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Meaning of Life and Death, The: Ten Classic Thinkers on the Ultimate Question
What is the point of living? If we are all going to die anyway, if nothing will remain of whatever we achieve in this life, why should we bother trying to achieve anything in the first place? Can we be mortal and still live a meaningful life? Questions such as these have been asked for a long time, but nobody has found a conclusive answer yet. The connection between death and meaning, however, has taken centre stage in the philosophical and literary work of some of the world's greatest Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Soren Kierkegaard, Arthur Schopenhauer, Herman Melville, Friedrich Nietzsche, William James, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Marcel Proust, and Albert Camus.
This book explores their ideas, weaving a rich tapestry of concepts, voices and images, helping the reader to understand the concerns at the heart of those writers' work and uncovering common themes and stark contrasts in their understanding of what kind of world we live in and what really matters in life.
This book explores their ideas, weaving a rich tapestry of concepts, voices and images, helping the reader to understand the concerns at the heart of those writers' work and uncovering common themes and stark contrasts in their understanding of what kind of world we live in and what really matters in life.
- GenresPhilosophyNonfiction
254 pages, Paperback
Published September 19, 2019
13 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 23, 2022
If the meaning of life is death, why are we still living??? We are given a life because we have a purpose. And that purpose... Only God knows...
This books is a compilation of books that tries to answer the meaning of life. But all of them never arrive at a conclusion of what life really means. Maybe life is a mystery. No one knows what will happen. And whatever happens still life has to go on. And at the end, everything that has life awaits death.
I been fascinated with life and death. And as I go on with the journey called life, maybe procreation is the purpose of life. Because in the end, as we reach the end of the tunnel someone has to continue. Life is enjoyed with family and friends but the legacy bestowed is celebrated in death.
Stay safe and be healthy everyone.
This books is a compilation of books that tries to answer the meaning of life. But all of them never arrive at a conclusion of what life really means. Maybe life is a mystery. No one knows what will happen. And whatever happens still life has to go on. And at the end, everything that has life awaits death.
I been fascinated with life and death. And as I go on with the journey called life, maybe procreation is the purpose of life. Because in the end, as we reach the end of the tunnel someone has to continue. Life is enjoyed with family and friends but the legacy bestowed is celebrated in death.
Stay safe and be healthy everyone.
December 7, 2025
You can tell it's a good book when it doesn't deliver on the promise of the title and you're happy it doesn't.
July 2, 2023
The book ends purposefully with no conclusion. The author admits that he has no idea what the meaning of life (or death) is, but hopes that the extracts in the book will be useful ‘like a musical composition’ to give readers some ‘aesthetic satisfaction.’ Hopefully they will help readers. so that by the end of their lives they’ll feel that their lives were not a complete waste of time.
Those rather modest aims do not necessarily support each other, as the feelings of aesthetic pleasure, will not necessarily address the intellectual ponderings of meaning. Thus, we find in the book a juxtaposition of philosophers like Wittgenstein and writers like Herman Melville. But there are no summaries or overall attempts to draw implications from them, as that would go beyond the book’s scope of just trying to provide aesthetic satisfaction.
But are people who ponder the meaning of life just looking for ‘aesthetic’ feelings, or are they looking for something more: something like intellectual answers that enable them to think and plan how to live their lives in pursuit of meaning (?).
Readers will encounter Schopenhauer, who reminds them how miserable life is, and that perhaps life is here to cure us from the risk of addiction to pleasure. They will also encounter Kierkegaard who warns us against the aesthetic life, suggesting that humans need more.
Some readers may settle for the aesthetic satisfaction of reading those authors. But others will undoubtedly ask: are either correct in what they say? One thing that readers will not find in this book is any attempt to evaluate or draw conclusions from the cited sources.
For a book written in 2019 I think that is very disappointing. Perhaps it was understandable fifty years ago, when philosophers opining on the meaning of life represented a significant portion of what counted for wisdom on the topic. But in the intervening half century, an entire new branch of Psychology has sprung up: Positive Psychology. The purpose and mission of Positive Psychology is to carry out empirical research to try and provide some answers to questions about how people find meaning, purpose and happiness in life. It is a ‘young’ discipline and clearly there is much that it doesn’t yet know. But, there are books and research papers that do report some conclusions about how and where people find meaning in life.
It is extraordinary that none of the ideas of Positive Psychology found its way into this book: not a single extract or reference. Despite the book being written in 2019, it could just as easily have been written in the 1960s, before Positive Psychology even happened.
Overall, the book has a very ‘old fashioned’ feel to it. Its focusing upon merely trying to provide aesthetic satisfaction, rather than seeking any kind of intellectual illumination concerning human meaning and purpose in life, reflects well the limits of gloomy Post World War II philosophers. But the world has moved on since then, especially the world of Psychology.
Those rather modest aims do not necessarily support each other, as the feelings of aesthetic pleasure, will not necessarily address the intellectual ponderings of meaning. Thus, we find in the book a juxtaposition of philosophers like Wittgenstein and writers like Herman Melville. But there are no summaries or overall attempts to draw implications from them, as that would go beyond the book’s scope of just trying to provide aesthetic satisfaction.
But are people who ponder the meaning of life just looking for ‘aesthetic’ feelings, or are they looking for something more: something like intellectual answers that enable them to think and plan how to live their lives in pursuit of meaning (?).
Readers will encounter Schopenhauer, who reminds them how miserable life is, and that perhaps life is here to cure us from the risk of addiction to pleasure. They will also encounter Kierkegaard who warns us against the aesthetic life, suggesting that humans need more.
Some readers may settle for the aesthetic satisfaction of reading those authors. But others will undoubtedly ask: are either correct in what they say? One thing that readers will not find in this book is any attempt to evaluate or draw conclusions from the cited sources.
For a book written in 2019 I think that is very disappointing. Perhaps it was understandable fifty years ago, when philosophers opining on the meaning of life represented a significant portion of what counted for wisdom on the topic. But in the intervening half century, an entire new branch of Psychology has sprung up: Positive Psychology. The purpose and mission of Positive Psychology is to carry out empirical research to try and provide some answers to questions about how people find meaning, purpose and happiness in life. It is a ‘young’ discipline and clearly there is much that it doesn’t yet know. But, there are books and research papers that do report some conclusions about how and where people find meaning in life.
It is extraordinary that none of the ideas of Positive Psychology found its way into this book: not a single extract or reference. Despite the book being written in 2019, it could just as easily have been written in the 1960s, before Positive Psychology even happened.
Overall, the book has a very ‘old fashioned’ feel to it. Its focusing upon merely trying to provide aesthetic satisfaction, rather than seeking any kind of intellectual illumination concerning human meaning and purpose in life, reflects well the limits of gloomy Post World War II philosophers. But the world has moved on since then, especially the world of Psychology.
January 25, 2021
Excellent!! As a philosopher rookie, this book might take more effort than others but is an excellent introduction to philosophy and more books that will open your mind. This is a book to give or buy. Not to lend or borrow.
February 15, 2023
This was not only a book. It was a whole experience.
September 19, 2023
this is a compilation of notes on philosophy that is, surprisinlgy, leisurely.
January 1, 2026
أن يكون المرء على طبيعته ليس بالأمر الهين. أما السهل فهو ألاّ يكون كذلك. ولهذا، فإن عدم كونه على طبيعته هو القاعدة لا الاستثناء. وأكثر الطرق شيوعًا لعدم كونه على طبيعته هي عيش الحياة بأسلوب جمالي فقط. أن يعيش المرء حياته جماليًا يعني أن يسعى وراء المتعة ويتجنب الألم، وأن يتبع رغباته وعواطفه أينما قادته، ويسعى وراء الإشباع الجسدي والنفسي، والاستمتاع بكل ما تقدمه لنا الحياة من إثارة، وإثراء لتجربتنا الذاتية، وإشباع لحواسنا. المفهوم الجمالي لمعنى الحياة وهدفها هو: "أن يستمتع المرء بالحياة" كما يقول كيركغارد.
بطبيعة الحال، قد تبدو الحياة الجمالية جديرة بالعيش. إنها حياة جيدة، بلا شك، إن حالفك الحظ وعرفت كيف تعيشها. لكن لها عيوبها. عيوب خطيرة. أولًا: لن تدوم. لا تدوم أبدًا. الألم سيأتي لا محالة. الموت سينهي كل شيء. قد نعتقد، ونحن نعيش حياة جمالية، أننا مكتفون ذاتيًا، لكننا في الواقع نعتمد اعتمادًا كبيرًا على الظروف، سواء الداخلية (امتلاك رغبات ومزاج مناسبين في الوقت المناسب) أو الخارجية (عدم ظهور أحداث تمنعنا من إشباع رغباتنا). إذا تغيرت هذه الظروف نحو الأسوأ، فقد تتحول الحياة الجيدة إلى حياة سيئة بسرعة. ومع ذلك، ستتحول الحياة إلى سيئة أيضًا حتى لو لم تتغير الظروف. عادةً ما تثير الأشياء اهتمامنا وتسلينا لفترة وجيزة فقط. وللحفاظ على اهتمامنا، والاستمرار في الشعور بالتسلية، نحتاج إلى التنوع. التكرار عدو الشغف. عندما نعيش حياة جمالية، نشعر بالملل بسرعة، وعلينا أن نبحث باستمرار عن عوامل جذب جديدة حتى يتبقى لدينا ما نعيش من أجله. يقول كيركغارد: "ما أشدّ الملل - ما أشدّ الملل... أستلقي ممددًا، خاملًا ؛ كل ما أراه هو الفراغ، وكل ما أعيش عليه هو الفراغ، وكل ما أتحرك فيه هو الفراغ".
الملل ليس مجرد شعور أو حالة ذهنية معينة، بل هو إدراكٌ وفهمٌ للحالة التي يعيشها المرء، ليس فقط في لحظات الملل، بل حتى في أوقات اليقظة. فالفراغ الذي نشعر به عند الملل حاضرٌ دائمًا، حتى وإن لم نكن واعين به. ولهذا السبب، يرى كيركغارد أن النظرة الجمالية للحياة هي في جوهرها "يائسة": "كل من يعيش حياة جمالية يعيش في يأس، سواء أدرك ذلك أم لا ... لأنه لا ينتج سوى اليأس عن حياة تتمحور حول أشياء قابلة للزوال".
.
Michael Hauskeller
The Meaning Of Life And Death
Translated By #Maher_Razouk
بطبيعة الحال، قد تبدو الحياة الجمالية جديرة بالعيش. إنها حياة جيدة، بلا شك، إن حالفك الحظ وعرفت كيف تعيشها. لكن لها عيوبها. عيوب خطيرة. أولًا: لن تدوم. لا تدوم أبدًا. الألم سيأتي لا محالة. الموت سينهي كل شيء. قد نعتقد، ونحن نعيش حياة جمالية، أننا مكتفون ذاتيًا، لكننا في الواقع نعتمد اعتمادًا كبيرًا على الظروف، سواء الداخلية (امتلاك رغبات ومزاج مناسبين في الوقت المناسب) أو الخارجية (عدم ظهور أحداث تمنعنا من إشباع رغباتنا). إذا تغيرت هذه الظروف نحو الأسوأ، فقد تتحول الحياة الجيدة إلى حياة سيئة بسرعة. ومع ذلك، ستتحول الحياة إلى سيئة أيضًا حتى لو لم تتغير الظروف. عادةً ما تثير الأشياء اهتمامنا وتسلينا لفترة وجيزة فقط. وللحفاظ على اهتمامنا، والاستمرار في الشعور بالتسلية، نحتاج إلى التنوع. التكرار عدو الشغف. عندما نعيش حياة جمالية، نشعر بالملل بسرعة، وعلينا أن نبحث باستمرار عن عوامل جذب جديدة حتى يتبقى لدينا ما نعيش من أجله. يقول كيركغارد: "ما أشدّ الملل - ما أشدّ الملل... أستلقي ممددًا، خاملًا ؛ كل ما أراه هو الفراغ، وكل ما أعيش عليه هو الفراغ، وكل ما أتحرك فيه هو الفراغ".
الملل ليس مجرد شعور أو حالة ذهنية معينة، بل هو إدراكٌ وفهمٌ للحالة التي يعيشها المرء، ليس فقط في لحظات الملل، بل حتى في أوقات اليقظة. فالفراغ الذي نشعر به عند الملل حاضرٌ دائمًا، حتى وإن لم نكن واعين به. ولهذا السبب، يرى كيركغارد أن النظرة الجمالية للحياة هي في جوهرها "يائسة": "كل من يعيش حياة جمالية يعيش في يأس، سواء أدرك ذلك أم لا ... لأنه لا ينتج سوى اليأس عن حياة تتمحور حول أشياء قابلة للزوال".
.
Michael Hauskeller
The Meaning Of Life And Death
Translated By #Maher_Razouk
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews