Susan Wolf's Meaning in Life

On "Meaning in Life"

Philosophical Anthropology
Student Led Discussion

Prepared by Week Five Presenters:
Atuan, Cuenca, Manaloto, Santiago.

Study Questions

What does having a meaningful life mean to you?

Can you say that a person simply living, doing a job, and
earning money to survive lives a meaningful life? Why or

why not?



How can you distinguish if an activity is
more or less worthwhile?

Ice Breaker

Susan Wolf

Image source: Department of Philosophy, The University of North Carolina & Chapel Hill

Wolf's Perspective

Not all lives are meaningful but only those in
which a person actively engages in "projects of
worth."

A meaningful existence possesses a particular
form of worth called meaning.

ANING-F
ME UL

ACTIVE
ENGAGEMENTS

Excited and passionate about; opposite: boredom
and alienation

May involve stress, danger, exertion, or sorrow

The feeling of being alive



To have a sense of idea to "meaningfulness" there
must be a distinction between more and less
worthwhile ways to spend one's time or "engage"




People tend to look for something to add meaning
to their lives & concern about.

PROJECTS
OF WORTH

Some activities adds up to the meaningfulness but
does not make life worth living

Categorical Desires (Bernard Williams)
-gives us reason for living
-we desire/ think of them as worthwhile

Why do/how could you measure one activity as a
contributor to meaningfulness?

At the same time, someone who actively engages may have a
meaningless life. Objects of involvement are worthless.

No engagement, no project of worth, no
categorical desires to give us a reason to live.

Slogan &
Summary

Wolf wondered why people seem to have an intuitive
sense of meaningful and meaningless lives.
It seems as though we innately set particular standards to
distinguish certain kinds of lives as either meaningful or
not. Evidently, this led Susan Wolf to reiterate that
meaningful lives are ones actively engaged in worthwhile
activities and projects.

“Meaning arises when
subjective attraction meets

objective attractiveness.”

Presenters'
Personal
Stance

On "Meaning in Life"

Philosophical Anthropology
Student Led Discussion

Prepared by Week Five Presenters:
Atuan, Cuenca, Manaloto, Santiago.

Study Questions

Based on the examples Wolf provides, what does she mean
by “a project of worth”?



How would Wolf decide whether some activity was a
project of worth?

In your view, are the lives of a college professor, a
professional golfer, a janitor, and a hobo equally

meaningful?



Would studying certain subjects add more meaning to life
than studying other subjects?



Concluding
Questions

On "Meaning in Life"

Philosophical Anthropology
Student Led Discussion

Prepared by Week Five Presenters:
Atuan, Cuenca, Manaloto, Santiago.

References

Susan Wolf. (2022, May 17). Department of Philosophy, the University of North Carolina
& Chapel Hill. Retrieved September 15, 2022, from
https://philosophy.unc.edu/people/susan-wolf/

“Happiness and Meaning: Two Aspects of the Good Life,” Social Philosophy & Policy, Vol.
24, 1997. Reprinted with the permission of Cambridge University Press