Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-r6qrq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T12:28:42.219Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Acquiring Meaning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

Clifford Williams
Affiliation:
Trinity International University, Illinois
Get access

Summary

“Chapter 4 describes four ways philosophers have thought that one could acquire meaning - by achieving goals, being creative, having certain virtues and emotions, and giving and receiving love. One aim of the chapter is to show that each of these ways of acquiring meaning is made richer when accompanied by relevant emotions. Another aim is to show that all four ways of acquiring meaning are legitimate and that a believer in a divine creator can adopt all four. This second aim is relatively uncontroversial, though it is rarely stated.The first way of acquiring meaning - achieving goals - is defended against Arthur Schopenhauer’s critiques of goal-aimed activities. The validity of Kieran Setiya’s use of non-goal aimed activities (“atelic” activities) to respond to Schopenhauer’s critiques is also discussed. The chapter ends with seven observations about meaning after having looked briefly at conceptions of meaning that do not fit well into any of the four ways of acquiring meaning described in the chapter.”

Type
Chapter
Information
Religion and the Meaning of Life
An Existential Approach
, pp. 56 - 78
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Acquiring Meaning
  • Clifford Williams, Trinity International University, Illinois
  • Book: Religion and the Meaning of Life
  • Online publication: 23 March 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108377317.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Acquiring Meaning
  • Clifford Williams, Trinity International University, Illinois
  • Book: Religion and the Meaning of Life
  • Online publication: 23 March 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108377317.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Acquiring Meaning
  • Clifford Williams, Trinity International University, Illinois
  • Book: Religion and the Meaning of Life
  • Online publication: 23 March 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108377317.005
Available formats
×