Chapter 9: meaning of life
who are pessimists
Tolstoy, Schopenhauer, Darrow. Baggini: things to mix up the two senses of meaning, so when they say life is meaningless, they likely mean only that life has no meaning in the external sense.
internal meaning
"the meaning in life"-meaning comes from inside people, humans can give it to themselves. Life is Meaningful for persons if they come to see their goals or purposes as valuable or worthwhile
external meaning
"the meaning of life"-meaning or purpose that comes from outside humanity. Meaning is given or assigned by God, some metaphysical order, or by Universal principle
Principle answers of meaning
1. life has no meaning (pessimist View) 2.life in some sense has meaning (Optimist View) -life's meaning is external -life's meaning is internal
optimism in internalist sense
internalists believe they can have meaningful lives without relying on the concepts of God. they hold that they can confirm meaning of their own life's internalist can be divided into two camps:those who believe that meaning is something they can create (subjectivism) and those who think meaning is something they can discover (objectivism).
Death and ephemeral nature
many philosophers reject the notion that death Rob people of meaning in life. They argue that the fact of death in the ephemeral nature of human Endeavors are irrelevant to the meaningfulness or meaninglessness of a person's existence. If life is Meaningful, then it is Meaningful no matter how long or short it is.
optimism in external sense
most to take the externalist approach view the matter from a religious standpoint. they typically believe that human life has meaning only because it is part of God's plan. Tolstoy took this View and maintained that finding meaning in life requires a leap of faith.
overview
the process of examining the question of life's meaning is personal no one can do it for you the main impediment to clear thinking about life's meaning is confusion about what meaning refers to. The word can refer to external meaning or internal meaning.