how to live a meaningful life tolstoy, taylor, frankfurt, wolf, rosenberg
TRANSCRIPT
How to Live a Meaningful LifeTolstoy, Taylor, Frankfurt, Wolf, Rosenberg
• Belief in God• Desire for union• Commitment to religious way of
life
Subjective elements Objective elements• God exists• God personally relates to
humans• God commands certain behavior
1. TOLSTOY
• Loving whatever we do – doesn’t matter what it is
• This just makes life “subjectively meaningful”
• For example, Sisyphus with drug injected
Subjective elements Objective elementsNONE*
* Because none of our activities has a “significant and lasting result”
2. TAYLOR
• More complicated than Taylor• CARE (ch. 1)• LOVE (ch. 2)• SELF-LOVE (ch. 3)
Subjective elements Objective elements NONE*
* See p. 26
3. FRANKFURT
Frankfurt on CARE (ch. 1)
CARING =① wanting X
② wanting to want X③ identifying with wanting X
MEANING (p. 23)
Frankfurt on LOVE (ch. 2)LOVE =
① disinterested concern – no ulterior motive② personal, particular
③ x takes interests of y as his own④ involuntary
⑤ not based on intrinsic value⑥ gives us sense of intrinsic value & ultimate ends
MEANING (p. 65-6)
Frankfurt on SELF-LOVE (ch. 3)LOVE FOR OTHERx loves y and x ≠ y
① disinterested concern – no ulterior motive
② personal, particular③ x takes interests of y as his own ④ involuntary
SELF LOVEx loves y and x = y
Same logic?
Frankfurt (ch. 3)LOVE FOR OTHERSx loves y and x ≠ y
③ x takes interests of y as his own
I love SamSam loves Jay-ZI love Jay-Z
Does this make sense?Do you love whatever the people you love love?
SELF LOVEx loves y and x = y
③ x takes interests of y as his own (and x = y)
I love myselfI love Bob DylanI love Bob Dylan*
*Empty and redundant?Lessons:• Must love other things first to
love myself• Self-love = wholeheartedness
Frankfurt on SELF-LOVE (ch. 3)SELF –LOVEI love Bob DylanI love myselfI love Bob Dylan
① I love other things② I love them in a wholehearted, undivided way
MEANING (p. 99)
① CARE – wanting x, wanting to want x, identification
② LOVE – personal concern for others that gives us sense of their intrinsic value and gives us ultimate ends
③ SELF-LOVE – wholehearted investment in our interests, whatever they are
Subjective elements Objective elementsNONE*
FRANKFURT ON MEANING
Fulfillment …
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)
4. WOLF
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)1. Value must be received by others too (p. 43)• Fails condition: Sisyphus, eating, dieting, working out
2. Value must be perceived by others too (p. 43)• Fails condition: Sisyphus, goldfish fanatic
Henrietta Lacks
Missing subjective fulfillment but not objective worth
Missing objective worth but not subjective fulfillment Eating contest champion
If your life lacks meaning, it could be for two different reasons
Wolf: why does meaning matter?
The standard view of morality & self interest:
MORALITY CAN CONFLICT WITH SELF-INTERESTkeeping a promise vs. going to a movie
giving to charity vs. buying a new TV
In cases of conflict, morality is overriding(Kant, Utilitarians)
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
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
Objections, commentsJohn Koethe (poet & philosopher) –1. When should we say an artist has fulfilled the
objective worth condition?2. Does the artist have to be successful?3. What’s his answer?
Objections, comments
Robert Adams (philosopher) –1. 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?
2. Her “objective” condition is really “intersubjective” not “objective”
3. Other points in Adams?
Objections, comments
Nomy Arpaly (philosopher) – 1. 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
2. Are we ever motivated by desire for meaning? 3. Doesn’t morality have some sort of privileged
status?4. What else?
Objections, comments
Jonathan Haidt (psychologist)1. No such thing as objective worth2. Subjective fulfillment involves “vital
engagement” and “hive psychology”3. We don’t find subjective fulfillment from
being goldfish nuts, eating contests, lawnmower racing, etc.
4. What else?
How to live a meaningful life
Purely subjective viewsTaylorFrankfurt
Subjective/objective viewsTolstoy (religious)Wolf (unreligious)
• Living in accordance with purpose of the universe
Subjective elements Objective elements• Universe has a purpose that we
can help fulfill
1. Does the universe have such a purpose?
2. Can we tell what it is?3. If the universe has a purpose,
must there be a supreme being?
LINK
5. ANOTHER S/O VIEW
NONE Subjective elements Objective elements
NONE
6. ROSENBERG
NONE
Life is completely meaningless—no fulfillment, no objective worth. But don’t worry, it doesn’t matter!
Coming next week.
Rosenberg’s 8 points
1. Life’s persistent questions have scientific answers. “Scientism is my label for what any one who takes science seriously should believe…”
2. All the facts about fundamental particles “fix” all of the other facts. We should “trust physics to be scientism’s metaphysics”
Rosenberg’s 8 points
3. 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
Rosenberg’s 8 points
4. Darwinian evolution is the inevitable result of 2nd Law of Thermodynamics (law of increased entropy—disorder, chaos)
Rosenberg’s 8 points
5. 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]?
Rosenberg’s 8 points
6. We don’t understand our own minds or brains. “The mind is no more a purpose-driven system than anything else in nature.”
7. The brain doesn’t have beliefs, wants, thoughts, hopes; there is no meaning of any sort; there is no self, soul, agent, person.
Rosenberg’s 8 points
8. History has no shape or meaning – we’re not going anywhere
NONE Subjective elements Objective elements
NONE
6. ROSENBERG
NONE
Taylor, Frankfurt, Wolf … all wrong about subjective elements.
Wolf, Tolstoy … wrong about objective elements
LIVE HAS NO MEANING, PERIOD!
NONE Subjective elements Objective elements
NONE
6. ROSENBERG
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