Knowra Meaning of life Meaning of life The question of what makes human existence significant, purposeful, or worth living. It encompasses philosophical, religious, and personal accounts of purpose and value.
Existentialism : A philosophical movement emphasizing individual freedom, responsibility, and the creation of meaning in an uncertain world. It treats meaning as something people make through choices rather than discover as a universal fact.
Purpose : An intended aim or function that gives actions or lives direction. Purpose is one common sense of what makes existence significant.
Albert Camus : A French writer and philosopher whose work examined the absurdity of human existence and the possibility of revolt. His account makes lucid acceptance and defiance responses to life without guaranteed meaning.
Logotherapy : A form of psychotherapy developed by Viktor Frankl that centers on the search for meaning. It turns the search for meaning into a practical framework for facing hardship.
Absurdism : A philosophical view that human longing for meaning meets a universe that offers no clear answer. It directly addresses the tension between the demand for meaning and apparent cosmic indifference.
Value theory : The philosophical study of goodness, importance, and what is worth pursuing. Accounts of life’s meaning depend on what counts as valuable.
Viktor Frankl : An Austrian psychiatrist who developed logotherapy, emphasizing the human search for meaning. He argued that meaning can be found through work, love, and one's stance toward suffering.
The Myth of Sisyphus : An essay by Albert Camus that develops his philosophy of the absurd through the figure of Sisyphus. Camus uses Sisyphus to ask whether life can be affirmed without ultimate explanation.
Nihilism : A family of views denying that life, morality, or knowledge has inherent meaning or foundation. It challenges the assumption that existence contains objective significance.
Well-being : A person's condition with respect to health, happiness, and living well. A life can feel worthwhile through well-being even without a cosmic purpose.
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