What Can You Know What Your Meaning?

The Christian world view on life meaning and purpose is basic and yet different from other world views. Our main resolution in life is to work for God and have a strong connection with him at all times. First and foremost God desires to come first, and all else will tumble into place as long as we believe in him and have complete faith in him also. It is printed that we can only have one master (Matthew 6:24) and for that reason, God believes that serving him must be the highest significant thing for us to do with our period here on earth. (Christian Bible Reference Site)

This will to meaning is the culmination of our developmental process. To cultivate an individual’s capacity to find meaning in their life is the greatest goal, and the source of mankind’s anxiety and neuroses. We all wish to find the meaning within our life, and are unfulfilled when we miss the mark. But according to Frankl, there is always meaning in life, in every single moment, from one to the next we all are capable of making a choice about ourselves, and beyond that, have a responsibility to do so. Even with the transitory nature of our existence and hopelessness in the face of certain death, there is still meaning to be found, there is still freedom to be earned.

In The Meaning of Life, Richard Taylor argues that meaningless lives our lives that consist of a repetitive cycle of struggles that do not give us any purpose. Taylor describes a meaningful life as one that has a purpose, and is creative and unique to that specific person. Also, the meaningful life is lived in a good and just manner. In The Meanings of Lives, Susan Wolf argues lives that are not involved in an activity that brings positive value are meaningless lives. A person that has a meaningless life by the standards of Taylor can still have a life that is going well for them. Their well-being is not dependent on whether they have a meaningful life or not. Wolf believes that meaningfulness is an important factor in a person’s well-being. Well-being is present when a person’s is living a life that is going positive according to themselves. A person who lives a life that is meaningless as a result of being repetitive and pointless can still have a life that is going well for them.

As defined by Merriam-Webster, Existentialism is, “a chiefly 20th century philosophical movement embracing diverse doctrines but centering on analysis of individual existence in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad” (Merriam Webster). Logotherapy/existential analysis is based on the premise that within one’s self there lies the 1) “Freedom to will, 2)“will to meaning”, and 3), “ meaning to life”. (Batthyany, Alexander) Meaning to life as it pertains to classic existential theory and logotherapy, is defined by the individual on a situational basis. It can vary based on what is essential to the individual and their well being (Existentialism-By Branch/Doctrine, The Basics of Philosophy). Frankl concentrates on what it was that drives people to live, and determined that those who survived the unspeakable circumstances of the Nazi camps had been those who focused on the meaning of their lives. Frankl’s psychological-anthropological model addresses the ability for others overcome

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.

But, as philosopher Tom Nagel has argued, this is not the sense of “the meaning of life” people are usually interested in. Suppose an alien species created human life in order to provide them with a future food supply. Then the purpose of human life is to be food for aliens. That would be the meaning of life, if we take

In Richard Taylor’s chapter “Meaning of Life”, he concluded that objectively, life is meaningless. He stressed his opinion by arguing that life tends to be a cycle of goals that cumulate to nothing. These goals require sequences of exhausting work and attempt that will continue throughout the rest of life but will have no meaning. As one goal is reached, the next is sought out for, forgetting the one that was just achieved. I do not support Taylor on his objective meaningless of life. Life has a meaning, even if it is just being alive, we were created by God and he has a plan for us. Goals help us become better people and they are important to us. Taylor explained that we can find meaning in our lives when a will is put behind our actions. This means that meaningfulness can be found within the veins of anyone. I agree with Taylor, that our actions should be of interest to us, yet his account fails to show that they will make our lives have a meaning. There is no validation, that a change of the state of mind will cause our lives to achieve meaning.

Nagel makes a strong argument that death can be regarded as either good or evil depending certain cases, yet he fails to clarify whether there is an immortal life or not. This weakens his argument because he omits a valuable aspect that could heavily sway the argument. If Nagel would have included his opinion on immortality, then the viewpoint on death would have been deflected from his original argument. If life continued after death, whether though a soul or some other form, then it would be seen as a temporary pause of their life and not necessarily a bad event. Nagel’s explanation of how he interprets immortality would clear this confusion for the argument that death is not necessarily

According to the hedonist, assuming there is no afterlife, the periods before life and after death are equal because both cases are equal in terms of the subject’s momentary state. By Nagels definitions the two periods are not equal at all because of the period between them, existence. Without life or existence there would be nothing to give nonexistence contrast, making it a blank slate. It is not until someone is born that they become a subject whose life can be taken away by death. Another fundamental difference between the two periods is Nagel’s observation that someone can die at different stages of life but cannot be born at a different time without being born a different person.

Thomas Nagel covers the issues of the purpose of humanity in his piece, “Free Will”. There are several topics that Nagel covers as he starts out hopeful of the idea of free will itself. Free will defined by Merriam Webster as freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention. All our lives we are taught that we do things on our own accord and that we have the right to choose the things that happen to us. He gives the example of choosing between a peach and some cake. This, actually, is not a real example of free will, but rather personal preference that has been predetermined from our upbringing, the environment we are placed in and even and even genetics. I could choose the peach because I know that my predetermined genes will eventually make me into a diabetic so I want to stay as healthy as I can. That in itself does not give me a very wide scope of choices, but more or less narrows it. As he goes on, he explains that we all want to think that we have “free will”. We want to think that we have our own choices and the ability to drive our own lives at our own expense. Yet, when it comes down to it, that is not the case at all. According to his take on it, nothing would be able to be predicted about the future if there was such a thing as free will. A simpler way to look at it is the discussion we had towards the very beginning of the course. We discussed how everything seems to come from something, so how can something come

Nagel continues by jumping into two observations. The first being that, “the value of life and its contents does not attach to mere organic survival” (para 5). The second that positives in life can be multiplied over time. He reasons that people are intrigued by the possibility of an afterlife because they view it as a

Evolutionist William B. Provine says: “What we have learned about the evolutionary process has enormous implications for us, affecting our sense of meaning in life.” His conclusion? “I can see no cosmic or ultimate meaning in human life.” Consider the significance of those words. If ultimate meaning in life were nonexistent, then you would have no purpose in living other than to try to do some measure of good and perhaps pass on your genetic traits to the next generation.

In “Mortal Questions," Thomas Nagel attempts to show that some human experiences are completely beyond understanding. Nagel attempts to justify that even though your life has ends, the choices one makes will not influence the end result. Nagel first clarifies his position by defining a few terms. Agent, as Nagel describes it, is defined as being in control of one’s life. Nagel states that end results are influenced by a combination of factors and that it is not in the agent’s control. In this paper, I will describe Nagels reasoning for believing that one cannot control their ends and fates. Fate is the event beyond a person’s control. Then, I will provide two reasons to object that the idea that one’s actions do not influence the end results is false.

Psychologist Victor Frankl’s novel: Man's Search for Meaning delivers a powerful and humbling perspective on life that inspires introspection in the minds of all those that read it. The book achieves this by taking us on a journey with Frankl as he describes his personal experiences of the Holocaust. During his time spent in four different concentration camps Frankl gradually learns lessons in spiritual survival. Devoid of all pleasures and possessing nothing but his “naked existence” Frankl is forced to look inward and in the process discovers what he believes to be the primary motivating factor of all men (p. 15).

The human race strives to clearly define the sense of their living, and feel unhappy and distressed without it. Every individual has their own sense of life and discovers it for him/herself only. There are many who live their whole lives without asking what they are living for. Personally I have never been concerned with this question until recently, I now think it is important to have at least a slight peace of sense in life. There are times when I feel lonely and dissatisfied with my life, but then I will meet a nice person or find a new and interesting hobby, and I feel content again. That is why I think that things happen to us depending on how we view life, and even in the most desperate situation one can always find the way out.