How to Live a Meaningful Life

1. How to Live a Meaningful Life Tolstoy, Taylor, Frankfurt, Wolf, Rosenberg

2. 1. TOLSTOY Subjective elements Objective elements God exists God personally relates to humans God commands certain behavior • Belief in God • Desire for union • Commitment to religious way of life

3. 2. TAYLOR Subjective elements Objective elements NONE* * Because none of our activities has a “significant and lasting result” • Loving whatever we do – doesn’t matter what it is • This just makes life “subjectively meaningful” • For example, Sisyphus with drug injected

4. 3. FRANKFURT Subjective elements Objective elements NONE* * See p. 26 • More complicated than Taylor • CARE (ch. 1) • LOVE (ch. 2) • SELF-LOVE (ch. 3)

5. Frankfurt on CARE (ch. 1) CARING = • wanting X • wanting to want X • identifying with wanting X MEANING (p. 23)

6. Frankfurt on LOVE (ch. 2) LOVE = • disinterested concern – no ulterior motive • personal, particular • x takes interests of y as his own • involuntary • not based on intrinsic value • gives us sense of intrinsic value & ultimate ends MEANING (p. 65-6)

7. Frankfurt on SELF-LOVE (ch. 3) LOVE FOR OTHER x loves y and x ≠ y SELF LOVE x loves y and x = y Same logic? • disinterested concern – no ulterior motive • personal, particular • x takes interests of y as his own • involuntary

8. Frankfurt (ch. 3) LOVE FOR OTHERS x loves y and x ≠y SELF LOVE x loves y and x = y x takes interests of y as his own (and x = y) I love myself I love Bob Dylan I love Bob Dylan* *Empty and redundant? Lessons: Must love other things first to love myself Self-love = wholeheartedness • x takes interests of y as his own I love Sam Sam loves Jay-Z I love Jay-Z Does this make sense? Do you love whatever the people you love love?

9. Frankfurt on SELF-LOVE (ch. 3) SELF –LOVE I love Bob Dylan I love myself I love Bob Dylan • I love other things • I love them in a wholehearted, undivided way MEANING (p. 99)

10. FRANKFURT ON MEANING Subjective elements Objective elements NONE* • CARE – wanting x, wanting to want x, identification • LOVE – personal concern for others that gives us sense of their intrinsic value and gives us ultimate ends • SELF-LOVE – wholehearted investment in our interests, whatever they are

11. 4. WOLF Subjective elements Objective elements … but it must be fitting “meaning arises from loving objects worthy of love and engaging with them in positive ways.” (p. 8) “meaning arises when subjective attraction meets objective worth.” (p. 9) Fulfillment …

12. The objective condition “the project or activity must possess a value whose source comes from outside of oneself—whose value, in other words, is in part independent of one’s own attitude to it” (p. 37) • Value must be received by others too (p. 43) • Fails condition: Sisyphus, eating, dieting, working out • Value must be perceived by others too (p. 43) • Fails condition: Sisyphus, goldfish fanatic

13. If your life lacks meaning, it could be for two different reasons Missing subjective fulfillment but not objective worth Missing objective worth but not subjective fulfillment Eating contest champion Henrietta Lacks

14. Wolf: why does meaning matter? The standard view of morality & self interest: MORALITY CAN CONFLICT WITH SELF-INTEREST keeping a promise vs. going to a movie giving to charity vs. buying a new TV In cases of conflict, morality is overriding (Kant, Utilitarians)

15. Wolf’s View MORALITY can conflict with SELF-INTEREST pursuing good life mere inclinations, urges, desires meaning other aspects (subjective fulfillment plus objective worth) In a morality vs. meaning conflict, meaning sometimes trumps morality. Morality not always overriding. See also: Nietzsche, Frankfurt, Hurka

16. Example. Suppose Jon is trying to decide whether to help Sandy victims or run unofficial NYC marathon. Running has more meaning to him than helping. MORALITY MEANING

17. Objections, comments John Koethe (poet & philosopher) – • When should we say an artist has fulfilled the objective worth condition? • Does the artist have to be successful? • What’s his answer?

18. Objections, comments Robert Adams (philosopher) – • Subjective element = just love, not feeling of fulfillment (which implies success). “One of the things about positive meaning in life is that one can have it even when one’s hopes and projects are not fulfilled and one does not feel good.” (p. 78) His example? • Her “objective” condition is really “intersubjective” not “objective” • Other points in Adams?

19. Objections, comments NomyArpaly (philosopher) – • Subjective fulfillment is enough. Goldfish nut (if there are any at all) doesn’t show need for objective worth—problem is that he is deluded about the nature of goldfish or intellectually limited. www.marryyourpet.com • Are we ever motivated by desire for meaning? • Doesn’t morality have some sort of privileged status? • What else?

20. Objections, comments Jonathan Haidt (psychologist) • No such thing as objective worth • Subjective fulfillment involves “vital engagement” and “hive psychology” • We don’t find subjective fulfillment from being goldfish nuts, eating contests, lawnmower racing, etc. • What else?

21. How to live a meaningful life Purely subjective views Subjective/objective views Tolstoy (religious) Wolf (unreligious) Taylor Frankfurt

22. 5. ANOTHER S/O VIEW Subjective elements Objective elements Universe has a purpose that we can help fulfill Does the universe have such a purpose? Can we tell what it is? If the universe has a purpose, must there be a supreme being? LINK • Living in accordance with purpose of the universe

23. 6. ROSENBERG NONE Subjective elements Objective elements NONE NONE Life is completely meaningless—no fulfillment, no objective worth. But don’t worry, it doesn’t matter! Coming next week.

24. Rosenberg’s 8 points • Life’s persistent questions have scientific answers. “Scientism is my label for what any one who takes science seriously should believe…” • All the facts about fundamental particles “fix” all of the other facts. We should “trust physics to be scientism’s metaphysics”

25. Rosenberg’s 8 points • The are no purposes—”in biology, in human affairs, and in human thought processes” • No cosmic purpose • No purpose of human existence • I have no purposes, no goals* • Wipes out both subjective & objective elements of meaning! * See 6 & 7 too

26. Rosenberg’s 8 points • Darwinian evolution is the inevitable result of 2nd Law of Thermodynamics (law of increased entropy—disorder, chaos)

27. Rosenberg’s 8 points • No objective morality “Either [a] our core morality is an adaptation because it is the right core morality or [b] it’s the right core morality because it’s an adaptation, or [c] it’s not right, but only feels right to us.” Can anyone think of another possibility – [d]?

28. Rosenberg’s 8 points • We don’t understand our own minds or brains. “The mind is no more a purpose-driven system than anything else in nature.” • The brain doesn’t have beliefs, wants, thoughts, hopes; there is no meaning of any sort; there is no self, soul, agent, person.

29. Rosenberg’s 8 points • History has no shape or meaning – we’re not going anywhere

30. 6. ROSENBERG NONE Subjective elements Objective elements NONE NONE Taylor, Frankfurt, Wolf … all wrong about subjective elements. Wolf, Tolstoy … wrong about objective elements LIVE HAS NO MEANING, PERIOD!

31. 6. ROSENBERG NONE Subjective elements Objective elements NONE NONE How can we defend the subjective elements from Rosenberg’s attack? How can we defend the objective elements? For more on the subjective elements, see “Is Life Meaningless?” slides 25-41