Life (human existence)
The course of an individual’s existence from birth to death, shaped by bodily change, relationships, choices, and circumstances.
Meaning of life: The question of what makes existence valuable, purposeful, or worth living. It asks what significance can be found in a human life as a whole.
Human development: The physical, cognitive, emotional, and social changes that occur across a human lifespan. It describes the changing capacities that structure an individual’s life.
The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank’s diary, written while she and her family hid from Nazi persecution in occupied Amsterdam. Its account preserves one young person’s daily life amid persecution and confinement.
Biography: A written account of a person’s life, based on evidence and interpretation. A biography represents a life; it is not the lived existence itself.
Narrative identity: The sense of self formed by interpreting one’s experiences as a developing story. Life events become a personal story through which identity is understood.
Life course: The sequence of age-related stages, transitions, and roles shaped by historical and social conditions. It connects personal trajectories with the social patterns that organize them.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X: A memoir recounting Malcolm X’s life, written with Alex Haley and published in 1965. It traces a life reshaped by incarceration, political change, and religious conversion.
Lifespan: The length of time an organism lives, usually measured from birth to death. Lifespan measures duration, while human existence also includes experience and meaning.
Existentialism: A philosophical tradition emphasizing freedom, responsibility, and the search for meaning in human existence. It examines how people shape their lives amid uncertainty and mortality.
Life expectancy: The average number of years a person in a population is expected to live. It provides a population-level measure of how long human lives tend to last.