Philosophy

A Short Introduction
 What is Philosophy?
Philosophy is about:
– Finding answers to serious questions about ourselves
and about the world we live in:
What is morally right and wrong? And why?
What is a good life?
Does God exist?
What is the mind?
What is art?
Is the world really as it appears to us?
What can we know?
…and much, much more

– Questioning existing knowledge and intuitions to get

closer to the truth
What will you do when studying
Philosophy?
Philosophy is different from many other
arts subjects:
– To study philosophy you have to do
philosophy
We analyze and criticize existing
arguments
We construct our own arguments
– We use fun thought experiments too
 What will you get out of
Philosophy?
Skills that will help
you:
– With your other studies
– Good career prospects
– Understand yourself
and the world around
you
– Prevent being conned
and duped
What will you get out of Philosophy?
The skills are:
– Critical thinking,
– Argument skills,
– Communication,
– Reasoning,
– Analysis,
– Problem solving…
Which allow you to:
– Justify your opinions
– Spot a bad argument, no matter what the topic
– Explain to people why they are wrong and you are
right
– Philosophy basically teaches you to think!
 Health & Safety Warning:
Philosophy can be
dangerous!
– You’ll have the skills to
poke holes in just about
everything anyone says
(which often doesn’t go
down so well)
– With great power,
comes great
responsibility
– Make sure that you use
your powers for good!
 Ground Rules:
Philosophy is not angry debating or
arguing
– Don’t make others feel bad by arguing them
into a corner
– Don’t pick holes just because you can
Be charitable (it’s what good philosophers do)
– Be constructive – work together to find the
truth!
– If you all respect each other (and me!), then
you’ll all get the chance to have your say
 The Philosophy Subjects
What is it to know something (and how
can we come to know something)?
– Epistemology, philosophy of science, logic
What is there (and what are the natures of
these things)?
– Metaphysics, philosophy of mind, philosophy
of religion
What has value (and why)?
– Aesthetics, moral & political philosophy
 Knowledge
What can we have knowledge
about?
What does it mean to have
knowledge about something?
Where can we get knowledge
from?
How can we get knowledge?
Are we just brains in vats?
Can we be sure we know
anything?!
Descartes: “I think, therefore I am”
 Metaphysics
What is time?
Is time travel possible?
Was there time before the universe?
How did the universe start?
What happened before the universe?
Is everything in the universe caused?
Is it possible for us to have free will?
What is the meaning of life?
 Philosophy of Religion
What are the arguments for believing in a god?
Do those arguments give good reason to believe
in a God?
What are the arguments that certain kinds of
Gods cannot exist?
Do those arguments give good reason not to
believe in a certain type of God?

Why would a God who is all powerful, and all

good let bad things happen to innocent people?
 Aesthetics
How can we tell
what is art and
what isn’t?
Is popular art bad
for us?
Why do people
enjoy watching
scary movies?
 Moral & Political Philosophy
Are there universal moral facts?
What is the best possible life someone can
have?
What makes actions morally right or
wrong?
What is the best form of government?
Are human rights real?
When, if ever, is it permissible to go to
war?
 Applied Ethics
Applying moral theories to current real life
situations to assess what we should do
Topics include:
– Animal rights
– Environmental ethics
– Euthanasia
– Abortion
– Cloning and genetic engineering
– Business ethics (e.g. is advertising immoral?)
– Global poverty
 Let’s do Some Philosophy:
Two Thought Experiments
The Trolley Bus Problem and the Spare
Parts Surgeon are examples of problems
you will find in ethics courses
We can use thought experiments like
these to work out what is going on when
we make a moral judgement and…
Give insight into what makes moral
judgements right and wrong
 The Tram Dilemma
An out of control tram will soon
kill 5 people who are stuck on
the track.
You can flick a switch to divert
the tram to another track where
only one person is stuck.
Should you flip the switch?

Should you kill one person to

save five? SWITCH
 The Surgeon’s Dilemma
You are a surgeon with
six patients.
Five of them need
major organ
transplants.
The sixth, an ideal
donor for all the
relevant organs, is in
hospital for a minor
operation.
Should you kill one
person to save five?
 What’s going on here?
Should you kill one person to save five?
– Trolley Dilemma = “yes”
– Surgeon Dilemma = “no”

If you have two conflicting intuitions then

either:
– there must be some morally relevant
difference between the two cases, or
– One or more of your intuitions is wrong
– So which is it?
Philosophy
#2: Moral Theory
The Philosophy Subjects (Again)
What is it to know something (and how
can we come to know something)?
– Epistemology, philosophy of science, logic
What is there (and what are the natures of
these things)?
– Metaphysics, philosophy of mind, philosophy
of religion
What has value (and why)?
– Aesthetics, moral & political philosophy
 Back to Moral Theory

We want to know what makes actions

morally right or wrong…

And, how can we know?

Moral ‘common sense’ might not be

enough
(Remember) The Tram Dilemma

An out of control tram will soon

kill 5 people who are stuck on
the track.
You can flick a switch to divert
the tram to another track where
only one person is stuck.
Should you flip the switch?

Should you kill one person to

save five? SWITCH
 (Remember) The Surgeon’s
Dilemma
You are a surgeon with
six patients.
Five of them need
major organ
transplants.
The sixth, an ideal
donor for all the
relevant organs, is in
hospital for a minor
operation.
Should you kill one
person to save five?
 What’s going on here?
Should you kill one person to save five?
– Trolley Dilemma = “yes”
– Surgeon Dilemma = “no”

If you have two conflicting intuitions then

either:
– there must be some morally relevant
difference between the two cases, or
– One or more of your intuitions is wrong
– So which is it?
Morally Relevant Differences?
You guys try to spot some

And I’ll try to explain them away

Did Our Moral Common Sense get
it Wrong?

Should you kill one person to save five?

– Trolley Dilemma = “yes”
– Surgeon Dilemma = “no”

Does anyone think one answer is wrong?

 Jungle Dilemma

You are trekking alone

in the Amazon.
You discover an evil
army officer and his
troops rounding up
villagers.
Unless you kill one, the
troops will kill six.

Should you kill one

person to save five?
 Jungle Dilemma Cont.

What if there are 2

villagers?
What if there are 10
villagers?
What if there are
100 villagers?

Can you ever kill

one innocent person
to save many?
 Two Main Methods
Consequences (consequentialism)

Fixed rules (deontological)

– You can/can’t/must/mustn’t do X, Y & Z

Or a combination (this counts as deontological)

Are there any rules that will never need an

exception?
 Example: Pushing In

Is pushing in generally wrong?

What makes pushing in wrong?

Is pushing in ever morally permissible?

What can make it (morally) OK?

 Deontological
Who decides what the rules are?

They need to be consistent

They can’t be too specific

Perhaps a rule for making rules?

 Divine Command Theory
Right acts are right because…
They are the actions that God commands
we perform

Problem: The Euthyphro Dilemma…

 The Euthyphro Dilemma

Either
(1) The act is right only because God
commanded that we do it
Or
(2) God commanded that we do it because the
act is right for independent reasons

(1)= morality and God’s commands are arbitrary

(2)= abandon Divine Command Theory
 The Law
Wrong acts are wrong because…
They break the law

Problem: Do we always feel like we have

done something morally wrong when we
break the law?
 Cultural Relativism

Right acts are right because…

your culture approves of them

Four Problems:
1. Can’t criticize other cultures
2. Can’t criticize your own culture
3. No moral progress
4. It’s just not how we decide in the hard cases
 The Golden Rule

Right acts are right because…

they are the ones you would want done to you

Problems:
1. People like different things (e.g.
Masochists)
2. Is it how we decide in the hard cases?
 Kantianism
What makes right acts right?
– An act is right if its maxim treats humanity as an end
in itself and not merely as a means

Maxims are:
– Like policies
– What you intend to do in certain situations
 Consequentialism
Evaluate the likely consequences of each
possible action
Then compare them

But what criteria to use to evaluate??

– Happiness?
– Preference satisfaction?
– A lot of things?
Philosophy
#3: Philosophy of Religion
 The Argument from Evil
(P1) If God exists, he is omnibenevolent, omnipotent and
omniscient. [By Christian Definition]
(P2) An omnibenevolent being would prevent any
unnecessary evil if she could and knew how.
(P3) An omnipotent being could prevent all unnecessary
evil.
(P4) An omniscient being would know all about
unnecessary evils and how to prevent them.
(P5) Therefore, if God exists, there is no unnecessary
evil.
(P6) But there is unnecessary evil.
(C) Therefore, God does not exist.
 Defining Unnecessary Evil
Evil is suffering of an innocent
Unnecessary evil is the suffering of an
innocent that does not create some
compensating good
So, for P6 to be true, there just needs to be
one occurrence of an innocent person
suffering without some compensating good
For example:
– A child being tortured
– A child being horribly burned by a meteor strike
 Potential Objections (to P6)
Suffering is not really a bad thing.
Suffering is always a form of deserved
punishment.
Evil is an illusion; people don’t really suffer at all.
Evil is necessary for a greater good that our finite
human minds could not hope to comprehend.
Evil is necessary so that we may know the
contrast between good and evil.
Evil is necessary in order for us to exemplify
virtues.
Evil is a necessary consequence of free will.
Evil is a Necessary Consequence
of Free Will
God gave us free will
Some people use their free will to create evil
God could prevent all of us from wanting to do
evil,
– but then it wouldn’t really be free will
God could make ‘nature’ intervene somehow to
stop us from doing evil,
– but then the laws of nature would not be consistent and
it would be very hard for us to predict consequences.
– This would make having free will pointless (because we
choose to do things based on what we expect the
consequences to be)
Therefore, there is no unnecessary evil
Is All Evil Necessary for Free Will?
Recall the example:
– A child being horribly burned by a meteor strike
A Common Atheistic Argument
(P1) There is no evidence for God’s
existence
(P2) A lack of evidence is reason to believe
there is a lack
(C)Therefore, there is reason to believe that
God does not exist

So, no evidence is not neutral; no evidence

of something is a reason against it
 A Type of Reply: Cosmological
Arguments
Cosmological arguments try to posit
incredible things about the universe that
need an explanation.
God is suggested as the best explanation.
Together, the argument and the suggestion
are evidence that (some kind of) God does
exist.
So, the atheistic argument is wrong.
A Type of Cosmological Argument:
The Fine-Tuning Argument
(P1) It is an indisputable and yet remarkable fact
that the universe appear to have been designed.
(P2) The best explanation for this appearance of
design is that the universe really is designed.
(P3) Inference to the Best Explanation: it is
rational to believe the best explanation for an
observation.
(P4) Therefore, one should believe that a
designer of the universe exists.
(P5) God is the designer of the universe.
(C) Therefore, one should believe that God exists.
Evidence for P1 of the Fine-Tuning
Argument
If the initial explosion of the big bang had
differed in strength by as little as 1 part in 1060,
the universe would have either quickly collapsed
back on itself, or expanded too rapidly for stars
to form. In either case, life would be impossible.

Calculations indicate that if the strong nuclear

force, the force that binds protons and neutrons
together in an atom, had been stronger or
weaker by as little as 5%, life would be
impossible.
Evidence for P1 of the Fine-Tuning
Argument (Cont.)
Calculations by Brandon Carter show that if
gravity had been stronger or weaker by 1 part in
1040, then life-sustaining stars like the sun could
not exist. This would most likely make life
impossible.
If the neutron were not about 1.001 times the
mass of the proton, all protons would have
decayed into neutrons or all neutrons would
have decayed into protons, and thus life would
not be possible.
If the electromagnetic force were slightly
stronger or weaker, life would be impossible, for
a variety of different reasons.
Arguing Against P2 of the Fine-
Tuning Argument
Some physicists believe in M-theory
M-theory explains big bangs and all
phenomena we experience (without
positing a designer)

What is the evidence for M-Theory?

– It’s under construction
So, Is a God the Best Explanation?
Even if M-Theory is true, where did all of
the strings come from?
Maybe God designed M-theory.
But, who designed God?

Is there really any good evidence for any

position?
Philosophy
#4: Are We Brains in a Vat?
 Easy Questions
What did you
eat for breakfast
today?
Where do you
live?
Do you know
what the time
is?
 Hard Questions
How do you know what you ate for
breakfast today?
How do you know that your experience of
eating breakfast today was not an illusion??
How do you know that everything you have
ever experienced is not illusionary?
How do you know you are not in the Matrix?
 Dan’s Skeptical Argument
(P1) For any of you have knowledge of
anything, then you must know that you are
not in the Matrix
(P2) You cannot know
that you are not in the
Matrix
(C) Therefore, you
cannot have knowledge
of anything
The Movie Theatre Model of the Mind
But Do Our Sense Organs Ever
Trick Us?
Yes

We are tricked by illusions all of the time!

The illusion of simultaneous touching and

feeling
Example of Illusions
Example of Illusions
 More Visual Illusions
http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/index.html
 Descartes
(P1) I think
(C) Therefore, I exist

This argument is circular

– The conclusion is already assumed in the
premise

It’s based on strong experiential evidence:

– We have the experience of thinking
 Dan’s Skeptical Argument
(P1) For any of you have knowledge of
anything, then you must know that you are
not in the Matrix
(P2) You cannot know
that you are not in the
Matrix
(C) Therefore, you
cannot have knowledge
of anything
Time Travel
 Time Travel is Possible!!!

This might be a hoax, but time travel really

is possible
– In fact, many of us have already done it
Being Specific about Time Travel
Actually going to the future or past
– Not just some replica of it

It’s all relative

For me to time travel, there would need to
be a difference between the speed time
passes for me and the speed time passes
for someone or everyone else
What is Forward Time Travel?
Forward time travel: my time goes slower
than yours (like aging slower than
everyone else)

My time goes slower than yours as my

speed increases (relative to yours) and/or
if I am closer to mass than you (and if that
mass increases)
 What is Backwards Time Travel?
What: to me, it seems like your
time is reversing into our shared
past
How: space-time (where I am) is
warped so significantly that it
creates a closed time-like loop
or wormhole to our shared past
The loop allows me to travel
faster than the speed of light
(not absolutely, but relative to
our past as we know it or you
watching me go through it)
A Closed Time-Like Loop
 The Case of Jocasta Jones
Follow the story and keep your eye out for:
– Weird happenings
– Illegal acts
Jocasta’s 2000
The Case of
Jocasta Jones
Jocasta’s 2001 Jocasta’s 2019

Jocasta’s 1910? Jocasta’s 1900?

The ‘No Destination’ Objection
If you missed the first lecture, you may still
believe:
– That the past no longer exists
– That the future doesn’t exist yet
– That only the present time exists
If you believe this, then time travel is
impossible because there is no other time to
travel to
 Reply to the ‘No Destination’
Objection
4-Dimensional space-time
It only seems like the past and future don’t
exist because we are not aware of them
– ‘We’: the event that is our consciousness at this
current time and place in 4-D space-time
4-Dimensional space-time is widely
accepted in physics… and…
Einstein came up with it
Time Discrepancy Paradoxes
If you missed the first lecture, you may still
believe:
– That time or the passage of time is a constant
– That time passes the same for everyone and
everything everywhere
– That Newtonian or absolute time exists
If you believe this, then time travel is
impossible because it involves differences in
how time passes between the time traveller
and everyone else
 Reply to the Time Discrepancy
Paradoxes
4-Dimensional space-time
It turns out that time (and the spatial
dimensions) are relative
– Time is not fixed or absolute or constant
The speed of light is constant, but time is
relative to speed and proximity to mass
– Physicists have proven this… and…
Einstein came up with it
The In Two Places at Once Paradox
No one person can wholly be in two places
at once
– Wholly is important here
If you believe this, (which you should) then
doesn’t that mean time travel is impossible?
– (because it would allow you to go and wish
yourself many happy returns at your last
birthday party)
Reply to the In Two Places at Once
Paradox
Big spatial objects have different parts that make
up its whole.- e.g. the North Island
But, despite what Aucklanders think, the North
Island is never wholly located in one part
All objects are really spatio-temporal objects
In this moment, I am not the whole of me
– Right now I am just a spatio-temporal part of the whole
that is me throughout space-time
Just like tectonic plates (different parts of the
earth’s crust) can rub against each other, It’s
possible for me(present part) to shake my(past part) own
hand at my last birthday
The Paradox of Changing the Past
If you could go back in time, you could do
more study for the test and get a better mark
But, you already have a mark! You can’t
change it – its part of history now!
P1) If time travel is possible, then you could
change the past
P2) It is never possible to change the past
C) Therefore, time travel must not be
possible
 Replying to the Paradox of
Changing the Past
Denying P1: Time travel is possible, but it
does not and cannot change the past
– When you time travel, you create a new alternate
universe
So you can change things, but not things from the
past in our universe
– When you time travel, you can affect the past
because you already did
You don’t change history… you had already affected
it!
An accurate history book would already have a record
of you being there!
 The Grandfather Paradox
If you could go back in time, you could kill your grandfather
before he could produce any offspring
But, if you did that, then there would have been no you to
make a time machine and go and kill him!
Which means that you can’t have killed him…
The Grandfather Paradox (Cont.)

P1) If time travel is possible, then you could

kill your grandfather (before he had kids)
P2) It is impossible for you to have existed if
you succeed in killing your grandfather
(before he had kids)
C) Therefore, time travel must not be
possible
Replying to the Grandfather Paradox 1
Denying P1: Time travel is possible, but you
do not and cannot kill your grandfather
– When you time travel, you create a new alternate
universe
So you can kill some old guy… but it’s not your
grandfather (not from your past)
– But does time travelling to an alternate universe
really count?
Is it time travel or inter-universal travel?
For time travel to be meaningful does it have to be to
our own past?
Replying to the Grandfather Paradox 2

Denying P1: Time travel is possible, but you

do not and cannot kill your grandfather
– When you time travel, you can affect the past
because you already did
This justification doesn’t work this time
If you had already been there and killed your
grandfather… then you would never have existed
Replying to the Grandfather Paradox 3
Denying P1: Time travel is possible, but you
do not and cannot kill your grandfather
– When you time travel, you can attempt to kill
your grandfather, but you will never succeed
Replying to the Grandfather Paradox 3
Denying P1: Time travel is possible, but you
do not and cannot kill your grandfather
– When you time travel, you can attempt to kill
your grandfather, but you will never succeed
– It doesn’t have to be magic or Time Guardians
that prevents the impossible from happening
– Because it’s impossible to kill your grandfather…
it’s necessarily true that you didn’t kill him
– (however that came about)
OK Fine, but where are the Time
Travellers, then?
P1) If time travel ever becomes possible in
the future, then time travellers would most
likely have visited our past already
P2) But there is no evidence of time
travellers in our past
P3) It is very unlikely that the time travellers
could have left no evidence
C) Therefore, it’s very unlikely that time
travel ever becomes possible
Replying to the No Evidence of Time
Travellers Problem 1
Accept the argument
– It’s true that there are no time travellers… but
only because:
Global warming, or
Nuclear war, or
Super-viruses, or
The robotic uprising of the (very) late nineties…
– … killed off all of the humans before we got
around to making time machines!
Replying to the No Evidence of Time
Travellers Problem 2
Denying P1: Only when time travel becomes
possible (by a human creating and turning on
a time machine – a closed time-like loop)
would we expect to start seeing things
appear from the future (recall what Dr. Mallett
said)
– So, we won’t expect to see anything until the first
closed time-like loop is set up
Replying to the No Evidence of Time
Travellers Problem 3
But what about naturally occurring closed
time-like loops?
– If these exist in the future, then they could be
used to travel to our past
Sure… they could… but they would have to
conveniently connect the right two location-
moments in space-time
This is just like aliens possibly existing
– They may just be too far away in space-time for
us to ever meet
 Take-Home Lessons
Time travel in movies is usually illogical, but
Time travel is theoretically and logically possible
in real life
But if you have homicidal intentions towards
your ancestors…
then make sure that you look out for banana
skins
 How to Find out More
Want to know more about time, time travel and
how they impact on other topics from this course
(like free will)?
Enroll in the metaphysics course next year (or
the year after): PHIL225/325
Keep up with the latest science news
– C.E.R.N’s L.H.C. (Large Hadron Collider)
http://lhc.web.cern.ch/lhc/
– Dr. Ronald Mallet (real time machine maker)
http://www.physics.uconn.edu/~mallett/main/main.htm
The Meaning
of Life
‘Absurd’ in the Ordinary Sense
A noticeable difference between what
someone intends or claims and reality
A clash between the internal and external
perspectives
– George Bush doesn’t think he’s a kitten-eater,
but…
– Everyone else knows that he is
 Absurd to Philosophers
The dramatic difference between:
– Our (internal) perception of the significance of
our lives
– The objective (external) perception of the
significance of our lives
It’s absurd because, from the external view,
our lives have only a tiny fraction of the
significance that we feel and act as though it
has
Our Significance from the Inside
Every event in the universe is viewed by its
actual and likely impacts on us
Events are only significant if they are likely
to or actually do significantly affect us
– The universe revolves around us
We are all like this to some extent, but some
people don’t realise that this is the same for
other people!
– You may know people like this
Our Significance from the Outside
Each and every one of us are completely
insignificant to 99.9999999999999999999% of
what exists
– When heat death kills the universe, our plans would
seem beyond insignificant to anything left to observe
Even if we do have free will, so many of our
‘choices’ are still the result of our prior causes
– Why will most of you vote for the same political party
that your parents do?
– Why are you (and not all the other try-hards) so
individual?
 The Human Condition
Also known as the Human Situation
From the inside, our significance is
paramount
From the outside, our significance is
basically none-existent
The Human Condition is being aware of the
contradiction between these two points, the
absurdity of our situation
Humans are thought to be unique in their
ability to be aware of this situation
 The Myth of Sisyphus
Sisyphus made a deal with
the Gods and then went back
on it
They punished him by giving
him a meaningless chore to
do for eternity
Nothing comes of Sisyphus’
labours
– And nothing will ever come of
them
His existence is meaningless
What if He Wanted to Roll Rocks?
Imagine that the Gods
changed Sisyphus’ desires
so that all he wants to do is
roll the rock up the hill
He now gets exactly what he
wants for all eternity
– Sounds great!
But, does this make his
existence any more
meaningful?
 Taylor on Meaning
Meaninglessness is endless
pointlessness
Meaningfulness is activity
with a point, a result, a
significant culmination
So, which of these best
represents all life as we know
it?
– This includes plants and
animals
Is Life (in General) Meaningful? 1
Glow worms, cicadas and the meaningless
cycle of life
The only point of any living thing’s life is just
life itself
Is Life (in General) Meaningful? 2
Humans also follow and perpetuate
the meaningless cycle of life
We imagine that we have goals and
plans, but are they really for anything
other than surviving and
reproducing?
Even when our achievements create
lasting results, like building a temple,
how long will it persist and will it
prevent our children from merely
surviving and reproducing?
 The Meaning of Life is Life Itself?
This answer is not very satisfying
Many people have religious
beliefs that centre around a
departure from this meaningless
cycle
– Going to heaven
– Becoming enlightened, etc.
But which religion is right?
Are there any good reasons to
believe one over another?
What Does ‘What is the Meaning of
Life’ Mean? 1
What does life mean? (Not interesting)
– To us, it means not being dead or lifeless
– To a God, it might mean amusement or
experiment
– To a plant, it probably doesn’t mean anything
What is the purpose for life?
– Various religious purposes
– To continue the cycle of life
– There is no purpose for life
– But, if there is a purpose for life, then life is
meaningless!!
 A Purpose for Life Makes it
Meaningless
P1) If life has an ultimate purpose, then it must be
either possible or impossible to fulfill that purpose
P2) If it’s impossible, then life is cruel and
meaningless
P3) If it is possible, then
– not fulfilling it would make your life meaningless
– and fulfilling it would also make your life meaningless
(because then there would be no more point to it!)
C) Therefore, if life has an ultimate purpose, then
life is meaningless
What Does ‘What is the Meaning of
Life’ Mean? 2
So, perhaps the best way to understand this
question is taking it to mean:
‘How can we make our lives meaningful?’
 How Can We Make Our Lives
Meaningful? 1
The answer should be objective
– We should all be able to follow whatever the
answer is and be able to make our lives
meaningful
Follow religious guidance (and make sure
you pick the right one)
Taylor: Simply understand that the meaning
of life is to live in the manner in which it is
our nature to live
– The glow worm does what is in it’s nature
 How Can We Make Our Lives
Meaningful? 2
Taylor: For humans, then, the meaning of
life is living as we will to live
This might make you dissatisfied with our
lot, but remember – if there were a purpose
for life, then life would very likely be cruel
and meaningless!
Taylor: So, the meaning of life comes from
within us – living in accordance with our will
is how we can achieve meaning in our lives
 What Does this Mean for Us?
Taylor: So, the meaning of life comes from within
us – living in accordance with our will is how we
can achieve meaning in our lives
We are beings-towards-a-future
Our plans are the only significant thing we have –
only the pursuit of them brings meaning to our
lives
These plans are absurdly insignificant from the
outside, but not so from the inside – thank
goodness!
Without the subjective importance of our own
plans, our lives would truly be meaningless
 Dealing With Doubt
But, what do you do if you have a bout of feeling
that life is meaningless?
Watch a child play and see how the tiniest idea or
object can mean so much to them
And remember, the fact that your experiences feel
real to you is enough to give life meaning
And that the same is true of others as well
So, make some plans, do something fun, or just
do something that will make someone else feel
good!
 Take-Home Lessons
Don’t drop out of school or you might end up with
a job like Sisyphus
Don’t ever let George Bush cuddle your kitten
No one likes it when you act like you are the
centre of the universe
With the power to wear a Spiderman costume,
comes the responsibility not to do it in public
The meaning of life is the same for all life
Taylor: The meaning of life is the meaning that
each of us continuously experiences in our lives
through the act of living
How to Find Out More
Enroll in more
philosophy courses
and try to reconcile
your findings about
ethics, free will, time,
biology, what it means
to really know
something,
consciousness etc.
And/or just think and
talk about it