What's It All About?: Philosophy and the Meaning of Life

215 Pages·2005·5.12 MB·English

by  Julian Baggini

What’s It All About?
Philosophy and the
Meaning of Life
Julian Baggini
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
What’s It All
About?
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What’s It All
About?
Philosophy and the
Meaning of Life
Julian Baggini
2005
Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further
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Copyright © by Julian Baggini 2004
First published in Great Britain by Granta Books 2004.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Baggini, Julian.
What’s it all about? : philosophy and the meaning of life / Julian Baggini.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-530008-6
ISBN-10: 0-19-530008-4
1. Life. 2. Meaning (Philosophy) I. Title.
BD431.B23 2005
128—dc22 2005006373
“The Flaw in Paganism” by Dorothy Parker, used by permission of Gerald
Duckworth & Co Ltd. Quotation from Man and Supermanby George Bernard Shaw,
used by permission of The Society of Authors, on behalf of the Bernard Shaw
Estate.
“Moments of Pleasure” words and music by Kate Bush © 1993, reproduced by
permission of Kate Bush trading as Noble & Brite, London WC2H 0QY.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Acknowledgements
The two people who require thanking above all others are Lizzy
Kremer and George Miller, without both of whom this book would
not have seen the light of day, nor deserved to.
I can’t bring myself to list the others I need to thank without
pointing out a curious purpose the list of acknowledgements seems
to have, especially in academic journals. Often it seems to be a
means of signalling to the wider world how important and well
connected the author is. There should always be at least two or
three intellectual heavyweights in the list of people thanked, just to
show the good company the author keeps.
Let me just say, then, that this list does not describe my social
circle, but simply lists those who have responded to requests for
information or otherwise helped me out, in ways great or small.
They are Nicholas Fearn, Mathew Iredale, Oliver James, Jonathan
Rée, John Shand, Jeremy Stangroom and Galen Strawson. Thanks
also to Sajidah Ahmad, Gillian Kemp, Lesley Levene, Alison and
David Worthington and Louise Campbell. If I’ve left anyone out,
I’m very sorry. I have a feeling my memory isn’t as good as it used
to be, but to be honest, I can’t remember how good it used to be.
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Contents
Introduction 1
1 Looking for the blueprint 5
2 Living life forwards 23
3 More things in heaven and earth 40
4 Here to help 58
5 The greater good 72
6 As long as you’re happy 89
7 Becoming a contender 106
8 Carpe diem 124
9 Lose your self 140
10 The threat of meaninglessness 158
11 Of which reason knows nothing 174
Conclusion 185
Further reading and references 189
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What’s It All
About?