Richard Taylor: The Meaning of Life
To understand the question of whether life has any meaning, Taylor begins by considering a clear case of a meaningless life: the mythical character of Sisyphus. Sisyphus is condemned by the gods to roll a stone to the top of a hill every day, only to have it roll back down each night. Taylor claims that Sisyphus's life is meaningless not because it involves monotonous work, but because it does not achieve any significant culmination; all his labors simply come to nothing. Nonetheless, Sisyphus's life could be given a certain kind of meaning if he happened to be instilled with a strong desire to do nothing but roll stones, so that each day he was doing exactly what he most wanted to be doing.
Taylor argues that human lives are analogous to the plight of Sisyphus in that they, too, lack any significant culmination. Like nonhuman animals, humans pass through certain phases, reproduce, and ultimately die, only for the cycle to begin all over again. Civilizations rise and fall, and ultimately nothing enduring comes of it. Nonetheless, Taylor argues that human lives can be given the exact same kind of meaning that Sisyphus's could have. Most human beings have an inner compulsion to go about their lives and pursue their projects, despite the objective meaninglessness of doing so. This type of meaning, is actual superior to the type of meaning that involves a significant culmination, for any such objective meaning would lead only to boredom. Taylor concludes that the point of life is simply living, driven to pursue our ends by desires that lack any ultimate justification.
-What is Sisyphus condemned to do? What is it about Sisyphus's task that renders it meaningless, in Taylor's view? What could be done to give Sisyphus's task meaning?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Answer of Richard Taylor: The Meaning of Life
To understand the question of whether life has any meaning, Taylor begins by considering a clear case of a meaningless life: the mythical character of Sisyphus. Sisyphus is condemned by the gods to roll a stone to the top of a hill every day, only to have it roll back down each night. Taylor claims that Sisyphus's life is meaningless not because it involves monotonous work, but because it does not achieve any significant culmination; all his labors simply come to nothing. Nonetheless, Sisyphus's life could be given a certain kind of meaning if he happened to be instilled with a strong desire to do nothing but roll stones, so that each day he was doing exactly what he most wanted to be doing.
Taylor argues that human lives are analogous to the plight of Sisyphus in that they, too, lack any significant culmination. Like nonhuman animals, humans pass through certain phases, reproduce, and ultimately die, only for the cycle to begin all over again. Civilizations rise and fall, and ultimately nothing enduring comes of it. Nonetheless, Taylor argues that human lives can be given the exact same kind of meaning that Sisyphus's could have. Most human beings have an inner compulsion to go about their lives and pursue their projects, despite the objective meaninglessness of doing so. This type of meaning, is actual superior to the type of meaning that involves a significant culmination, for any such objective meaning would lead only to boredom. Taylor concludes that the point of life is simply living, driven to pursue our ends by desires that lack any ultimate justification.
-What is Sisyphus condemned to do? What is it about Sisyphus's task that renders it meaningless, in Taylor's view? What could be done to give Sisyphus's task meaning?

Richard Taylor: the Meaning of Life