TY  - EJOU
AU  - Weinberg, W. Rivka
TI  - Ultimate Meaning: We Don’t Have It, We Can’t Get It, and We Should Be Very, Very Sad
T2  - Journal of Controversial Ideas

PY  - 2021
VL  - 1
IS  - 1
SN  - 2694-5991

AB  - Life is pointless. That’s not okay. I show that. I argue that a point is a valued end and that, as agents, it makes sense for us to want our efforts and enterprises to have a point. Valued ends provide justifying reasons for our acts, efforts, and projects. I further argue that ends lie separate from the acts and enterprises for which they provide a point. Since there can be no end external to one’s entire life since one’s life includes all of one’s ends, leading and living one’s life as a whole cannot have a point. Finally, I argue that since we live our lives and structure our living-a-human-life efforts both in parts and as a whole, it is fitting to be sad to recognize that leading and living a life is pointless. My discussion helps make sense of the literature that frequently talks around this topic but often does so vaguely and indirectly.
KW  - meaning of life
KW  - ultimate meaning
KW  - pointlessness
KW  - everyday meaning
DO  - 10.35995/jci01010004