Philosopher Thomas Nagel's Essay On The Meaning Of Life

1852 Words4 Pages

Victor Fitzgerald Ochei Jr.
Philosophy 2300-005
Assignment #1
October 13, 2014

Meaning of Life Paper For majority of life I’ve gone through the motions and have done as I have been told to do. Naïve and ignorant to how amazing life really is and refusing to question how things work or what my true purpose is other then surviving. For centuries there have been numerous philosophers to question what our purpose is and have developed different theories to help us get as close as we possibly can to finding the meaning of life. One thing I’ve learned since opening my eyes to the reality of the world is that in our lifetime the closest thing we will have is theories and ideas but we will never know the true meaning of life.
“You will never be …show more content…

He removes himself from a subjective viewpoint and helps us translate all that we cherish to true meaning. Nagel breaks down the subjective and objective to help us realize what is not actually important and vice versa. Life is meaningful if it is objectively meaningful. He argues that since there is no objective metric of meaningfulness, life is not objectively meaningful. If there are no objective standards in the universe, Nagel, therefore, concludes that life is ultimately meaningless (Nagel 755-62). Nagel also strongly believed that there were certain experiences and characteristics that were beyond human understanding. In his publication “What is it Like to Be a Bat” he tries to express that all though we can imagine what it would be like for us to be a bat we could never think like or be precise about what its really like because we aren’t bats. For example we can try to imagine flying around blind searching for bugs to eat but will never have the same senses or perception as a bat. Another example is that of mans best friend. You can crawl on all fours, eat dog food, and imitate barking to the best of our ability. Unfortunately we have human senses and comprehend as human beings due to years of conditioning. He observed that we can describe any number of phenomenon associated with thinking beings but in any of them consciousness seems to be something that may be there or not. In the same way …show more content…

When it comes to the meaning of life for Martin analyzes The Problem of the Meaning of Life vs. The Problems of Life. He distinguishes that there are three different barriers that challenge the meaning of life, which are death, bad times, and philosophical doubts. The problem of the meaning of life is just the life long question of whether or not our lives have any meaning to them. It brings up other speculations such as what is out there beyond my understanding or if there is even a higher power that wants me to serve a certain purpose. Since we are still searching for the answer to The Problem of the Meaning of Life we then try and solve The Problem of Life. The Problem of Life consist of questions about whether or not we are living our life in a way we believe is worth living. Both important questions but Martin is unfortunately stuck since he will never know the answer to The Problem to the Meaning of Life. In Martin’s pursuit to find the answer to The Problem of Life he begins by saying that if one is able to live one’s life so that it is worth living, as possible one will have meaning in one’s life. Martin believed that we could determine meaning in one’s life simply if one is doing something one

Show More
Related

  • Hegel's Phenomenology Of Sprit

    644 Words  | 2 Pages

    In sections 190-193 of Georg Wilhelm Fredrich Hegel’s Phenomenology of Sprit, Hegel looks into the relationship between the lord and the bondsman. In this examination of the relationship, Hegel makes the move to find out what both the lord and bondsman offer to each other in terms of existence and or identity. The formulation that Hegel made in the selected sections is that the bondsman had more to gain in terms of intellectual growth than his lord who becomes intellectually dormant due to the bondsman acting in the likeness of his lord.

    Read More

  • Rick Warren: An Excellent Example of Protestant Leadership

    3305 Words  | 7 Pages

    Warren, Richard. The Purpose-driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002. Print.

    Read More

  • nietzche and hegel

    838 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nietzsche's master-slave morality describes the way in which moral norms shifted through the through eras, from pre-scocratic times to the modern age founded upon Christian and Jewish beliefs. During pre-socratic times, value was dominated and enacted by the master class, who saw themselves and what they did as good. Value was defined along their terms of good- what was good for the master class was itself good. This notion of value was designed along the lines of nobility and purity, which included traits such as courage, beauty, strong-will and happiness. The master-class said yes to existence, and their values affirmed their belief system, which, due to their position of control, created their disposition as elite and influenced the norms for morality at their time. Since the master-class viewed themselves as good, they distinguished themselves from the weaker individuals, those not in power, as bad. The weaker individuals, in pre-socratic times known as plebeians, according to the master-class, were weaker for various reasons. Be it due to their unhappiness, victimization to unfortunate circumstances, weak-will or a lack of courage, pride, or a combination of any of these despicable or non virtuous values. According to the master-class, adherence to these weak values initiated a form of fear within the plebeian, which created a lack of self worth and a lack of freedom or self-consciousness, deemed as slavery.

    Read More

  • A Critical Analysis Of Thomas Nagel's Mind And Cosmos

    1113 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Thomas Nagel’s book, Mind and Cosmos, Nagel argues that physical sciences cannot provide a full picture of life. A few of his arguments are that consciousness is naturally assigned to the brain, [Nagel 35] materialist arguments denying the mind means that the premise is false, [Nagel 15] and lastly, high cognitive functioning such as thinking can only be performed by beings that have a mind. [Nagel 73]

    Read More

  • Tragedy: Shakespeare's Hamlet and Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...against life’s never-ending anguishes. The existstential meaning of life is general falls victim to his questions constantly as he ponders:

    Read More

  • Makes Me Wanna Holler

    1935 Words  | 4 Pages

    The meaning of life is to find the meaning of life. Is it not? We all go through each day trying to figure out which road out the infinite amount of paths will lead us in a better direction where happiness is prominent and society is flawless. However, not every single human being is going to fit on that narrow, one-lane highway to success. Bad choices, accidents, fate, family matters, society, temptation, anger, rage, addiction, and loss of hope can all be deciding factors in opting to choose that wrong path to self-destruction. The adverse thing is, once you've traveled so far down the road, you get so discouraged that you feel like you can never turn back or make up for the "lost time."

    Read More

  • Rene Descartes, Nagel And Plato's Approach To Understanding The Difference Between Soul And Soul

    931 Words  | 2 Pages

    This very intricate nature of consciousness led reductionist to not adequately addressing the difference between mind and body. For Nagel, what makes consciousness or the mind so difficult to grasp is its subjectivity. In the article “ What is it like to be a bat?”, Nagel argues that although science allows us to understand certain attributes and of their behaviours, one simply understands what it would be like to be a bat from a human perspective. This understanding is thus flawed as it is subjective to individual’s preconceptions. Angel asserts that the subjective nature of the minds acts as a barrier to understanding what it is truly like to be anything, other than one’s self. This subjective theory does not simply apply to animals, Nagel gives the example of a blind individual, although constitutionally similar to an individual with sight, there is no way a blind person could perceive or understand what the experience of seeing colour entails. As one’s perception of colour is described in a subjective point of view. One cannot to any sufficient detail, objectively describe what it is like to experience anything, as all experiences as based on

    Read More

  • What Is It Like To Be A Bat Vs Thomas Nagel Essay

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    In today’s society, the mind is a set of cognitive elements which enables an individual’s consciousness, perception, thinking, judgement, and memory. In addition, without our minds and/or conscious experiences, a person would not be able to understand what makes them who they are. Similarly, in Thomas Nagel’s essay “What Is It Like to Be a Bat,” Nagel claims that even though there is something it is like to be an organism, humans are not capable of fully knowing what it is like to be a bat. In addition, Nagel supports his claims through the importance of an organism’s conscious experiences, memories, and knowledge which allow an individual to identify themselves. Therefore, in this paper I will discuss Nagel’s argument which I believe

    Read More

  • Analysis of Meaning of Life by Richard Taylor

    647 Words  | 2 Pages

    Again, I believe Taylor is missing some important feature to his theory. It seems he is correct in stating one should have their own sense of meaning to their life not just others’ perception that one’s life is meaningful. However, there is still the problem of giving equal meaning to everyone life that is doing what they love to do. As a result, to answer this problem one could suggest in order for one to have a meaningful life a person must be subjectively fulfilled by pursuing objectively valuable ends. This way it ensures the person must find meaning in their own lives as well as creating something that benefits many that will give others the perception the person has a meaningful life.

    Read More

  • The Meaningless Life of Grendel in John Gardner's Grendel

    2577 Words  | 6 Pages

    "People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive...." Joseph Campbell made this comment on the search for meaning common to every man's life. His statement implies that what we seem bent on finding is that higher spark for which we would all be willing to live or die; we look for some key equation through which we might tie all of the experiences of our life and feel the satisfaction of action toward a goal, rather than the emptiness which sometimes consumes the activities of our existence. He states, however, that we will never find some great pure meaning behind everything, because there is none. What there is to be found, however, is the life itself. We seek to find meaning so that emptiness will not pervade our every thought, our every deed, with the coldness of reality as the unemotional eye chooses to see it. Without color, without joy, without future, reality untouched by hope is an icy thing to view; we have no desire to see it that way. We forget, however, that the higher meaning might be found in existence itself. The joy of life and the experience of living are what make up true meaning, as the swirl of atoms guided by chaotic chance in which we find our existence has no meaning outside itself.

    Read More

  • Resiliency Theory

    853 Words  | 2 Pages

    When I am asked to make meaning of my life, the biggest recurring theme is my resounding resiliency. I am sure of myself. I have unwavering hope, optimism, and trust in myself. Often, this shocks those who are just getting to know me. Others are not shy to call me naïve. People are normally quite curious as to where this aspect of my personality came from. I believe my resiliency is the result of personal growth through adverse, and dire conditions in my childhood.

    Read More

  • Vygotsky Compare And Contrast Essay

    1066 Words  | 3 Pages

    Humans are, by nature, filled with curiosity. We incessantly seek to learn about the universe. Not surprisingly, we simultaneously strive to learn about ourselves. What is our place in the world? How do we grow into the people we are meant to be?

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Thomas Nagel On Death

    1591 Words  | 4 Pages

    Thomas Nagel begins his collection of essays with a most intriguing discussion about death. Death being one of the most obviously important subjects of contemplation, Nagel takes an interesting approach as he tries to define the truth as to whether death is, or is not, a harm for that individual. Nagel does a brilliant job in attacking this issue from all sides and viewpoints, and it only makes sense that he does it this way in order to make his own observations more credible.

    Read More

  • The Epistemology of Hegel's Introduction to the Phenomenology of Spirit

    1971 Words  | 4 Pages

    In his Phenomenology of Spirit, G.W.F. Hegel lays out a process by which one may come to know absolute truth. This process shows a gradual evolution from a state of "natural consciousness" (56) (1) to one of complete self-consciousness - which leads to an understanding of the "nature of absolute knowledge itself" (66). By understanding the relation between consciousness and truth, one may come to know the true nature of our existence. Hegel proposes to answer these questions in one bold stroke; he relates them in such a way as to make an infinitely complex and indiscernible universe a unitary whole. This process from a natural state to a kind of transcendence leads one from the chaos of the immediate to the sublimity of the universal.

    Read More

  • Hegel’s Dialect: Explanations Through Thesis and Antithesis

    934 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hegel is considered one of the most famous German philosopher’s who wrote and taught during the early 1800’s. Hegel thought that humanity and civilizations was inevitable working towards becoming a free society in hope that this idea and process would spread throughout the world. Many of Hegel’s ideas such as his dialect and triad greatly influenced the 19th century. This movement also translated over into the ideas and findings of people in the new world with liberal and free market democracies who represent the final state of Hegel’s progress. Hegel’s ideas can all be seen as part of a progression and broken down and explained through his teachings and theories, the Hegelian triad, and the legacy that Hegel left behind.

    Read More

More about Philosopher Thomas Nagel's Essay On The Meaning Of Life

Open Document