Life Meaning and Sign Meaning

Abstract

Philosophers once dismissed questions about meaning in life as conceptually confused. Only language and related phenomena, it was thought, can have meaning; thus, to ask about the meaning of life is to misapply the concept. Recent work by Susan Wolf, Thaddeus Metz, Aaron Smuts, and others has brought new attention and respectability to the topic. However, while talk of life meaning is no longer considered nonsense, most theorists continue to assume that such talk has nothing to do with meaning in the ‘sign’ sense that applies to language. In this paper I argue that this assumption is not well justified and that reflection on the example of Sherlock Holmes's life can help us to see why.     

The Meaning of Life Sub Specie Aeternitatis

Several philosophers have argued that if we examine our lives in context of the cosmos at large, sub specie aeternitatis, we cannot escape life's meaninglessness. To see our lives as meaningful, we have to shun the point of view of the cosmos and consider our lives only in the narrower context of the here and now. I argue that this view is incorrect: life can be seen as meaningful also sub specie aeternitatis. While criticizing arguments by, among others, Simon Blackburn, Nicholas Rescher, and Thomas Nagel, I show that what determines assessments of the meaning of a life are the standards of meaningfulness one endorses rather than the size of the context in which that life is assessed. Employing non-demanding standards of meaningfulness to assess a life is compatible with examining it in the context of the cosmos at large. That is also the case if we accept Nagel's claim that to examine a life sub specie aeternitatis is to examine it externally, impersonally and objectively: life can be evaluated as meaningful also when under these perspectives if the standards of meaningfulness we adopt are not overly challenging. Nor does the contingency of our existence, realized sub specie aeternitatis, render our life meaningless. Contrary to a commonly accepted view, then, examining our lives sub specie aeternitatis does not necessitate that we see them as meaningless.     

宽恕的生命意蕴

宽恕以其所具有的道德价值、健康价值、生命价值、人性价值和精神价值成为21世纪处理各种矛盾和冲突的核心词汇。作为一种社会心理现象,宽恕具有生命转化的力量;是一种超越伤害的生命智慧;是人性心灵美德的彰显。深入地阐发宽恕的生命意蕴,有助于把握宽恕的真正涵义。     

Measuring Meaning in Life

The present studies addressed the need for a comprehensive, economical, and psychometrically adequate measure of existential meaning. In Study 1, principal-axis factor analysis of participants’ responses to popular meaning measures identified five latent constructs underlying them, labelled purposeful life, principled life, valued life, exciting life, and accomplished life. These dimensions resonate with the meaning in life concept as understood by Frankl (1963. Man’s search for meaning. (Revised Ed.) London: Hodder & Stoughton) and the panoply of subsequent theoretical definitions (e.g. Battista and Almond. (1973). Psychiatry, 36, 409–427; 2000. Exploring existential meaning: Optimising human development across the life span (pp. 39–55). USA: Sage; 1998. The human quest for meaning: A handbook of psychological research and clinical applications (pp. 11–140). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum). Study 2 used these results as a foundation for developing a psychometrically satisfactory self-report questionnaire of each of these aspects of meaning in life. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) validated a five-factor structure, with each factor loading on a common second-order factor. Study 3 provided evidence for this new measure’s convergent validity and economic property. The final Meaningful Life Measure is reported and provides comprehensive but differentiated measurement of the meaning in life construct.     

The Good Cause Account of the Meaning of Life

I defend the theory that one's life is meaningful to the extent that one promotes the good. Call this the good cause account (GCA) of the meaning of life. It holds that the good effects that count towards the meaning of one's life need not be intentional. Nor must one be aware of the effects. Nor does it matter whether the same good would have resulted if one had not existed. What matters is that one is causally responsible for the good. I argue that the best theory of the meaning of life should clearly distinguish between subjective fulfillment and objective meaningfulness. The GCA respects the distinction. And it is superior to its leading rivals in the recent literature, most notably those of Erik Wielenberg and Susan Wolf.     

生命的意义与死亡的遮蔽

生命的物质属性是探讨生死问题的基点, “生命的意义”和“死亡的遮蔽”是生死哲学理论研究和实践应用的核心。将生死问题放在物种背景下加以分析和论证, 将生命定义为具有内因性死亡功能、能够保持相对稳定、通过产生子代促使物种存续的复杂物质系统;死亡是生命内在功能, 生命的意义由生命本身而自足。医学实践和殡葬活动对死亡的遮蔽表现出不同的内容, 增强医学实践的人文性和改革殡葬活动的生死观均基于生命意义的认知, 为解蔽死亡的探索提供了思想工具。     

Wittgenstein on Meaning and Life

This is a paper about the way language meshes with life. It focuses on Ludwig Wittgenstein’s later work, and compares it with Leo Tolstoy and Saint Augustine’s confessions. My aim is to better understand in this way what it means to have meaning in language, as well as meaning in life.

Creativity and Meaning in Life

To forestall scepticism about meaning in life as a distinct final value, I sketch a preliminary characterization of meaning as superlative final value in life. I then make the case that this characterization helps us better appreciate a neglected substantive account of meaning, namely, Richard Taylor's creativity account. After laying out the creativity account, I argue that it is not just very compelling, but more compelling under the superlativeness characterization than the most prominent of the recent substantive accounts.     

Meaning in Life and Self-Cultivation

The Journal of Value Inquiry -     

Immorality and the Meaning of Life

The Journal of Value Inquiry -     

生命意义的内涵、测量及功能

研究者通常用目的和含义来定义生命意义,或者把它定义为多维度的结构。认知、动机和情感是被提及最多的生命意义的组成维度。动机和认知维度得到了较多研究者的认可,而情感维度存在较大争议。生命意义是幸福不可或缺的元素,它能够影响许多与幸福有关的变量。目前的研究对生命意义的动机维度(生命意义寻求)及如何获得和提高生命意义研究较少,今后的研究可针对这两方面开展。     

太岁大将军的生命意义

古人以木星为岁星,太岁大将军神即是由对星辰的自然崇拜演变来的,并具有生命崇拜的意义。作为岁星神格化的太岁大将军与每个人的生命结下不解之缘,每个人都可在其中找到保护自己的本命星君。太岁作为值岁的神,与每一年的年运如何相关,而人的命运是一年又一年的“年运”构成的,人们希望借助于太岁神的庇护,岁岁平安。人们只要“诸恶莫作,众善奉行”,就会得到它的庇佑,应人们的请求,回报人们正面的价值,带来人们岁岁的平安,亦即世俗所谓“有求必应”。这是道教太岁大将军引导人们行善做好事,对于人们生命的劝善意义。     

Death and the Meaning of Life

Abstract

Thoughts of mortality sometimes bring on a crisis in confidence in the meaning in one's life. One expression of this collapse is the midlife crisis. In a recent article, Kieran Setiya argues that if one can value activities as opposed to accomplishments as the primary goods in one's life then one might avoid the midlife crisis. I argue that Setiya's advice, rather than safeguarding the meaning in one's life, substitutes for it something else, a kind of happiness. I use Susan Wolf's concept of meaning in order to make this case. Wolf has not written much about the importance of death, but I argue that her account of meaning shares essential features with the theories developed by Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger. Sartre argues that death is an unqualified harm, while Heidegger argues that there is meaning in life only because we are mortal. I conclude by showing how Heidegger's theory of mortality underwrites accounts of meaning like those found in Wolf.