The Meaning of Life, Spring 2026

This is the course blog for Phil 3375, The Meaning of Life, at Southern Methodist University. Contact: jkazez@smu.edu

Exam 2 Review

EXAM 2 BASICS
  1. Exam 2 is on Monday March 30. 
  2. The structure will be the same as Exam 1
  3. We'll review a little on Wednesday, and more on Friday
  4. To do well,make good use of 
    • blog posts and passages referred to or linked in blog posts
    • your own notes
    • the readings
    • feedback on your RRs
  5. On exam day.... 
    • Define key terms (e.g. "telic" and "atelic"
    • Use examples where relevant
    • Discuss views with specificity, avoid vagueness and unclarity
    • Elaborate --one sentence is rarely enough
    • Give complete explanations
    • Make sure you understand what an "argument" is
POSTS & TOPICS
  1. Feb 23: Live Dangerously (1) -- Nietzsche's rejection of conventional morality 
  2. Feb 25: Live Dangerously (2) -- major themes; "how to live" passages most important, but morality passages too
  3. Feb 27: Social Harmony -- Confucius basics; family piety (xiao); ceremonies, rituals etiquette (li); what li could encompass for us in the US today; Confucius vs. Nietzsche
  4. March 2: Why is there something rather than nothing? -- The meaning OF life vs. meaning IN life; Holt's solution to the (WITSRTN) puzzle (in video)
  5. March 4: Happiness presentation/meaning in life -- Cottingham on what meaning authors are focused on (vs. good life authors)
  6. March 6: Death and Meaninglessness -- Tolstoy's life story; his crisis and the thoughts that brought it on; his arguments for meaninglessness and despair
  7. March 9: Religious Meaning -- Tolstoy's search for meaning; finding meaning in faith; how he overcomes the arguments for meaninglessness
  8. March 11: The Midlife Crisis -- Setiya on the midlife crisis; the problem with desire; telic vs. atelic activities; how to avoid a midlife crisis; risky vs. unrisky telic activities (see workbook as well as here)
  9. March 13: Meaning and Anti-meaning -- Nyholm and Campbell on the meaning scale; are meaningless activities lacking meaning or do they have negative meaning?
  10. March 23: Subjective and objective meaning (1) -- meaning basics; Taylor on the myth of Sisyphus and its three versions; what "meaningful" and "meaningless" mean; animal lives and our lives; Taylor's solution
  11. March 25: Subjective and objective meaning (2) -- Taylor's three arguments; responding to the arguments; Taylor and Tolstoy, etc.
  12. March 27: Autonomy presentation, review
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