Ambiguity, Dissolution and Latency: On the Meaning of Life
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/isegoria.2015.053.04Keywords:
Meaning of life, Good life, Astonishment, Religion, WittgensteinAbstract
In this article I develop three theses around the question about the meaning of life, each of which is associated with the notions that are mentioned in the title: ambiguity, dissolution and latency. 1) The term “meaning of life” has at least four different senses, and this entails important consequences. 2) In its most usual sense the question about the meaning of life can be dissolved, when it is replaced by the practical question of how one should live. 3) This does not mean that the question about the meaning of life disappears completely: it stays latent. But when it becomes manifest, we no longer demand an answer. That is the experience of astonishment, which I refer to at the end of the text.
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