What makes a person's life meaningful? Thaddeus Metz argues that no existing theory does full justice to the key requirements of morality, enquiry, and creativity. He offers a new answer to the question: meaning in life is a matter of intelligence contoured toward fundamental conditions of human existence.
Meaning in Life has many good features. It is comprehensive, meticulous, and argumentative. Metz seems to have read everything anyone has ever written about the topic and has a thoughtful opinion on every claim. There is no volume that would work better as a textbook for a class on meaningfulness.
After decades of surprising neglect, the topic of life's meaning is again a central part of analytic moral philosophy. Thaddeus Metz can take much of the credit for this development and his new book is set to become the standard and indispensible reference point for the topic.
The new account of meaningfulness he suggests in this book and the meticulous analyses he offers of previous accounts are a very significant contribution to the field. Future philosophical research on meaning in life will have to take account of his innovative and high-quality research.
there has been a resurgence of interest among professional philosophers in the meaning of life. No one has done more to contribute to the growing body of literature on the topic than Thaddeus Metz. His new book is an important, deeply engaging, and first-rate contribution to the literature on the meaning of life.
Thaddeus Metz is Humanities Research Professor at the University of Johannesburg. He is the author of around one hundred professional journal articles, book chapters, and encyclopaedia entries, on a variety of topics in ethical, political, and legal philosophy.