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The Ordinary Meaningful Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2022

JOSHUA GLASGOW Open the ORCID record for JOSHUA GLASGOW [Opens in a new window]
JOSHUA GLASGOW*
Affiliation:
SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY joshuamglasgow@gmail.com
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Abstract

It is widely thought that we have good reason to try to be important. Being important or doing significant things is supposed to add value to our lives. In particular, it is supposed to make our lives exceptionally meaningful. This essay develops an alternative view. After exploring what importance is and how it might relate to meaning in life, a series of cases are presented to validate the perspective that being important adds no meaning to our lives. The meaningful life does need valuable projects, activities, and relationships. But no added meaning is secured by those projects, activities, and relationships being especially significant. The extraordinary life has no more meaning than the ordinary life.

Keywords

meaningimportancesignificancemeaningfulvalue
Type
Article
Information
Journal of the American Philosophical Association , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , September 2023 , pp. 408 - 425
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Philosophical Association

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Footnotes

Earlier versions of this essay were presented at Arizona State University, the First International Conference on Meaning In Life, Macquarie University, the University of Arizona, and Victoria University of Wellington. I am grateful to the participants for helpful discussion, including Jacob Affolter, Nick Agar, Sondra Bacharach, Stuart Brock, Cheshire Calhoun, Ramon Das, Matthew Hammerton, Terry Horgan, Jeanette Kennett, Simon Keller, Iddo Landau, Keith Lehrer, Catriona Mackenzie, Joan McGregor, Richard Menary, Doug Portmore, Steven Reynolds, Lucy Schwarz, Lucas Scripter, Ikuro Suzuki, Justin Systyma, and Mark Timmons. I am also grateful to Shani Long Abdallah, Kayla Brown, Kristi Mitrick, and Rebecca Robinson for their feedback provided during our regular research group meetings. Final thanks go to an anonymous referee for this journal for extensive feedback and dialogue.

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