Teleology and the Meaning of Life
Journal of Mind and Behavior 33 (1-2):97-102 (2012)
| Abstract | The “units of selection” debate in philosophy of biology addresses which entity benefits from natural selection. Nanay has tried to explain why we are obsessed with the question about the meaning of life, using the notion of group selection, although he is skeptical about answering the question from a biological point of view. The aim of this paper is to give a biological explanation to the meaning of life. I argue that the meaning of life is survival and reproduction, appealing to the teleological notion of function in philosophy of biology. | |||||||||
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Bence Nanay (2010). Group Selection and Our Obsession with the Meaning of Life. The Monist 93 (1):76-95.
Brooke Alan Trisel (2007). Judging Life and Its Value. Sorites (18):60-75.
Carlo Cellucci, Knowledge and the Meaning of Human Life. naturalism.org.
Joshua Seachris (2009). The Meaning of Life as Narrative. Philo 12 (1):5-23.
A. L. Herman (1991). Jivacide, Zombies and Jivanmuktas: The Meaning of Life in the Bhagavad Git. Asian Philosophy 1 (1):5 – 13.
Jim D. Shelton (2009). Beauty, Play, and the Meaning of Life. Philo 12 (1):24-30.
Kathleen O'Dwyer (forthcoming). Camus' Challenge: The Question of Suicide (Is Life Worth Living). Journal of Humanistic Psychology.
Aaron Smuts (forthcoming). The Good Cause Account of the Meaning of Life. Southern Journal of Philosophy.
Terry Eagleton (2008). The Meaning of Life: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.
Thaddeus Metz (2013). Meaning in Life as the Aim of Psychotherapy: A Hypothesis. In Joshua Hicks & Clay Routledge (eds.), The Experience of Meaning in Life: Classical Perspectives, Emerging Themes, and Controversies. Springer.
David Kishik (2008). Wittgenstein on Meaning and Life. Philosophia 36 (1):111-128.
Julian Baggini (2005). What's It All About?: Philosophy and the Meaning of Life. Oxford University Press.
E. D. Klemke (ed.) (2000). The Meaning of Life. Oxford University Press.
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