Meaning Of Life : Susan Wolf 's Article, Happiness And Meaning : Two Aspects Of The Good Life Essay

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” As you know these words come from the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, perhaps one of the greatest documents ever written. However, I do have a little problem with the last four words sentence, “the pursuit of Happiness” because I believe it actually sends an easily misinterpreted message.

In sum, life is supposed to be about more than happiness. We are supposed to do something important, adhere to some ethic, and serve a greater good. We live for a goal, a principle, or a destiny—not just for pleasure.1

The concept of living “the good life” means something different for everyone. There is a general understanding that living “the good life” is associated with unyielding happiness and lasting satisfaction. The exact meaning of this desired life was pondered by thinkers and philosophers for hundreds of years. They constructed principals of behavior, thought, and obligation that would categorize a person as “good”. Although some of these ancient philosophies about “the good life” had overlapping ideas, their concepts varied widely. This contrast of ideas can be examined through two major characters in two famous works: Aeneas in “The Aeneid” and Socrates in “The Apology”. Aeneas exemplifies the philosophy that the direct route to “the good life" is through faith, trust in the Gods, and family, while Socrates in “The Apology” emphasizes free will, and vast knowledge of life.

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.

Susan R. Wolf (born 1952) is a moral philosopher who works extensively on the meaning of human life and is the Edna J. Koury Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Wolf addresses the questions of the meaning of life in hope to distinguish the characteristics and reasoning that gives meaning to life. According to Susan Wolf view about the meaning in life, “I would say that meaningful life are lives of active engagement in projects of worth… two key phrases, ‘active engagement’ and ‘projects of worth’” (Wolf, 205). However, I believe that her proposal leaves out our basic motives and reasoning that’s

Wolf argues that since meaningfulness in one’s life is a factor in well-being, we should try to increase the amount of chances people can have meaningful lives. To understand why meaningfulness is important in our well-being, we must understand what Wolf believes a meaningful life is. Wolf describes a meaningful life as one that is participating in a project that that is bringing positive value. Also, the project has to be successful and completed to be meaningful. If the project is not completed the life will be considered a meaningless one. Wolf also argues that we should want a meaningful life, that is occupied with a project that brings a positive

She, on the contrary, argues that meaningfulness is the predominant reason of a meaningful life. The Fulfillment view and the Larger -than -Oneself view act as a positive catalyst for constructing her own theory of meaningfulness. She continues, ‘According to the conception of meaningfulness I wish to propose, meaning arises from loving objects worthy of love and engaging with them in a positive way. …One might paraphrase this by saying that, according to my conception, meaning arises when subjective attraction meets objective attractiveness, and one is able to do something good or positive about it’ [2010:8-9]. The former view provides the subjective side of the meaningfulness and the latter view provides the objective side of the meaningfulness. Wolf has argued that all meaningful lives have two sides; a ‘subjective’ and an ‘objective’. These can be categorize into three elements ;(i) subjective attraction, (ii) active engagement, and (iii) objective worthiness. The aforementioned two sides have formed together the meaning of life. She names her concept The Fitting Fulfillment view that requires for experience meaning a person should relate to the object of his passion to the objective value of that object. Only good or positive passion can be act as a

This document explores the meaning of human life, its purpose, what it serves for and also

Susan wolf interprets a meaningful life as one that has within the basis of an affirmative answer to the basis for an affirmative answer to the needs or belonging that are characteristically described as needs of meaning. She described meaningful lives as lives of active engagement in project worth. Which she divided into groups, first is ‘’active engagement’’ and project worth.

Society tends to live day to day without much question of their own existence. Humans are born into the world and without second thought begin to live their lives, but there comes a time when individuals begin to question the reason for their being. In Richard Taylor’s, “The Meaning of Life”, Taylor explores the thought that our existence, when viewed externally without our prejudices, is fundamentally pointless. A thorough analysis of Taylor’s ideas will be given to understand the reasoning behind his thoughts, his argument will then be defended from counter arguments that state that the meaning behind any entity’s life could have any alternative meaning.

Susan wolf interprets a meaningful life as one that has within the basis of an affirmative answer to the basis for an affirmative answer to the needs or belonging that are characteristically described as needs of meaning. She described meaningful lives as lives of active engagement in project worth. Which she divided into groups, first is ‘’active engagement’’ and project worth.

In the book What’s It All About? Julian Baggini discusses philosophy and the meaning of life. This reading was able to bring different perspectives on ideas of the meaning of life that I thought about before. I was also able to learn about these concerns about life 's meaning or meaninglessness in a philosophical standpoint. Some of the chapters that I found interesting included the chapters titled looking for the blueprint, here to help, and becoming a contender.

Supporters of soul-based accounts of meaning of life suggest that only eternal lives carry meanings, otherwise lives are too short to be meaningful. On the contrary, opposers like Nussbaum and Lucretius, propose that meaning in life isn’t granted through immortality but rather death. Bruce Lee once spoke about immortality, “The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.” This quotation is profound because it indicates that immortality itself isn’t meaningful. In this paper, I will rebut the argument that immorality derives meaning in life through justifying death is crucial to understanding the meaning of life, and only when life is finite, then the decisions and choices that we make become meaningful and valuable.

I grew up in a small Midwest town called Anderson Indiana. Whenever people ask where I’m from and I say Indiana they think corn fields and country living but that’s far from the truth. In my experience I have seen corn fields everywhere but my home state. I have yet to see any farms or anything that would suggest country. One could question the dialect of Indiana residents. It has been said that most of the people migrated from the south to work at Guide Corp, a car plant that was the one good job in the city. Throughout the years Anderson has changed. The one good job that we had has left and with that so have the people. Most people

Throughout this semester we have struggled to define the common good and what constitutes a good life. While the definition of what is a good life can vary from person to person, whether that mean academic achievement, financial success, or a certain social status; for me, a good life is a life driven through goals and purpose. A life in which you set goals and strive to reach them despite the physical, mental, or emotional obstacles that can get in your way.