# The Meaning of Life ### Pleasure and Suffering

## Today * Voltaire * Epicurus

### Voltaire, "The Good Brahmin" - The Brahmin, Indian priest ("Hindu") - Knows nothing and knows it - The ignorant women is simple and content -

### Epicurus, "Hedonism" - The goal is to "avoid pain and fear" (539) - Death is nothing - Don't fear actually dying, and don't fear the anticipation

### Epicurus, "Hedonism" - Some desires are natural, others vain - Natural and necessary -

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### Discussion * What is purpose of morality?

# The Meaning of Life ### Religion and Paradise

### Today - Camus - Pojman - Russell

### Camus, the Absurd - "There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide" - "Killing yourself amounts to confessing... that life is too much for you or that you do not understand it" - A world that can be explained is familiar - A world without reason, an absurd world, in which we are exiled, is worse (546) - "Why" arises "and everything begins in that weariness tinged with amazement"

- "Weariness has something sickening about it" but it is good because it leads either to recovery or suicide - "The absurd teaches that all experiences are unimportant" (compare Mackie and Queen, "nothing really matters") - "The workman of today works the same tasks" and is no less absurd than Sisyphus

### Pojman, Objection - Objection 1: it is more important to be free or autonomous than have meaningful life; religion gives meaning but not freedom - Reply to objection 1: Theism doesn't deprive us of autonomy; God is not an impersonal Fate but gives and secures our autonomy; truth sets one free *and* gives meaning - Objection 2: We can't know if theism is true in general or if any particular religion is true - Reply to objection 2: Given agnosticism, we must live *as if* it is true or *as if* it is false; we can reserve judgment theoretically but cannot reserve judgment practically. And it is better to life as if it were true. So it's "good to gamble on God" (557)

### Pojman, arguments If religion is true, or we believe it is true, then: 1. We have a satisfying explanation of the origin and sustenance of the universe 2. Good will triumph over evil 3. We are loved and can become saints 4. We know why we should be moral 5. Cosmic justice reigns 6. All persons are of equal worth 7. The story of the cosmos is a divine comedy, with a happy ending, and moral liberation 8. There is life after death, and death is not the end

### Russell - "The loneliness of the human soul is unendurable" - "Nothing can penetrate" that loneliness "except the highest intensity" of love - "Whatever does not spring from this motive is harmful" or useless -- war, publicl school, force - Pain became a gateway to wisdom - Epilogue: Love, knowledge, pity - Compare the two (569-10)

### Discussion * Your questions?