In Richard Taylor’s article The Meaning of Life, Taylor creates a model of a meaningless life in order to undertake the larger question of ‘what is a meaningful life?’. This is done as a way of addressing the ambiguous nature of what it means to live a meaningful life, as meaning in this sense is an elusive term (Taylor, 22). By determining what a life without meaning would look like, Taylor hopes to gain a sense of what it is that allows for meaning in a life. Upon creating a model of a meaningless life, Taylor will apply it to human life as a way of determining what meaning is, and if it is present in human life. For the purpose of this paper, I will begin by providing an account of Taylor’s argument. I then will object to Taylor’s conclusion by arguing that the myth of Sisyphus is not analogous to human life.
In order to examine what it is that makes a life meaningful, Taylor uses the myth of Sisyphus as a paradigmatic case of a life devoid of meaning (Taylor, 22). In this story, Sisyphus is sentenced by the …show more content…
This is because examining a human life in terms of meaning would evoke a prejudice from the person completing the examination (Taylor, 25). In order to apply his framework, Taylor uses another example, this time of glowworms living in a cave in New Zealand. In this case the glowworms exist in their larval form where their luminescence attracts other insects towards them so that they can feed. This process continues until the larva have grown enough to become adults, at which point they reproduce and then die. This cycle is one that lacks meaning, as it never amounts to anything. This same cycle of meaninglessness can be seen in other life forms, such as fish and birds. Taylor goes on to say that ultimately no life form successfully evades this cycle of meaninglessness (Taylor,
In order to examine what it is that makes a life meaningful, Taylor uses the myth of Sisyphus as a paradigmatic case of a life devoid of meaning (Taylor, 22). In this story, Sisyphus is sentenced by the …show more content…
This is because examining a human life in terms of meaning would evoke a prejudice from the person completing the examination (Taylor, 25). In order to apply his framework, Taylor uses another example, this time of glowworms living in a cave in New Zealand. In this case the glowworms exist in their larval form where their luminescence attracts other insects towards them so that they can feed. This process continues until the larva have grown enough to become adults, at which point they reproduce and then die. This cycle is one that lacks meaning, as it never amounts to anything. This same cycle of meaninglessness can be seen in other life forms, such as fish and birds. Taylor goes on to say that ultimately no life form successfully evades this cycle of meaninglessness (Taylor,