Taylor: The Meaning of Life

In his book, Good and Evil, Richard Taylor (1919-2003) discusses the meaning of life, or rather the dissatisfaction we feel when it is full of meaninglessness. To discuss the essence of meaninglessness, Taylor uses a common example of this tragedy, which is found in Greek Mythology. In short, Sisyphus (King of Ephyra) was found guilty of betraying the divine secrets, thereafter was condemned to an eternity of rolling a heavy stone on the top of a hill. However, the stone never stays put, thus rolling back down the hill, so he spends the rest of eternity rolling the stone up the hill only to watch it tumble down, and so on. Taylor, as most of us would, points out that Sisyphus would be spending the rest of eternity living a meaningless life. This judgment is rather simple to understand: his life would possess no true purpose to it, regardless if the stone was heavy or weightless, beautiful or distasteful, and such.

Further in the chapter, Taylor claims that if an action does not produce an adequate direction in order to satisfy its purpose in your life, then that action (you guessed it) is meaningless. I’m quite certain that we all agree to the claims that he is making, but how many of us actually live according to this simple thought? Not to say everyone is guilty of it, but I would say almost all of us are guilty of meaningless, or rather undetermined, action in our lives. But, I would say spending a short period of each day simply relaxing and not producing any purposeful action isn't a crime, at least in my book. In fact, we would typically see it as quite necessary every now and then. I wouldn't want to speak on behalf of Taylor, but I'm convinced he wouldn't have any disagreement with the idea as well, given that relaxing from responsibility is not a meaningless action, but a necessary one at times. However, Taylor would argue that a life with no particular direction is meaningless: if leisure begins to overwhelm the purpose of your ambitions, then your whole purpose in life is no longer of importance.

Without much effort, we could think of numerous examples that resemble Taylor’s argument — from couch potatoes, to criminals, to those stuck in dead-end jobs. In other words: do you think some people are living a life that resembles Sisyphus’s meaninglessness in eternity? I find it difficult to believe that you would say no. So, if our lives aren't fulfilling a specific purpose (whatever purpose that may be), then can we really say that our life has any meaning to us? On the other hand, if it is, then I would ask, or better yet urge you to ask yourself : what is that purpose?

Comments

A Remedy for the Problem of Free Will

One way that I often approach problems of free will is by first developing a philosophical grasp on the existence (or nonexistence) of time, particularly what it means to God. Given that free will is profoundly dependent on a certain model of time, I believe it to be the basis of where the argument may lead. If we are to say that God has foreknowledge of our actions, we are then committing ourselves to placing Him as coexistent with our dimensions of space and time: if God created all things, then He must know all things. And if He knows all things, then He must’ve known the night before that I was reading Justice (Sandel) earlier today. By assuming the existence of God, we are then saying that God knows all. However, what I think most Theologists don't consider is that God is not a traveler of our time and spacial conditions. He created time, but merely for it to be used as a tool by mankind (e.g. it will take approximately 1.5 hours to arrive to church). Time i...

Are We Living in the Experience Machine that Nozick Designed?

In his book, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), Nozick developed a thought experiment in order for us to contemplate what is intrinsically important to us in our lives. In doing so, he attempts to refute Hedonism and its followers (Epicurus, Mill, etc.), whom popularly argued that happiness as an end is all that matters to us. The experiment is rather simple: imagine there was such a thing as an Experience Machine, in which scientists could attach electrodes to your brain and you could be given the opportunity to experience all of your dreams coming true. You could experience anything from being the world’s greatest novelist, the most accomplished quarterback in professional football, to simply fame and fortune. Also, others could join you in the Machine as well, such as family and friends, so you need not worry about their absence throughout these experiences — you would be given the opportunity to experience them with anyone you wish, so long as they, too, plug into the M...

Nietzschean Repulsion Towards Man

“What produces to-day our repulsion towards “man”? …it is not fear; it is rather that we have nothing more to fear from men …it is that the “tame man,” the wretched mediocre and unedifying creature, has learnt to consider himself a goal and a pinnacle, an inner meaning, an historic principle, a “higher man.” — Friedrich Nietzsche Much of Nietzsche’s work in philosophy was dedicated to exposing Western thought for its foolishness. Although his investigations ultimately led him to an extreme Nihilist position, he nonetheless made a whole lot of sense regarding man and his failures. In his phenomenal book, On the Genealogy of Morals , Nietzsche navigates through modern moral concepts that we’ve inherited, and through detail, demonstrates how we have become our own worst enemy throughout history. The quote above gives rise to many questions, one of which stresses this idea of “man” and how he holds himself as something he is not, insofar as self-awareness is con...

Daily Existentialist

Search This Blog