THE MEANING OF LIFE

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THE MEANING OF LIFE
From the Summit Traveler Looking Over the Sea of
Fog Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840)
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DEATH, MEANING, AND LONGEVITY

• Everyone who is now alive on earth will be dead
  at some time in the future. Does the fact that
  everyone will die mean that none of our goals,
  projects, thoughts, and interests have meaning?
• But just as did Nozick, Nagel wonders why the
  future extinction of everyone now alive should
  make our lives meaningless.
• Is what we do meaningful only if it lasts? How
  long does it have to last? This is Nozicks idea
  of traces.

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LIFE, MEANING, AND LONGEVITY

• Nagel notes what we have already seen, that even
  masterpieces of art and science will one day
  disappear in the rubble of the universe.
• It would seem then that, if we cant find meaning
  in longevity - since nothing will last forever -
  we must find it within our own lives.
• We can find explanations and justifications for
  most of the things we do within lives, but the
  problem is finding a justification or meaning for
  life as a whole. And if you look at life as a
  whole you might not think that there is a meaning
  to it at all.

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LIFE AS A WHOLE, VIEWED FROM THE OUTSIDE

• Looking at life as a whole, viewed from the
  outside, it doesnt seem to have a point. And it
  doesnt seem to make a difference whether you
  existed or not. And after you are gone that
  wont seem to matter either.
• This doesnt mean that you dont matter to other
  people, you do, but taken as a whole, their
  lives have no point either, so it ultimately
  doesnt matter that you matter to them.
• People and the things they do matter to each
  other, but the problem is in giving meaning to
  the whole. And, to Nagel, life as a whole
  doesnt seem to matter.

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DOES IT MATTER THAT LIFE DOESNT MATTER?

• You might say, so what? What does it matter that
  life doesnt matter?
• Nagel says that this is an acceptable reply, but
  only if you can avoid setting your sights
  higher, and asking what the point of the whole
  thing is. For once you do that ask what the
  point of the whole thing is you open yourself to
  the possibility that life is meaningless.

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LIFE IN THE LARGER CONTEXT OF THINGS

• Looking at your life and death from the outside
  and seeing it in a larger context of the world
  and its processes makes it seem that the things
  which are important to you within the context of
  your own life are not important within this
  larger context.
• This larger context of the world and its
  processes seems to be the thing lacking meaning.
• Nagel asks, what if your life as a whole did
  have a point in relation to something larger?
  Would that mean that it wasnt meaningless after
  all?

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THE MEANING OF LIFE IN RELATION TO SOMETHING
LARGER THAN LIFE I

• The problem with giving life meaning in relation
  to something larger than life is that there is a
  shift of the question to the larger thing in
  virtue of which your life is supposed to have
  meaning. Thus we must now ask, what is the
  meaning of this larger thing?
• Either this larger thing has a meaning in
  relation to something larger or it doesnt. If
  it does, then the problem of meaning is just
  transferred to a higher level. If not, then
  Nagel says that the search for meaning comes to
  an end in something which, in itself, has no
  meaning.

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THE MEANING OF LIFE IN RELATION TO SOMETHING
LARGER THAN LIFE II

• That is, the larger thing which gives our life
  meaning - like religion, or art, or belonging to
  a political party - has no meaning itself.
• However, if the pointlessness of that larger
  thing is acceptable, then why not say that the
  pointlessness of our lives as a whole is itself
  acceptable? Why does life have to be related to
  something larger than life to be acceptable? Why
  then isnt it alright for your life, or life in
  general, to be pointless?

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THE MEANING OF LIFE IN RELATION TO SOMETHING
LARGER THAN LIFE III

• If you say that it isnt acceptable for your life
  to be pointless, but it has to achieve meaning in
  relation to something larger, even though that
  thing in itself is pointless, why is it
  acceptable for this larger thing to be pointless
  if it is not acceptable for life?
• It would seem that we can always raise the
  question about the meaning or pointlessness of
  something at any level of discussion and no
  matter how large or great the thing is.

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CAN WE GET MEANING FROM GOD? I

• Nagel says that an attempt to get the meaning for
  life from God or religion has its own problems.
  We think of God as being something which explains
  everything but which does not have to be
  explained itself, but Nagel says that its very
  hard to understand how there could be such a
  thing.
• Even if we use God as the meaning or explanation
  of the world and human life, we can still ask
  what the meaning and explanation of God is.
• On the other hand, if God is supposed to bring
  all our questioning to a stop, then why couldnt
  we just have stopped somewhere earlier along the
  way, with the universe perhaps?

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CAN WE GET MEANING FROM GOD? II

• Nagels problem with using the idea of God as the
  ultimate explanation of things and the ultimate
  source of the meaning in things is that he is not
  sure that he understands the idea. And by saying
  that he does not understand the idea, he is
  saying that it is not clear that this is truly an
  explanation.
• What really could be meant by saying that there
  is something which is the meaning and explanation
  of everything but which itself does not require
  explanation, and we are not supposed to ask what
  the meaning of that thing is?

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CAN WE GET MEANING FROM GOD? III

• An additional problem with using God to give your
  life meaning is
• If God giving your life meaning means that you
  are to live according to the plan he or she has
  for you, or that you are to fulfill his or her
  purpose, then that makes you a slave to that plan
  or purpose and limits your freedom to choose for
  yourself - to create your own sense of your
  significance and what amounts to accomplishment
  within the wider context of the shared meanings
  and values of human life.

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CAN WE GET MEANING FROM GOD? IV

• Another problem with using God to give your life
  meaning is this
• If God is supposed to give our life meaning, but
  one which we dont understand, then its not
  much of a consolation.
• And how does a life which has a meaning which we
  dont understand differ from one which has no
  meaning at all? Arent we equally confused or
  unappeased in either case?
• Using God as an explanation for the meaning of
  life then is incomprehensible for Nagel.
  However, he admits that he may just not be
  understanding religious ideas.

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THE MEANING OF LIFE COMES FROM INSIDE LIFE I

• Nagel says that it may be nothing to worry about
  even if life as a whole is meaningless. Perhaps
  we can recognize that, be honest and brave about
  it, and simply go on as we always have.
• Perhaps we have to go back to the idea that what
  meaning life has comes from inside life itself.
  The meaning of life comes from the meanings we
  give to the goals, projects, and accomplishments
  in our lives, and which others also recognize as
  being meaningful.
• Nagel The trick is to keep your eyes on whats
  in front of you, and allow justifications to come
  to an end inside your life, and inside the lives
  of others to whom you are connected.

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THE MEANING OF LIFE COMES FROM INSIDE LIFE II

• Nagel is suggesting that the meanings for what we
  do, and the justifications for what we do, come
  to an end within life, and we do not have to
  derive meaning in relation to something outside
  of the context of life itself.
• The meanings within life are those which are
  connected to the lives of others. And this
  attitude recognizes and accepts the idea that
  life as a whole has no meaning. This view
  further accepts that, in this larger meaningless
  context, it would not matter if you hadnt been
  born.
• Some people are perfectly content with this
  attitude, others find it depressing and
  unacceptable, and still others find it
  depressing, though unavoidable. Which are you?

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MEANING AND SERIOUSNESS

• Perhaps accepting meaning in the small sense,
  from the inside, is something that people who
  want to see themselves as having meaning in
  relation to a larger context will not be able to
  tolerate.
• These people want to matter from the outside.
  They want life as a whole to have meaning, and,
  if it doesnt, they feel dissatisfied.
• Nagel suggest that perhaps its ridiculous to
  take ourselves so seriously. Oscar Wilde said
  that life was far too important ever to talk
  seriously about. We might adapt this to the
  present matter by saying Life is far too
  important a thing ever to take too seriously.
  One might also consider a remark made by Eugene
  Ionesco as relevant to the current issue To be
  an intellectual in the twentieth century means to
  take nothing too seriously and nothing too
  lightly.

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LIFE AND ABSURDITY I

• Finally, Nagel says if we cant help taking
  ourselves so seriously, perhaps we just have to
  put up with being ridiculous. Life may be not
  only meaningless but absurd.
• In a paper titled The Absurd Nagel says I
  would argue that absurdity is one of the most
  human things about us a manifestation of our
  most advanced and interesting characteristics.
  Like skepticism in epistemology, it is possible
  only because we possess a certain kind of insight
  - the capacity to transcend ourselves in
  thought.

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LIFE AND ABSURDITY II

• Thus, for Nagel, our capacity for thought enables
  us to see ourselves in a larger context in which
  the ultimate pointlessness of group and
  individual life becomes clear.
• The absurdity of life, according to Nagel, is due
  to the collision between the seriousness with
  which we take our lives and the perpetual
  possibility of regarding everything about which
  we are serious as arbitrary, or open to doubt.

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LIFE AND ABSURDITY III

• Nagel We cannot live human lives without energy
  and attention, nor without making choices which
  show that we take some things more seriously than
  others. Yet we have always available a point of
  view outside the particular form of our lives,
  from which the seriousness appears gratuitous.
  These two inescapable viewpoints collide in us,
  and that is what makes life absurd.

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LIFE AND ABSURDITY IV

• Thus, for Nagel, at the same time that things can
  have importance within life, we can also view
  these things in relation to a larger context in
  which they lose that importance. It is this
  taking something to be important which is not
  ultimately important which gives life its
  absurdity for Nagel. It is also what makes us
  human.
• Nagel If sub specie aeternitatis (L. lit. under
  the aspect of eternity in its essential or
  universal form or nature) there is no reason to
  believe that anything matters, then that doesnt
  matter either, and we can approach our absurd
  lives with irony instead of heroism or despair.