The Meaning of Life

"What’s valuable about his book is that he comes at it from a different perspective because he’s actually a professor of English. He’s talking about meaning in the context of literature. Which I think is very important, because I think the issue, the meaning of life, isn’t just a matter for philosophical discussion, though it certainly is that. But it’s also something about which people can learn a lot from the great poets and playwrights and novelists. He’s aware of that connection. He also says, quite sensibly, that the meaning of life isn’t something that’s given to you, it’s not something that’s pre-fabricated. It’s something that you have to construct. So he has a view of meaning that not just develops in your life, it’s something that you develop – by reflecting, by reading and generating ideas about how you want to lead your life. A lot of what he emphasises – like everybody else who is sensible – has to do with social relationships, as an integral part of meaning for all well-adjusted people. It’s a very short book, part of the ‘Very Short Introductions’ series that Oxford does. I think it’s very nice for tying in meaning of life with some literary questions, although he’s also got some good discussion of some of the relevant philosophers. He certainly doesn’t come up with a simple answer at the end, but he says some very interesting things along the way… Get the weekly Five Books newsletter He’s not quite that relativistic – that would allow more latitude than I certainly want to. I don’t think he would say that all meanings that people have are equally good, the relativist view. But he certainly allows for variation."