Beauvoir’s ethics, meaning, and competition

This paper discusses Simone de Beauvoir’s views on the meaning of life as presented in The Ethics of Ambiguity. I argue that Beauvoir’s view matches contemporary hybrid views on the meaning of life, incorporating both subjective and objective elements, while connecting them in a distinct way—through the tension between self and other. I then analyze the meaning of excessively competitive projects through Beauvoir’s ethics and conclude that success that amounts to denying other people’s access to the things one values is absurd. I use the case of contemporary academia as an illustration of extreme competition, then employ Beauvoir’s views to suggest a shift towards more meaningful practices

Baby Boomers & adult Ageing: Issues for Social and Public policy

This paper provides a critical assessment of academic and policy approaches to population ageing with an emphasis on the baby boomer cohort and constructions of late-life identity. It is suggested that policy towards an ageing population has shifted in focus, away from particular social hazards and towards an attempt to re-engineer the meaning of legitimate ageing and social participation in later life. Three themes are identified: constructing the baby boomers as a force for social change, a downward drift of the age associated with 'older people' and a shift away from defining ageing identities through consumption, bacl towards work and production. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for future social and public policy

Fundamental conditions of human existence as the ground of life's meaning : reply to Landau

Taking the good (generosity), the true (enquiry), and the beautiful (creativity) as exemplars of what can make a life noticeably meaningful, elsewhere I have advanced a principle that entails and plausibly explains all three. Specifically, I have proffered the view that great meaning in life, at least in so far as it comes from this triad, is a matter of positively orienting one's rational nature towards fundamental conditions of human existence, conditions of human life responsible for much else about it. Iddo Landau has raised important objections to this principle, arguing in particular that contouring one's rationality towards fundamentality is neither necessary nor sufficient for great meaning in life. In this article, I reply to Landau's objections to the fundamentality account of what makes life very meaningful. I thereby aim to enrich reflection about what it is about the lives of Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Albert Einstein, and Pablo Picasso that made them so significant as well as to indicate how fundamentality implicitly plays a key role in theistic conceptions of meaning in life

Exploration of individuals’ perspectives towards death and dying

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science by Research.This thesis explores people’s attitudes towards death and dying. Humans have the ability to create meaning and attach these meanings to objects or events within their life, which then rouses some form of emotions. In respect of death emotions tend to be negative, but with meaning formation might provide the ability to develop positive emotions. Semi-structured interviews were utilised to explore the participants’ attitude towards death and dying. They comprised of seven women and two men with ages ranging from 21 to 81 years. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used, providing an explanation of an individual’s lived experience. Data revealed key factors influencing whether death was seen as normal part of life or an object of fear, included faith, meaning and communication, providing a more positive outlook to death and dying; death perceptions, anxiety, media and communication, providing a more negative outlook to death and dying. It is concluded that there is a cross-over between both negative and positive perspectives towards death and dying. Individuals may be both afraid of death but also accept death allowing an individual to find meaning within their everyday life

The Issue of Suicide

The meaning of one’s existence on earth is one of the most striking issues in our time and it cannot be neglected in the society at large. It is a pure humanitarian function and a step towards man's existence and the useful utilization of this existence. As a matter of fact, some persons do not consider suffering as a stage or an unavoidable meaning of life. These persons then opt for suicide as a means of avoiding suffering and hardship in life; but the question is: does suicide transcend suffering and hardship? Viktor Frankl in his book Man’s Search for Meaning, through his experience in the concentration camp emphasized that even in the brutish and most inconsiderate circumstance, man’s existence should not be centered only on when man is enjoying the good things of nature and his existence as a being, but also when the human person is faced with challenges and through this, the attitude he takes to solve these challenges shows the authentic and inauthentic nature of the human person. This work examined Viktor Frankl’s existentialism in respect to suicide and his principle of logotherapy as a means of alleviating the problem of suicide, using the philosophical methods of critical/logical analysis and reflection

'ARIGATOU' PHRASE IN JAPANESE DAILY LIFE

In daily social life, humans cannot be separated with interaction with nature, and it includes giving and receiving. In Japanese society, a gift is always depicted as On or debt which must be repaid in later time. One way to pay On  is through the phrase arigatou.  This research objective is to describe Arigatou phrase based on the meaning and forms of expression inside Japanese society daily life. Methods used in this research is Descriptive Methods which utilizes symbolic interaction theory to analyze the data. Result found is that arigatou was originally addressed to God and gradually used in daily life. From meaning perspective arigatou described as gratitude and social harmony keeper and was addressed to the Emperor as expression of loyalty towards the country with full consent on abiding the law. Meanwhile the phrase arigatou in family is meant to express obedience towards every decision made by the family to maintain honor within said family. Arigatou phrase towards nature is to include them in every element of life. Found conclusion is that Arigatou phrase included Up-Down essence, which means the relation between Kami (God) (Up) and Humans (Down), described arigatou in both form of phrase and meaning

Alternatives to meaninglessness in Ken Kesey\u27s Sometimes A Great Notion

At first glance, Ken Kesey appears to be a contemporary prophet of doom. His characters find little meaning in life, as each day brings only hopelessness and despair. For each of these characters, there are many causes of and responses to the problem of meaninglessness. The common denominator which links all of Kesey’s characters, and perhaps all men, is that they cannot progress towards any kind of satisfactory existence until some meaning for life is found