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Oct 21, 2018 · It might also be expressed: “What’s the point of my life?” “Does my life matter?” “What kind of life is meaningful?” “How should I live?” This is the individual dimension of the question. It asks if there is a valuable, significant, or worthwhile way of living that prevents life from being futile, pointless, or absurd.
- Existentialism - There Is No Meaning
- Stoicism - Achieving Logos
- Epicureanism - Seeking Pleasure
- Aristotle - Eudemonia
- Absurdism
- So Which Response Is Right?
The question of the meaning of life is central to existentialism, a philosophy that explores human existence. Existentialist philosophy claims there is no inherent meaning to life. The universe is indifferent to our personal lives and goals. To existentialists, meaning is up to the individual to create. This relates to the existentialist idea that ...
Stoicism is a philosophy focused around action and acceptance. According to the Stoics, the meaning of life is to live in accordance with reason and virtue to find fulfillment and peace. The Stoics believed in a concept called logos, a principle of rationality. They believed rationality governs the universe and that humans could achieve logos by ac...
Epicureanism was an ancient Greek philosophy taught by Epicurus. In his teachings, Epicurus emphasized the goal of a content life in the present moment. He famously rejected the notion of an afterlife and did not believe in superstitious Gods. Epicurus believed there was no reason to fear death like many religions had taught and that people should ...
Similar to Epicurus, Aristotle believed happiness was the goal and meaning of life. He noticed people pursue different activities, all with the goal of being happy. In his book called Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle tried to discover the "supreme good for man." This was an idea describing the best way for people to live their lives and give their lif...
Absurdism points out a problem in the search for meaning. While people have a tendency to search for meaning, it is humanly impossible to find any objective meaning. This idea is what philosophers call "the absurd." While there are traditionally two answers to the search for meaning, either life is meaningless, or the meaning to life is set by a hi...
Above are only five approaches to the question of the meaning of life. There are many other responses unexplored here. When it comes to the question of the meaning of life, there is no right or wrong answer. Reading on the topic allows a chance for everyone to reflect on their own life. This reflection shows the beauty of philosophy. While humans m...
May 15, 2007 · A standard distinction to draw is between the meaning “in” life, where a human person is what can exhibit meaning, and the meaning “of” life in a narrow sense, where the human species as a whole is what can be meaningful or not.
- Existentialism. Existentialism is an approach to philosophy that focuses on the questions of human existence, including how to live a meaningful life in the face of a meaningless universe.
- Absurdism. Absurdism is a philosophy created by Sartre’s one-time friend and later intellectual rival Albert Camus. It is based on the idea that existence is fundamentally absurd and cannot be fully understood through reason.
- Religious existentialism. While the primary existentialist thinkers were all atheists — Nietzsche raised the alarm on nihilism when he declared “God is dead” — the founder of the school was an extremely religious thinker by the name of Søren Kierkegaard.
- Buddhism. Another religious take can be found in the works of Japanese philosopher Keiji Nishitani. Nishitani studied early existentialism under Martin Heidegger, himself a leading existentialist thinker, but provided a Zen Buddhist approach to many of the same problems the existentialists addressed.
“What is the meaning of life?” is simultaneously one of the oldest questions in philosophy and a relatively new concept. Here’s what Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Albert Camus had ...
May 15, 2007 · One part of the field of life's meaning consists of the systematic attempt to clarify what people mean when they ask in virtue of what life has meaning. This section addresses different accounts of the sense of talk of “life's meaning” (and of “significance,” “importance,” and other synonyms).
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What did the Stoics believe about life?
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What makes life meaningful?
The Stoic approach is clearly teleological, since it determines what our purpose is in virtue of being human. If anything, keeping in line with Socrates’ claim, our purpose is to live meaningful lives. For the Stoic, living meaningfully involves living virtuously.
