“The Meaning of Life” is an extract from Richard Taylor’s book Good and Evil: A New Direction. with this book Mr. Taylor was thought to hold adopted a extremist subjectivist position of moralss. In this extract he explains why being and life is nonmeaningful and he sheds light into the significance of life. Throughout his accounts Richard uses an illustration from an ancient Grecian myth. The myth is about Sisyphus a Grecian adult male who offended the Gods and was sentenced to turn over a big rock up a hill for all of infinity. Richard starts his account of the “Meaningless of Existence” with the labors of Sisyphus.
Sisyphus is forced to turn over a rock up a hill. when it is near the top the rock will turn over back down and he is forced to turn over it up once more. merely to hold it fall one time more to be rolled up once more and once more for all of infinity. It is Sisyphus’ penalty that we will concentrate on. Sisyphus is the image of a “meaningless. unpointed labor of a meaningless being that is perfectly ne’er redeemed” ( Taylor. Richard ) . He has lost all intent in life except to turn over a rock ; it is a ne’er stoping incubus that he will ne’er rouse from.
Taylor gives other illustrations of meaningless undertakings. a relay styles race with a cherished treasure transported back and Forth in a ne’er stoping rhythm. and a excavation hole merely to be refilled with the same Earth. The points to all this is that all these undertakings are unpointed and without intending. The narrative could be different and Sisyphus can hold significance if he circumstance were different. if Sisyphus rolled rock to the top and all the rock accumulated into a fantastic and digesting temple. he would hold some significance to his labours.
If the Gods as an after idea made it so that Sisyphus’ merely will and want was to turn over rock. so Sisyphus would possibly take enjoyment in his undertaking. This alteration in his perceptual experience does non alter his undertaking at manus ; it merely changes his position. His is still condemned to an infinity of meaningless and unpointed labour. Therefore the being of Sisyphus is meaningless. the labour that he performs leads him nowhere. and everything that he does is in vain.
The universe would be the same with or without his presence. The following subdivision trades with the meaningless of life. he begins this subdivision by explicating what meaningless and meaningfulness is: “Meaningless is basically eternal pointless and meaningfulness is hence the antonym. ” ( Taylor. Richard ) for this subdivision he cites ugly unsighted worms in a New Zealand cave. These worms have the psyche intent of waiting. eating. transforming into winged grownups merely populating a twenty-four hours or two. coupling. puting eggs and eventually deceasing.
This illustration shows us the significance of life. an eternal rhythm that accumulates to nil. and the “point of life is obviously nil but life itself. ” ( Taylor. Richard ) We as worlds differ signifier this merely a small. We have ends that we work for ; once they are completed we set off after another end. all this work goes to household and place. merely to engender others who will follow in the same pes stairss in a rhythm. Even though we are stuck in a rhythm of eternal meaningless labor we look to faith. cosmopolitan justness. brotherhood or any kind of of all time enduring good that we may take for.
The last portion of this extract is the “meaning of life” we return to the narrative of Sisyphus who in this illustration has completed his beautiful tower and is now faced with ageless ennui. before he was faced with the incubus of unpointed activity now he is faced with the snake pit of ageless absence and ennui. This leads into his account that the significance to our lives is “our ain volitions. our deep involvement is what we find ourselves doing” ( Taylor. Richard ) . Even though our being is short and our labors fade we can keep memories of the yesteryear.
The point of life is to go on what we are making because giving up and making nil would be no redemption. The declaration to this extract is that we live life because our will is to populate and construct palaces for our kids so they can construct palaces for theirs. This inquiry of life has puzzled philosophers for centuries. I have besides come across this inquiry. with my logical thinking I could non calculate it out. for if. great philosophers couldn’t so how could I?
Mr. Taylor’s positions are interesting and some of what he says does do sense. The myth of Sisyphus is the focal point of Richard Taylor’s concluding the significance of life ; he explains Sisyphus ageless penalty in item. Richard besides gives other scenarios of Sisyphus’ undertaking. if his labours accumulated into a beautiful tower or if he was some how made to bask turn overing rocks. I agree that in a manner all ours lives are like that of Sisyphus’ labor.
A rhythm of eternal labor. we work towards our small ends and glance of felicity. which are certain to melt over clip. The meaningless of life is explained in the 2nd subdivision ; Richard uses two insects to demo the meaningless of life. the glow worms and the cicala. Richard states that there is no significance to life because it is an eternal rhythm of pointless and nonmeaningful events. At the minute our ends may look a great trade of importance in our lives but in the terminal all our labors are unpointed and meaningless in the terminal.
I understand this point in his account but I disagree. I think a individual can happen significance in every tinkle they do. It is true that this significance doesn’t last everlastingly but the pleasance we take from mundane life and experience is good deserving it. I don’t believe that everything is meaningless in life merely because we all die in the terminal. I believe that it’s non the terminal of 1s life that is of import ; it’s the journey that one takes through life. It is the accretion of mundane felicity that makes our lives worthwhile.
There is an old expression that the terminal of a journey is non of import. it is the lessons we learn along the journey that counts. In the last subdivision of the extract is the significance of life. Richards explains that we live life because of our ain will. I besides agree with this. populating life with a intent and a will is much better compared to populating a life of making nil and ennui because we know it finally ends. I have really optimistic positions of human life ; I believe that everyone’s life has a significance and a intent.
If a individual is deceasing of malignant neoplastic disease and has merely a few months left. but a physician performs an operation and saves him. he will hold significance to populate once more and he will care for the remainder of his life. sure he will decease finally but soon he will be thankful to populate and he will give the physician a ground to go on what he is making. In my sentiment the ground we live is for experience. we live to larn and see new things. Like that old stating about the journey and the terminal. it is the procedure of the journey that is of import. We live life non believing about our deceases. we live it for the experiences that each twenty-four hours brings.
