Great Thinkers & the Meaning of Life

Explore - Learn - Grow

Part 1- Greek philosophers

Part 3- EastAsian Thinkers

Part 2- 19/20th century Western Views

Summary

Do you know your Happiness Score? Get your Life Satisfaction Report. Free, no registration required. I Contact

2Part 1- Greek philosophers

Platonism* Believed in the existence of universals, notphysically like objects, but as ghostly, heavenly forms.* The meaning of life is in attaining the highestform of knowledge, which is the Idea (Form) ofthe Good, from which good and things derive utility.

Aristotelianism* Aristotle, an apprentice of Plato, argued that ethical knowledge is not certain knowledge but is general knowledge.* Because it is not a theoretical discipline, a person had to study and practice in order to become "good"; thus if the person were to become virtuous, he could not simply study what virtue is, he had to be virtuous, via virtuous activities. * Everything is done with a goal, and that goal is "good".

●Epicurus 341-270

BCE

Plato - Aristotle - 300/400 BC

Part 1- Greek philosophers

* The Cynic philosophers said that the purpose of life is living a life of Virtue that agrees with Nature.

* The Cynical life rejects conventional desires for wealth, power, health, and fame, by being free of the possessions acquired in pursuing the conventional.

* People could achieve happiness via rigorous training, by living in a way natural to human beings.

Cynists: Antisthenes - Doegenes de Sinope - 3-400 BC

3

Part 1- Greek philosophers

* Epicurus, the greatest good is in seeking modestpleasures, to attain tranquility and freedom fromfear (ataraxia) via knowledge, friendship, andvirtuous temperate living

* Bodily pain (aponia) is absent through one'sknowledge of the workings of the world and of thelimits of one's desires.

* Pleasure actually meant as the absence of pain in the body and of trouble in the soul. It is not by an unbroken succession of drinking bouts and of revelry, not by sexual lust, nor the enjoyment of fish, and other delicacies of a luxurious table.

* The Epicurean meaning of life rejects immortality and mysticism; there is a soul, but it is as mortal as the body. There is no afterlife, yet, one need not fear death, because "Death is nothing to us; for that which is dissolved, is without sensation, and that which lacks sensation is nothing to us.”

Epicureanism

4

Part 1- Greek philosophers

* Teaches that living according to reason and virtue is to be in harmony with the universe's divine order, entailed by one's recognition of the universal logos (reason), an essential value of all people.

* The meaning of life is "freedom from suffering" through apatheia (Gr: απαθεια), that is, being objective and having "clear judgement", not indifference.

* The Stoic ethical foundation is that "good lies in the state of the soul", itself, exemplified in wisdom and self-control, thus improving one's spiritual well-being.

Stoicism: Chrysippus, Zeno de Citium, 300 BC

5

Part 2: 19th century & Western Views

* A set of ideas that arose in the 17th and 18th centuries, which cast humans as beings with inalienable natural rights and sought out means to balance rights across society.

* This included the right to retain the wealth generated by one's own work.

* Find meaning for existence through labor and property, and using social contracts to create an environment that supports those efforts.

Classical liberalism

6

Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, was to provide most of the ideas of classical liberal economics

Part 2: 19th century Western Views

* Immanuel Kant, one of the most influentialthinkers of the late Enlightenment

* A theory where there is a single moral obligation,all actions are performed in accordance with someunderlying maxim or principle, and for actions tobe ethical, they must adhere to the categorical imperative.

* Simply put, the test is that one must universalize the maxim (imagine that all people acted in this way) and then see if it would still be possible to perform the maxim in the world without contradiction.

* In Groundwork, Kant gives the example of a person who seeks to borrow money without intending to pay it back. This is a contradiction because if it were a universal action, no person would lend money anymore as he knows that he will never be paid back.

Kant (1724-1804)

7

Part 2: 19th century Western Views

Utilitarianism* Origins can be traced back as far as Epicurus, but, as a school of thought, it is credited to Jeremy Bentham* Defined the meaning of life as the "greatest happiness principle".

Nihilism* Nihilism suggests that life is without objective meaning.* Friedrich Nietzsche characterized nihilism as emptying the world, and especially human existence, of meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, and essential value;* Succinctly, nihilism is the process of "the devaluing of the highest values".* To Martin Heidegger, nihilism is the movement whereby "being" is forgotten, and is transformed into value, in other words, the reduction of being to exchange value. Heidegger, in accordance with Nietzsche, saw in the so-called "death of God" a potential source for nihilism:* The French philosopher Albert Camus asserts that the absurdity of the human condition is that people search for external values and meaning in a world which has none, and is indifferent to them.

19

th c

entu

ry p

hilo

sop

her

s8

Part 2: 20th century Western Views

Pragmatists* Concern itself (mostly) with truth, positing that "only in struggling with the environment" do data, and derived theories, have meaning, and that consequences, like utility and practicality, are also components of truth

* Pragmatic philosophers suggest that the practical, useful understanding of life is more important than searching for an impractical abstract truth about life. William James argued that truth could be made, but not sought.

* To a pragmatist, the meaning of life is discoverable only via experience.

9

Pragmatism, 20th century, USACharles Peirce (below), William James (above)

Part 2: 20th century Western Views

* Each man and each woman creates the essence (meaning) of his and her life.* Life is not determined by a supernatural god or an earthly authority, one is free.* Prime directives are action, freedom, and decision, thus, existentialism opposes rationalism and positivism.* Jean-Paul Sartre, existence precedes essence; the (essence) of one's life arises only after one comes to existence.* Søren Kierkegaard: one can live meaningfully (free of despair and anxiety) in an unconditional commitment to something finite, and devotes that meaningful life to the commitment, despite the vulnerability inherent to doing so* Arthur Schopenhauer: one's life reflects one's will, and that the will (life) is an aimless, irrational, and painful drive. Salvation, deliverance, and escape from suffering are in aesthetic contemplation, sympathy for others, and asceticism.* Friedrich Nietzsche: life is worth living only if there are goals inspiring one to live.

Existentialism

10

Part 2: 20th century Western Views

Absurdism* The Absurd arises out of the fundamental disharmony between the individual'ssearch for meaning and the apparent meaninglessness of the universe.

Secular humanism (Erasmus)* People determine human purpose, without supernatural influence; it is the humanpersonality (general sense) that is thepurpose of a human being's life

Logical positivism* The things (people, events) in the life of a person can have meaning (importance) as parts of a whole, but a discrete meaning of life, itself, aside from those things, cannot be discerned.

11

Click on the screen

Part 3- East Asian thinkers & religions

Mohism: the purpose of life is universal, impartial love.

* Promote a philosophy of impartial caring - a person should care equally for all other individuals, regardless of their actual relationship to him or her.

* This advocacy of impartiality was a target of attack by the other Chinese philosophical schools, most notably the Confucians who believed that while love should be unconditional, it should not be indiscriminate.

*For example, children should hold a greater love for their parents than for random strangers.

Mohism

12

Part 3- East Asian thinkers & religions

Confucianism* Confucianism recognizes human nature inaccordance with the need for discipline & education.* Achieve virtue through strong relationships and reasoning as well as minimizing the negative.* Confucianist scholar Tu Wei-Ming: "we can realize the ultimate meaning of life in ordinary human existence."

Legalism* Finding the purpose of life was a meaningless effort (like the absurdist)* Only practical knowledge was valuable, especially as it related to the function and performance of the state.

Confucius

13

* Taijitu symbolizes the unity of opposites between yin and yang.

* Taoist cosmology emphasizes the need for all sentient beings and all man to return to the primordial or to rejoin with the Oneness of the Universe by way of self cultivation and self realization.

* Taoists believe all things were originally from Taiji and Tao, and the meaning in life for the adherents is to realize the temporal nature of the existence.

* "Only introspection can then help us to find our innermost reasons for living ... the simple answer is here within ourselves."

Tahoism

Part 3- East Asian thinkers & religions 14

* The native religion of Japan.

* Means "the path of the kami", but more specifically, it can be taken to mean "the divine crossroad where the kami chooses his way".

* Shinto wants life to live, not to die.

* Wants individual human life to be prolonged forever on earth as a victory of the divine spirit in preserving its objective personality in its highest forms.

Shinto torii

Part 3- East Asian thinkers & religions 15

Richard Dawkins explains the meaning of life

Part 3- East Asian thinkers 16

In summary 17Ancient Greek philosophers

Epicurus attain the highest form of knowledge, from which good & things derive utility

Aristotle the virtuous person could not simply study what virtue is, he had to become virtuous via virtuous activities

Cynists live a life of Virtue that agrees with Nature

Stoicist freedom from suffering" through apatheia, that is, being objective and having "clear judgement", not indifference

19th/20th century & Western Views

Liberalist find meaning for existence through labor and property, and using social contracts to create the right environment

Kant one must universalize the maxim and then see if it would still be possible to perform the maxim in the world without contradiction.

Utilitarian greatest happiness principle

Nihilist life is without objective meaning

Pragmatist meaning of life is discoverable only via experience. Each man and each woman creates the essence (meaning) of his and her life.

Existentialist life is worth living only if there are goals inspiring one to live (Nietzsche)

19th/20th century & Western Views (continued)

Absurdist individual's search for meaning contradicts the apparent meaninglessness of the universe.

Secular humanism the human personality is the purpose of a human being's life (Erasmus)

Logical positivism a discrete meaning of life aside cannot be discerned.

East Asian thinkers

Mo a person should care equally for all other individuals, regardless of their actual relationship to him or her.

Confucius we can realize the ultimate meaning of life in ordinary human existence

Legalist only practical knowledge was valuable, especially as it related to the function and performance of the state.

Tahoism only introspection can then help us to find our innermost reasons for living ... the simple answer is here within ourselves

Shinto torii life to live, not to die.

In summary (continued) 18

Click on the screen

* wikipedia.com* youtube.com* uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Meaning_of_life* www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/meaning_of_life * plato.stanford.edu/entries/life-meaning

* Mahadevan. Philosophy: Theory and Practice (Proceedings of the International Seminar on World Philosophy), 1974* Centre for Advanced Study in Philosophy, University of Madras.* Davison, P. G.. "How to Define Life". The University of North Alabama.

Sources and References 19

In the note section of this slide

Participant Notes 20