Exam 10: Epicurus in Waking or in Dream

Schopenhauer says, "For all that, it must rouse our sympathy to think how very little the Will, this lord of the world, really gets when it takes the form of an individual; usually only just enough to keep the body together. This is why man is so very miserable."

Wolf asserts that the "cases of the idle rich, the corporate executive and the pig farmer are in some ways very different, but they all share at least this feature: they can all be characterized as lives whose dominant activities seem covariant with modern existence."

Explain what Epicurus means when he argues that life should be directed to happiness "since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed toward attaining it." Do you agree with Epicurus? Explain your answer.

Wolf says, "I am suggesting that we can have a reason to do something or to care about something that is grounded not in our own psychologies, nor specifically in our own desires, but in a fact about the world."

Wolf says, "Some people do undoubtedly get very upset, even despondent when they start to think about their cosmic insignificance. They want to be important, to have an impact on the world, to make a mark that will last forever. When they realize that they cannot achieve this, they are very disappointed. The only advice one can give to such people is: Get Over It."

According to Nagel, "There does not appear to be any conceivable world (containing us) about which unsettlable doubts could not arise. Consequently the absurdity of our situation derives not from a collision between our expectations and the world, but from a collision within societies."

Trisel says, "If there is no superior being to provide us with this affirmation, it does not mean that our lives are bad or not truly meaningful. Rather, it simply means that our judgments about our lives cannot be __________. However, if we conclude, using objective criteria, that our lives are good and that one's life can be meaningful, the lack of a confirmation from a superior being does not, in any way, undermine or invalidate this judgment."

Explain what Schopenhauer means when he says, "A man finds himself, to his great astonishment, suddenly existing, after thousands and thousands of years of non-existence: he lives for a little while; and then, again, comes an equally long period when he must exist no more. The heart rebels against this, and feels that it cannot be true."

Trisel says, "If God exists and he created humanity as a means to fulfilling a purpose, but then chose not to clarify his purpose or our role, leaving people in a state of doubt, then this would be tantamount to letting evil exist."

According to Kierkegaard, "If there were no eternal consciousness in a man, if at the foundation of all there lay only a wildly seething power which writhing with obscure passions produced everything that is great and everything that is insignificant, if a bottomless void never satiated lay hidden beneath all-what then would life be but ...?"

Epicurus wants us to realize that an awareness of our mortality allows us to enjoy life as long as we have it, and that "a right understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable, not by adding to life an unlimited time, but by taking away the yearning after ..."

Trisel says, "Albert Einstein is often mentioned as someone who led a meaningful life. In judging whether his life was meaningful, no one would ever ask 'Was his existence intended?' Whether or not a person's existence was intended is irrelevant to whether this person's life is meaningful." Do you agree with Trisel? Explain your answer.

Trisel tells us that some people have argued that "As long as human life, in general, was intended by God, then human life would purportedly have an objective meaning, regardless of whether the existence of a particular individual was intended by his or her parents or God." What is Trisel's position regarding this claim?

Explain the meaning of Kierkegaard's claim: "if there were no sacred bond which united mankind, if one generation arose after another like the leafage in the forest, if the one generation replaced the other like the song of birds in the forest, if the human race passed through the world as the ship goes through the sea, like the wind through the desert, a thoughtless and fruitless activity, if an eternal oblivion were always lurking hungrily for its prey and there was no power strong enough to wrest it from its maw" then life would be empty.

According to Wolf, "Though there may well be many things going on when people ask, 'What is the meaning of life?', the most central among them seems to be a search to find the secret to immortality."

Explain what Nagel means when he says, "I would argue that absurdity is one of the most human things about us: a manifestation of our most advanced and interesting characteristics. Like skepticism in epistemology, it is possible only because we possess a certain kind of insight-the capacity to transcend ourselves in thought."

According to Trisel, "in regard to whether one's individual life can be meaningful, it does not matter whether life was intended or arose by chance." Explain some of Trisel's arguments in support of his claim.

According to Trisel, "Even if life arose by chance, the universe contained the _________ to create human life, as demonstrated by our existence."

Taylor uses the myth of Sisyphus story as an illustration of rationality.

Schopenhauer says, "Hence most people, if they glance back when they come to the end of life, will find that all along they have been living fallaciously: they will be surprised to find that the very thing they disregarded and let slip by unenjoyed, was just the life in the expectation of which they passed all their time."