Morality and the Meaning of Life: Some First Thoughts

Abstract

Although there may be many questions about the meaning of life that will ultimately prove intractable, I think that there are some questions that can be answered. Furthermore, I think that progress towards answering them can be made through work that has and will be done in moral philosophy. In support of this I shall articulate a set of questions that I think are often at issue when people ask about the meaningfulness of life. These questions give rise to a set of conditions that a fully adequate answer must satisfy. Among other things, these conditions explain why a familiar theological answer to the meaningfulness of life seems so attractive. However, they also create problems for this answer, as well as for an answer that has appeared attractive to a number of contemporary philosophers, that the meaning of life is created by the choices that people make and the desires that they have. I shall suggest that work in moral philosophy may provide an answer that falls between these two camps – that a moral life is a meaningful life. I shall sketch a theory of morality that satisfies the conditions that have been set out. H this sketch can be filled out, then a moral life will be at least part of what can make a life meaningful. Whether this account of the moral life leaves out anything important for the meaningfulness of life will be the subject of some concluding remarks.

Meaning Autonomy and Objective Meaning in Life

“…How can something be valuable when by its very nature its existence prevents the existence of value in the lives of others? (Dahl, 1987, p. 12)…”

Business in the Work and World of David Foster Wallace

“…For the philosophical consumer, this might involve cultivating the ability to perceive details that Wallace demonstrates in his writing and contemplating an answer to that fundamental ethical question, "How should one live?" Among meaning of life researchers, there are multiple perspectives on what justifies one's answer to that question: for example, practicing spiritually (e.g., Cottingham, 2003), living morally (Dahl, 1987;Metz, 2005;Thomas, 2005), experiencing intrinsic rewards (Audi, 2005), forming self-identity (Velleman, 2005), and accomplishing worthy achievements (James, 2005). Considering these perspectives has the potential to reinforce or challenge one's consumption habits and motivations.…”