class: center, middle, inverse, title-slide .title[ # The meanings of the question ] .subtitle[ ## Susan Wolf ] .date[ ### PHIL 2350 The Meaning of Life - FS23 ] --- # Agenda for this week 1. Video Lecture 1: John Wisdom: The Meanings of the Questions of Life 2. Video Lecture 2: Susan Wolf: Meaning in Life 3. Quiz ### For next week (after Thanksgiving break) 1. Two readings only. 2. One commentary on *one* of the readings. 3. One reply to *one* commentary. - Reading 1: Thomas Nagel: Death (pp. 215-222) - Reading 2: Bernard Williams: The Makropulos Case: Reflections on the Tedium of Immortality (pp. 223-238) --- class: medium-font # Questions for this week 1. What is the main thesis of Wisdom regarding the meaning of life? 2. What argument does Wisdom object to? What is the conclusion of that argument? Which premise or premises does Wisdom believe are false? 3. Why should one believe that the question of the meaning of something requires invoking an external context? 4. Why doesn't the question of the meaning of life need to invoke an external context? 5. What is the difference between objectivism and subjectivism about value? 6. What is the difference between objectivism and subjectivism about the meaning of life? 7. What is Wolf’s main thesis regarding the meaning of life? What is her argument? 8. What does Wolf mean by “active engagement”? 9. What does Wolf mean by “projects of worth”? 10. Why should one believe that the meaning of life requires both active engagement and projects of worth? --- # Susan Wolf (1882-1936) .pull-left.w35[ <img src="assets/susan-wolf.jpg" alt="" width="500"/> ] .pull-right.w60[ - An American philosopher, born in 1952. - Areas of research: moral philosophy and philosophy of action. - "Moral Saints" (1982): Distinction between being _morally perfect_ and having the kind of life we think is good for the person who leads it. ] --- # Objectivism vs. subjectivism about _value_ __Subjectivism about value__: According to subjectivism about value, something is intrinsically valuable because either (i) it produces pleasure or enjoyment to an individual, or (ii) satisfy some of the person's desires. If something is intrinsically valuable, then it must either (i) produce pleasure, or (ii) satisfy a person's desires. Examples: - Sensual pleasure (e.g., food, sex, contemplation, etc.). - Accomplishing of goals (e.g., reaching the top of a mountain, have kids, get married, etc.) According to subjectivism about value, either pleasure or desire-satisfaction is _necessary_ for something to be intrinsically valuable. --- # Objectivism vs. subjectivism about _value_ __Objectivism about value__: According to objectivism about value, something is intrinsically valuable independently of whether (i) it produces enjoyment, or (ii) it satisfies a person's desires. Something can be intrinsically valuable even if (i) the person experiences suffering as a cause of it, or (ii) does not desire it. Examples: - Education (getting a college degree even if you don't want it). - Health (might involve pain or go against your wishes). - Being a good person. - Doing worthwhile activities (help others, promote goodness or knowledge). (Note: you can still enjoy or desire these things, the point is that _not necessary_ that they are enjoyable or desirable for being valuable.) --- ## Objectivism vs. subjectivism about _life's meaning_ __Subjectivism about life's meaning__: According to subjectivism about life's meaning, life is meaningful for someone because either (i) it involves net pleasure or enjoyment for the person, or (ii) satisfied most (if not all) of the desires of the person. __Objectivism about life's meaning__: According to objectivism about life's meaning, life is meaningful for someone independently of whether (i) it involves net pleasure or enjoyment for the person, or (ii) satisfied most (if not all) of the desires of the person. - According to _subjectivism_ about life's meaning, either pleasure or desire-satisfaction is _necessary_ for a meaningful life. - According to _objectivism_ about life's meaning, either pleasure or desire-satisfaction are _not necessary_ for a meaningful life. --- # Wolf's _Meaning in Life_ Main thesis: A meaningful life is one that actively engages in projects of worth. 1. If a life doesn't _actively engage_ in projects, then that life is meaningless. 2. Thus, if a life is meaningful, then it is a life that actively engages in projects. 3. If a life is not involved in _projects of worth_, then that life is meaningless. 4. Thus, if a life is meaningful, then it is a life that is involved in projects of worth. 5. Thus, if a life is meaningful, then it is a life that actively engages in projects of worth. --- # Active engagement - Active engagement: "_A person is actively engaged by something if she is gripped, excited, involved by it. Most obviously, we are actively engaged by the things and people about which and whom we are passionate. Opposites of active engagement are boredom and alienation._" (p. 105) - Distinction between being actively engaged and experiencing pleasure: - Writing a book - Climbing a mountain - Training for a marathon - Caring for an ailing friend - The feeling of engagement brings the feeling of being "especially alive" (p. 206). --- # Premise 1: Active engagement and meaning P1: If a life doesn't _actively engage_ in projects, then that life is meaningless. > A life is meaningless if it lacks active engagement with anything. A person who is bored or alienated from most of what she spends her life doing is one whose life can be said to lack meaning. Note that she may in fact be performing functions of worth. A housewife and mother, a doctor, or a busdriver may be competently doing a socially valuable job, but because she is not engaged by her work (or, as we are assuming, by anything else in her life), she has no categorical desires that give her a reason to live. (p. 207) Thus, a meaningful life must be _actively engaged_ in projects (P2). --- # Projects of worth - Projects of worth: Projects that are _objectively_ valuable. - Their value is independent of what any person either (i) experiences or (ii) desires. > Sometimes people have concerns about meaning despite their knowledge that their lives to date have been satisfying. Indeed, their enjoyment and “active engagement” with activities and values they now see as shallow seems only to heighten the sense of meaninglessness that comes to afflict them. Their sense that their lives so far have been meaningless cannot be a sense that their activities have not been chosen or fun. When they look for sources of meaning or ways to add meaning to their lives, they are searching for projects whose justifications lie elsewhere. (p. 206) The possibility of seeing one's past enjoyment as shallow means that the meaning of life must have an objective component. --- # P3: Projects of worth and meaning P3: If a life is not involved in _projects of worth_, then that life is meaningless. > [S]omeone who is actively engaged may also live a meaningless life, if the objects of her involvement are utterly worthless. It is difficult to come up with examples of such lives that will be uncontroversial without being bizarre. In the bizarre category, we might consider pathological cases: someone whose sole passion in life is collecting rubber bands, or memorizing the dictionary, or making handwritten copies of "War and Peace". Controversial cases will include the corporate lawyer who sacrifices her private life and health for success along the professional ladder, the devotee of a religious cult, or the pig farmer who buys more land to grow more corn to feed more pigs to buy more land to grow more corn to feed more pigs. (p 207) Thus, a meaningful life must be involved in _projects of worth_ (P4). --- # Wolf's argument 1. If a life doesn't _actively engage_ in projects, then that life is meaningless. 2. Thus, if a life is meaningful, then it is a life that actively engages in projects. 3. If a life is not involved in _projects of worth_, then that life is meaningless. 4. Thus, if a life is meaningful, then it is a life that is involved in projects of worth. 5. Thus, if a life is meaningful, then it is a life that actively engages in projects of worth. Question: Is Susan Wolf committed to _subjectivism_ about life's meaning, or _objectivism_ about life's meaning? -- Answer: If desire-satisfaction is _necessary_ for a meaningful life, then Wolf's view counts as __subjectivist__, strictly speaking. However, the view clearly adopts an _objective_ component: According to Wolf, objective worth is also _necessary_ for a meaningful life.