What is the Meaning of Human Life?

Front Cover
Rodopi, 2001 - 176 pages
This book examines core concerns of human life. What is the relationship between a meaningful life and theism? Why are some human beings radically adrift, without radical foundations, and struggling with hopelessness? Is the cosmos meaningless? Is human life akin to the ancient Myth of Sisyphus? What is the role of struggle and suffering in creating meaning? How do we discover or create value? Is happiness overrated as a goal of life? How, if at all, can we learn to die meaningfully?
 

Contents

Preface
5
THREE
51
Struggle and Suffering
62
Deflationary Accounts of the Meaning of Life
73
Meaning and Significance
85
FIVE Value
93
Infinite Regress and Radical Subjectivism
95
Realism and AntiRealism
98
What Is Happiness?
126
Can Everyone Be Happy?
128
What Is the Relationship Between Meaningful Lives and Happy Lives?
129
Are Moral and Intellectual Virtues Needed for Happiness?
131
Is the Desired Conscious Condition Sustained Joy or Peace Enough for Happiness?
132
SEVEN Death
135
Death Is Irrelevant to Value and Meaning in Life
139
Death Gives Life Meaning
140

Objectivism and Relativism
102
Molding Alternatives
103
What If Our Values Lack Ultimate Foundations?
112
Critical Pragmatism
114
SIX Why Happiness Is Overrated
119
Happiness as Tranquility
120
Happiness and Sociology
122
Philosophy and Sociology
125
Death Deprives Life of Meaning
146
Death Is a Transition
149
Death Is Relevant But Not Determinant
152
Notes
157
Bibliography
163
About the Author 169
73
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Being and Authenticity
Xunwu Chen
Limited preview - 2004

About the author (2001)

Raymond Angelo Belliotti is Distinguished Teaching Professor and Chairperson of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Fredonia. He received his undergraduate degree from Union College in 1970, after which he was con-scripted into the United States Army where he served three years in military intelligence units during the Vietnamese War. Upon his discharge, he enrolled at the University of Miami where he earned his master of arts degree in 1976 and doctorate in 1977. After teaching stints at Florida International University and Virginia Commonwealth University, he entered Harvard University as a law student and teaching fellow. After receiving a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School, he practiced law in New York City with the firm of Barrett Smith Scha-piro Simon & Armstrong. In 1984, he joined the faculty at Fredonia. Belliotti is the author of four other books: Justifying Law(1992), Good Sex(1993), Seeking Identity(1995), and Stalking Nietzsche(1998). He has also published fifty-five articles and twenty-five reviews in the areas of ethics, jurisprudence, sexual morality, medicine, politics, education, feminism, sports, Marxism, and legal ethics. These essays have ap-peared in scholarly journals based in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, Mexico, South Africa, Sweden, and the United States. Belliotti has also made numerous presentations at philosophical conferences, including the 18th World Congress of Philosophy in England, and has been honored as a featured lecturer on the Queen Elizabeth-2ocean liner. While at SUNY Fredonia, he has served extensively on campus commit-tees and as the Chairperson of the College Senate. For six years he was faculty advisor to the undergraduate club, the Philosophical Society, and he has served that function for Il Circolo Italiano. Belliotti has been the recipient of the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, the William T. Hagan Young Scholar/Artist Award, and the Kasling Lecture Award for Excel-lence in Research and Scholarship.

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