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I'll add some commentary to this later, but right now im going to bed, goodnight....Ok, im back...i didnt get enough sleep last night and i am going to take it out on you...

Throughout the years, philosophers have pondered many important questions. One of the most important of these questions is "what is the meaning of life?". In his book "Philosophical Explanations" Robert Nozick explores the meaning of life. He discusses how death, traces, and God each affect the meaning of life. Using Nozick's ideas I will show that there is no single definitive meaning to life.

(meaning has no meaning)
It would seem that before you can find the meaning of something, you would first have to know what "meaning" is. Which is to say that you might want to know the meaning of "meaning", or if "meaning" even has meaning, before you try to find the meaning of other things. But, trying to find the meaning of "meaning" is like trying to drive over a bridge before you have built it. Why? well, because you must know the meaning of "meaning" before you could ask what the meaning of "meaning" is. If you don't know what "meaning" is, then there is no point in asking what the meaning of "meaning" is, because you could not understand the answer, since you don't know what you are asking. Conversely, if you do know what "meaning" is, then there is no point in asking what the meaning of "meaning" is, because you already know. So, let us look at the second question: does "meaning" have meaning? The answer to that is yes, meaning must have meaning, but that meaning is undefinable for the reasons stated above. Now then, if we cannot define the meaning of "meaning", how could we define a "meaning"? Perhaps we could find a meaning to life, but that meaning could never mean anything. Like if I took one whole jezebwitt and multiplied it by two and divided it by four, I know that I would have 1/2 of a jezebwitt, but that still does not help me because I do not know what a jezebwitt is. I don't even know if it's possible to have 1/2 of a jezebwitt. I could say that the meaning of our lives is to provide carbon dioxide to plants, but I could never find out what that means. Am I even sure that life can have a meaning? I fear that this whole paragraph has no meaning, because I am just playing with words.

(be happy you are going to die)
Now that I have confused you, and myself, let me discuss Nozick's ideas. Nozick first discusses how death affects the meaning of life. Some people feel that death takes away the possibility of meaning in life, while others, such as Victor Frankl, feel that "death itself is what makes life meaningful". For as Frankl bodes "if we were immortal, we could legitimately postpone every action forever" (579). The only reason to do things, Nozick states, is "to put certain things somewhere on our record because we shall die" (579). Which means that death is the only reason we do anything. On the other hand, Nozick proposes that if we were immortal we might be able to find a purpose, or something to focus on, rather than just trying to do as much as we can before we die (580). The absence of death would definitely change life, because death is what defines life. Could we really say we are alive if we cannot die? Isn't a good part of your life devoted to avoiding death? If you didn't have to worry about surviving, what would you do? A rock cannot die, so, therefore, a rock is immortal. Maybe that's why rocks never do anything; they know they will still be here tomorrow, so there is no point in doing anything today. Without death, there can be no life. So, does that mean that death is good? Or, could death only be good if it were ending something bad? If life is good, then wouldn't death be bad, because it ends a good thing? No, death is good for the fact that it makes life by ending it. Death is what makes us change. If we never died, we would always stay the same, just like rocks. So perhaps death gives life meaning, but it does not give life any specific meaning. However, on the other side, how could our lives have any meaning if we are just going to die? We are the ones who make meaning, so if we die, how could meaning continue to exist? And, if meaning will cease to exist after we die, then what is the point of temperarilly achieving meaning? It would be easier if we all just killed ourselves so we could reach the inevitable end a little sooner, and save ourselves a lot of pain.

(everything is relative)
Some people would argue that 1+1=0. Others would argue that a meaningful life is one which leaves important traces. Traces are what people remember you by; they are your impact on the world. If the meaning of life is to leave traces, then the meaning of life is to make an impact on the world. As Nozick states, everyone, whether they like it or not, makes an impact on the world (583). And, doesn't every living organism leave traces too? Now we have to concern ourselves with deciding how meaningful a life is by how important it's traces are. There is a problem with having people decide what is important, though, because we are biased. A paramecium's life can't be as important as a human life, because a paramecium's life does not make a big impact relative to our world. A paramecium's life, therefore, is worthless and meaningless. However, if we looked at our own existence with respect to the universe, we would find that our lives are meaningless too. Nozick reminds us that according to Science the universe will eventually run down to a state of maximum entropy obliterating everything, including traces, anyway (585). We could view this point of entropy as the universe's death, and what, I ask, is the meaning of the universe's life? If the universe has no purpose or meaning, then, since we are a part of the universe, we have no purpose or meaning either.

(following god does not guarantee a meaningful life)
Now, I realize that some people believe in God, and he, they say, gives their lives meaning. Well that's great. I guess we have our answer, and I can stop writing this paper. Actually, I'm not really satisfied with the God theory. God's plan must have some kind of meaning if we want to gain meaning by helping him achieve his plan. And, what meaning could God's plan possibly have? All we are doing right now is amusing ourselves and destroying the Earth, which doesn't seem like a good plan to me. Nozick suggests that perhaps God put us on the Earth so we could provide food for some more important intergalactic travelers which should be coming by soon, to eat us (586). We have chosen to give God many good human characteristics, but perhaps we should give God a few bad human characteristics also. Has anybody thought about the possibility that God is a liar who is carrying out some evil plan? Maybe God hates us, and he sent his son here to punish him. Maybe God is just trying to trick us. Isn't it kind of suspicious how we never see this God fellow, and he hasn't really let us in on his plan? It kind of makes me think that he may have bad intentions. Well, whatever God's plan is, it has to be important to us in order to be important. If God stopped by tomorrow and said "I have decided to tell you the purpose of your lives. The purpose of your lives is to provide food to some more important beings whom you will meet shortly", would we jump in some marinating sauce, or would we get the nuclear missiles ready? And, would we consider our lives meaningful? Is supplying food to a population meaningful enough for us? Merely being a part of God's plan does not guarantee a meaningful life.

(conclusion: your life is meaningless)
Asking what the meaning of life is, is like asking what is important. The answer you get depends upon the perspective of the answerer. It is impossible for us to get outside of the human perspective, so if there is a true meaning to life we would not recognize it. Unless, of course, it coincides with what we feel the meaning of life should be. Anyone who can answer the question of what the meaning of life is, will be biased by their own perspective. Trying to find a single definitive meaning to life is like trying to find the single most beautiful person in the world. I myself may be able to determine who I think the most beautiful person is, but everyone else would not agree with my opinion. I may be able to find a meaning for my life, but not everyone else would agree with, or be able to identify with, that meaning. It doesn't really matter, though, because we're all going to die anyway. I have a suspicion that people want their lives to have meaning because they want to feel important. But that's no problem, because our perspective allows us to think that we are the most important beings in the universe.

people confused

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