What is the meaning of life Essay Essay Example

What is the meaning of life? Essay Paper What is the significance of life? Many agree that the reply depends on the individual inquiring the inquiry. When Albert Camus and Richard Taylor make up ones mind to reply this inquiry. they must take an in-depth expression into the existent and fabulous universes to get at a concise reply to this inquiry that has baffled so many. Both have similar positions with elusive differences – nevertheless Taylor’s position is the more accurate of the two. When looking into the biological universe. Taylor clearly describes how much of it can be identified with the Grecian narrative of Sisyphus. His first of two illustrations take an in-depth expression into glowworms. They go through this rhythm like Sisyphus did with his stone and finally they have nil more to demo for it than reproducing. They are condemned to this destiny and like the stone that Sisyphus rolls up the hill. once they fall down. the load is passed onto the following coevals of worms. doing their being finally unpointed. The narrative is the same with migrating birds. as they seasonally migrate across the planet merely to make the exact same thing the following twelvemonth ( Klemke. 2008 ) . We will write a custom essay sample on What is the meaning of life? Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on What is the meaning of life? Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on What is the meaning of life? Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The attempt put into this. like the attempt Sisyphus puts into turn overing the stone up the hill. finally accomplishes nil and in the terminal is ineffectual. The birds are condemned to a meaningless undertaking that has no significance. but gives them aim. Taylor states â€Å"The point of any life thing’s life is. obviously. nil but life itself† ( Klemke. 2008 ) . something that Sisyphus himself endures as he rolls the stone throughout infinity. with the lone difference between him and the biological existences being that alternatively of each being making the same insistent undertaking for infinity. they pass on their mundane undertakings to the following coevals. Taylor’s solution to the significance of life is a complicated one since he genuinely sees perfectly no significance to it. Everything in this universe is contingent and as a whole is apparently nonmeaningful. This is what he calls ‘objective meaning’ . He went on to state that life has no terminal end and that what you do can neer be more than you. something similar to what Sisyphus went through. At the same clip. he went on to state how life besides has subjective significance. significance that life affairs to the individual life in that universe in that period of clip. As Sisyphus was turn overing the stone up hill hill for infinity. Taylor asks what if the Gods had made it his ageless desire to turn over that stone up that hill. and what if he enjoyed nil else more than turn overing that stone for the remainder of his life ( Klemke. 2008 ) . The same can be said about those that do what they love. and even though that has no nonsubjective significance as a whole. it could hold subjective significance to the single executing the undertaking since there is nil else they would instead make. He went on to state that as clip passes â€Å"A funny oculus can in imaginativeness reconstruct from what is left a one time warm and booming life. filled with intent. † ( Klemke. 2008 ) . This was in mention to looking back at an old waste barren. where although now it has no significance. it one time had subjective significance to others – and even though something has no terminal end. that does non intend that it is nonmeaningful. since in that minute in clip it had significance. He sees the significance of life as nil but life itself. and that the lone manner to populate a full and meaningful life is to make something that has significance to you. The terminal end does non count every bit long as what you are making has significance to you. and one thing does non hold greater significance over another. His solution involved projecting intending onto our ain lives by encompassing our battles. even if they accomplish nil lasting and worthwhile ( Cengage. 2013 ) . Camus had a somewhat different solution to the significance of life. He genuinely saw no significance to life and questioned why anyone would of all time desire to populate in it ( Klemke. 2008 ) . He questioned people’s motivations and why all persons would neer perpetrate self-destruction when they know that they saw the universe they lived in. He sees the universe as absurd and the fact that we can accept that as surprising. Rational existences live in an irrational universe. where people who are obsessed with ground can non happen it. He sees that the there is perfectly no significance to the universe. When he relates human lives to Sisyphus. he considers our mundane lives as forcing a stone up a hill and forcing it back down in a ceaseless rhythm until decease. The calamity of it is that we are neer genuinely witting of the absurd. and in those minutes when we are witting of the absurd. we experience the greatest moral ruin conceivable. The lone manner to populate in this universe is to populate in contradiction. Once we can accept that the universe we live in is absurd. we no longer necessitate to populate for hope or hold this deceasing demand for intent ( Tomo. 2013 ) . It means non merely accepting it but besides being to the full witting and cognizant of it. because that is the lone manner we can bask the freedoms of life every bit long as we abide by a few common regulations ( Lane. 2013 ) . He sees this as being the ultimate manner to encompass everything the unreasonable universe has to offer us. This is known as absurd freedom. when you are witting of the universe you live in and are freed from the absurdness. You can so make a point of credence where you can experience genuinely content with your ain life ( Lane. 2013 ) . He considers Sisyphus as being the absurd hero. since he performs a meaningless undertaking because he hates decease. and so he does this meaningless undertaking to populate to the fullest. He embraces his fate and one could truly believe that he is happy with it. The significance of life besides does non count about what are the best minutes of life. or making what is meaningful to the person. but who did the most living. This can be farther explained with Camus’s mention to Sisyphus. where the lone thing distinguishing our lives from his is that his is ageless. As worlds. we will finally deteriorate and decease off. and in a universe where nil has significance and everything is insistent. the 1 who has lived for the longest period of clip has genu inely made the most of it. Out of the two solutions. it is clear why both Camus and Taylor thought the manner they did. One solution was based on making things in general while the other focused on life every bit long as physically possible. In my sentiment. although both have strong termss. I must state that although Camus place is somewhat stronger logically. Taylor’s place has much better emotional grip. When Camus states that the universe is wholly absurd and that none of it has any significance. his statement makes sense. We live in a universe where even though we are animals that demand concluding and intending for everything. there is none in the universe we are presently in. Taylor agrees to a certain extent. but so introduces his thought of different sorts of significance: subjective. He tries to give significance to undertakings that give us fulfillment – true subjective significance. but these same undertakings have no nonsubjective significance since they have no terminal end. Logically. such undertakings can hold no significance because they have no permanent value. something that Camus himself tried to explicate. finally doing Camus’s place stronger logically. Emotionally. the instance is rather the antonym. Camus tells us we should accept our destiny and merely seek to populate on this planet for every bit long as we can. something merely an atheist would volitionally accept with grace. He goes on to state every bit long as there is no terminal end in life ; there is no significance in life. However. many that live their every twenty-four hours lives do non believe on such an passionless degree. Taylor on the other manus gives the place of there being two different sorts of significances. and although nonsubjective significance doesn’t exist. subjective significance can give each one of us our ain definition of what significance is. which in this instance is something to make. Even though the apogee of these events will finally take to nil. it doesn’t mean that they were a complete waste of clip since they gave us something to make ( . The same can be said about the birds and the glowworms. Their lives have no terminal end as their lives were nil but a ceaseless rhythm. but it gave them something to make in life – no affair how meaningless it may look to person looking from the exterior in. The most of import point Taylor makes is that the undertakings we do can hold significance to us. but another single looking in could see the exact same undertaking as being meaningless. and that is to be expected. Subjective significance depends on the exact minute in clip. which relates to such looks as â€Å"live in the moment† or â€Å"Carpe Diem† . because after that minute has passed. all the significance that is associated with it disappears. Peoples like to believe that what they’re making will ever hold significance in one signifier or another. and every bit long as they believe in that. they are in a better province of head than believing that everything in life is nonmeaningful and that we should merely endeavor to populate every bit long as we can. This can be seen as life in denial. but emotions are something worlds unlike many animate beings live with on a minutely footing and must be accounted for. Furthermore. although Camus place makes logical sense. it makes small to cognize emotional sense since it does non account for the human facet of life. Citation Barnett. Richard. â€Å"An absurd religion: Camus and The Myth of Sisyphus. † Internet Archive: Wayback Machine. hypertext transfer protocol: //web. archive. org/web/20071012140207/http: //www. geocities. com/a_and_e_uk/Sisyphus. htm ( accessed March 19. 2013 ) . ( Merely for research intents ) Lane. Bob. â€Å"The Absurd Hero. † Vancouver Island University. Degree Programs Canada – Master A ; Bachelor Education Degrees Canada | VIU. hypertext transfer protocol: //records. viu. ca/www/ipp/absurd. htm ( accessed March 19. 2013 ) . Klemke. E. D. . and Steven M. Cahn. â€Å"Albert Camus: The Myth of Sisyphus. † In _The significance of life: a reader_ . 3rd erectile dysfunction. New York: Oxford University Press. 2008. 72-82. Klemke. E. D. . and Steven M. Cahn. â€Å"Richard Taylor: The Meaning of Life. † In _The significance of life: a reader_ . 3rd erectile dysfunction. New York: Oxford University Press. 2008. 134-143. â€Å"The Meaning of life: Richard Taylor. † Cengage. World Wide Web. cengage. com/philosophy/book_content/1439046948_feinberg/introductions/part_5/ch19/Life_Taylor. hypertext markup language ( accessed March 19. 2013 ) . Tomo. Ramirez. â€Å"Camus. â€Å"Sisyphus† Taylor. â€Å"The Meaning of Life† . † Deanza. edu. World Wide Web. deanza. edu/faculty/ramireztono/phil01/camustaylornotes. pdf ( accessed March 19. 2013 ) .