison (822: 44-52). In order to illustrate his points, Taylor provides three concrete examples of meaningless lives: the legend of Sisyphus, chanting nuns, and a hole-digging convict (822-823). Taylor argues that in each of these situations, life is meaningless because it is repetitive and lacks purpose. In this paper, I will present Taylor’s argument for a meaningful life as one directed at one’s own goals, of which are noble and worthwhile, as well as attainable (835: 14-24). In addition, I will argue that his position can overcome the objection that one can still live a meaningful life without fully reaching one’s goals.

What is the meaning of life? Well known Greek philosphers such as Socrates and Plato believed that our purpose in this life was to gain knowledge in preparation for the next life. Other Philosophers such as Epicurus believed that pleasure is the main goal in life. After giving these ideas lots of thought, I have come to my own conclusion that the true meaning of life is far more complex than either of these; far too complex for any human to fully comprehend. In fact these two different philosophies are only part of the grand picture. If it were that easy for men to figure out our lives wouldn't be so messed up now. The meaning of life revolves around many different things. I

My few years on this planet have been a bit confusing. I have learned of many aspects of life from which one can draw meaning, if indeed such meaning can be drawn. I have also learned that there can be no singular meaning of life to stand for us all, or even any one of us. What I have learned above all is that trying to put words to the meaning of life is a task of absolute absurdity. This is not to be confused with the idea that life has no meaning, for life certainly has meaning. However, there is no single meaning of life to be defined - life is different for us all. Therefore, rather than define life for an entire planet, I shall try to explain what life means as I perceive it, and why it means so.

The abstract idea of life cannot be explained by such simple ideas as being animated, breathing, or speaking. Ordinary machines in this century can perform all of these basic functions. The quandary with defining death is not as abstract and elusive as that of life. The problem of defining life and death has plagued philosophers and the religious bodies for thousands of years for one reason; each philosophy or religion has tried to define the meaning of life and death from only their certain perspective. The seemingly appropriate approach to this problem would be to understand the ideas presented in various philosophies and religions and through this knowledge create a new definition for each idea of life

Through out history, as man progressed from a primitive animal to a "human being" capable of thought and reason, mankind has had to throw questions about the meaning of our own existence to ourselves. Out of those trail of thoughts appeared religion, art, and philosophy, the fundamental process of questioning about existence. Who we are, how we came to be, where we are going, what the most ideal state is....... All these questions had to be asked and if not given a definite answer, then at least given some idea as to how to begin to search for, as humans probed deeper and deeper into the riddle that we were all born into.

Furthermore, everything that occurs in life is a random process and it is not permanent. Hence, it rejects the idea of finding that one purpose that someone is meant to do. Life will throw many events and circumstances that may be beneficial and some that will make a person learn or grow from. Every human being has their own task to do on this planet. Therefore, individuals cannot have one common purpose in life. The most significant thought is to seek for it in oneself, rather than merely agreeing with someone else’s notion of it.

To lead a happy and fulfilling life, I believe we should all discover our own philosophy of life. Exercising the ability to rationally use our thinking and reasoning abilities is essential. We should all strive to be honest, good people and live our lives as well and happy as possible. Through experience we learn about ourselves and the world around us. I still have

Life as we know it could vanish within seconds. The next day is not promised to anyone that walks on this earth. As we live our everyday lives peacefully, we tend not to think what our mission or purpose in life is. Instead, we think what we must do for that to be a “successful” person. Despite this way of thinking, just think for a second. What makes life meaningful? What is life anyway? These questions dive right into the heart of the philosophical, psychological, and the biological aspects of life and what the true meaning of life is. This is a very arguable topic due to every person’s different perspective on life and what it means to them. In summary, I personally think that life is simply what you make of it and each person’s accomplishments has its own merit