The Ordinary Meaningful Life

Jacksprat · Dec 9, 2022

One vibrant discussion in philosophy has taken up this question: the conversation about how we can find meaning in our lives. Most of the parties to this debate (who otherwise disagree about the nature of meaningfulness) converge on the conclusion that being extraordinarily important would add meaning to one’s life. In a recent article in the Journal of the American Philosophical Association, “The Ordinary Meaningful Life,” I challenge that near-consensus.

I argue that we get no extra meaning from being important that is not equally available in the unimportant, ordinary life.

Article Spotlight: “The Ordinary Meaningful Life” by Joshua Glasgow | Daily Nous

After a bit of a delay, we’re resuming the Article Spotlight series, in which the authors of recent journal articles are invited to write brief posts here about them. As noted at the time of the first installment, the articles featured will tend to be ones judged to be of interest to a wide...

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I have no belief if this is true or false. Interested in what others think.

Drowning Man · Dec 9, 2022

Try to be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.

Jacksprat · Dec 9, 2022

If I faced this kind of choice, I would choose the more important path. But though it would be the more choice-worthy path, I do not think it would be more meaningful. Increasing its objective value provides it with no additional meaning for me than would increasing the importance of some project that I have no subjective attraction to, such as if you moved my job cleaning septic systems from a gated community of vacation homes to an impoverished city that is knee-deep in a sanitation crisis.