1. The Meaning of Life

2. Questioning the Question View 1.When someone ask “What is the meaning of life?” I have no idea what they are asking. Agree or disagree?

3. The Pessimistic View 2. The search for the meaning of life is a natural human quest, but it is like searching for the fountain of youth. In both cases, the object of the search will never be found. 5. People are born, they sustain themselves for 70 years by eating, working, and sleeping, and then they die. That is all that can be said about the meaning of life. 8. If people don’t obtain what they want in life, they will be frustrated. However, if they do get what they want, they either will be bored or will develop new desires and, hence, new occasions for frustration. It seems clear that in the final analysis, frustration or boredom and meaningless suffering is people’s lot in life. Why not commit suicide?

4. The Religious View 3. Everything that happens in my life was meant to happen to fulfill some larger purpose. The most important goal in life is to discover what that purpose is. 6. People may feel as though they have found the purpose of life, but it is possible that they are mistaken about this feeling because human existence has an objective purpose that is independent of human opinions about it. 9. Unless they are completely numb to their own existence, most people experience a vague emptiness and yearning throughout their lives because they are trying to fill that void with that which is transitory and finite when only an eternal and infinite meaning will satisfy them.

5. The Secular-Humanist View 4. If I can say at the end of my life, “I’ve had my ups and downs, my moments of happiness and moments of sadness, but, overall, life is good,” then I have found “the meaning of life.” 7. There is no single answer to the question of the meaning of life that applies to everyone because each individual has to seek his/her own personal meaning. 10. It is incorrect to speak of “seeking the meaning of life” because this statement implies that it is out there, like an Easter egg, waiting for people to find it. Instead, each person should speak of “creating meaning for my life.” People are like artists facing blank canvases, considering what work of personal creation they will find satisfying.

6. Life as Puzzle or Mosaic Purpose of life. Purpose in life. If there is a purpose of life, how does one find it? How does one know when one has found it? If there is no purpose of life but the potential for purpose in life, how does one create it? Are all purposes equally valid?

7. Do we need to know purpose of/in life? Basic needs: food, water, shelter, friendship, etc. Purpose? No people are equal in abilities, so what is the basis for claiming that all people are equal in worth and dignity? Is a life devoted to getting high scores in a video game equal in worth to a life devoted to creating art/music and equal in worth to a life as a serial child rapist and equal in worth to a life devoted to providing aid and comfort to children in hospital cancer wards?

8. What does it mean to be “human?” A human being must have air, water, food, and shelter to continue to exist. These needs are fundamental features of human beings. Is there anything else “essentially human”—that is, a drive/need/desire/purpose that is intrinsic to who we are as beings?

9. Living Authentically is Choosing Authentically What makes a life authentic or inauthentic? What role does choice play in defining our lives, our selves, and our experience of freedom and responsibility?

10. The Meaning of Life and Philosophy Epistemology What is knowledge? Where does knowledge come from and how do we come “to know?” What is knowable/unknowable? How do we know we know what we claim to know? Metaphysics & Ontology What is the nature of reality? What exists? Does God exist? What are the differences between the way something appears to be and the way it is? Do I have a mind or just a brain? Am I free?Ethics How should I/we/people live? What makes an act right or wrong? What is value/worth? What makes an something “good?” Platonism, Rationalism, Empiricism, Skepticism, Constructivism, Relativism, Pragmatism, Determinism, Physicalism, Dualism, Utilitarianism,, Egoism, Objectivism, Subjectivism, Kantianism/Deontology. What’s the point?