Table of Contents
Life is awesome. There is no clear comprehension why so many people are very comfortable wasting it in a scrap heap when there is a lot of cool stuff, and beauty surrounding our existence every day. Sometimes, many people die before achieving all their dreams. I would, therefore, like to live forever because I will have to enjoy whatever good thing a life brings because there is still more time for more achievements.
Susan Wolf’s argument of the meaning of life aims at bringing a motivation of giving meaning to our lives, stating that meaningfulness is a factor that cannot be merged under either morality or happiness. The meaning of life according to Wolf originates from worthy love for objects and being positively involved with them. It also involves objective and subjective elements suitably linked. The linkage occurs when the objective attraction meets the subjective. She also explains that a person has to fully engage with the objects of love. Her first view of life means that it does not matter what activities people engage in their lives, as long as they love doing them. It is important for a person to find his or her passion and go for it. The second meaning of life is that for a person to live a highly satisfying life, one has to be involved in activities that are bigger than oneself. Wolf questions us to consider some cases of people’s lives that have been useless because they lack activity. Wolf’s meaning of life originates from the fact that she believes that God is the Sole creator and has a purpose for creating us. She holds these views because she does not think that life has a meaning if it satisfies specific subjective criteria, for example, making another person happy (Susan, 2010).
Thomas Nagel argues death is bad because it separates us from all the good things of life making death some evil. Some of these goods are activity, desire, perception and they are all part of human life. They are all considered as conditions for happiness and misery. He thinks that death is only bad for a person who dies since the good things are taken away from them. It is a loss of life contrary to the situation of being dead. In addition, Nagel argues that death is bad because it has limitations for the potential of future goods. Therefore, death acts as a good limiting factor for the possibility of the future goods. However, he says that, for one to demonstrate that death is bad; there must be demonstrations that life in future would be appealing living (Thomas, 1970).
We can do it today.
I would love to live forever. According to Nagel, death is bad because it derives one of the good things in life. Good things include a good lifestyle after one has achieved their goals in life. Death is not harmful to a dead person, but it is harmful to those who are still living. Nagel discusses that life has been accumulated by both good and bad experiences. Life is intrinsically valuable but is not based on simple existence. However, good in human life can be raised over time making life more valuable. Therefore the more time a person has to live, the more time they have to improve the quality of their lives. Living forever is good because one is aware of the experience and everything life has to offer. Wolf also states that for one to live a satisfying life one has to be involved in activities bigger than oneself. Therefore, I would like to live long because there is much time for me to improve my life in all perspectives. Putting more effort into life’s activities is a security of a good life in future. If a person lives forever, they will have to do the things that make them happy, as Wolf says. Moreover, I would like to live forever because I would engage my life actively with projects of positivity and objective value. However, another person may argue that they would not want to live forever because another view of death to Nagel is that it does not harm the dead. So once a person is dead, death does not harm them in any way. However, living forever seems scary because of the unknown (Thomas, 1970; Susan, 2010).
Conclusion
According to Wolf, life has a meaning which is; it does not matter the activities that people get involved in as long as they love them. In addition, people have to be involved in activities that are more than just themselves. The meaning of life originates from loving objects and being involved in them in a positive way. Nagel states that death is bad. Death is bad because it deprives one of the good things in life. Living forever is good because the good things improve as life goes on, and when a person lives forever, he or she can enjoy all the good things in life.
- Sarah Wolf. (2010). Meaning of life and why it matters. Princeton, N. J: Princeton University Press, pp 837-848.
- Thomas Nagel. (1970). Death. Blackwell Publishing. Vol 4, pp 73-80.