The Meaningful and the Worthwhile: Clarifying the Relationships

Metz, Thaddeus

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9191.2012.00436.x

Cited by 48 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In particular, meaningful life and worthwhile life are often used as synonyms for each other (e.g., Camus ). However, following Metz (; see also Mintoff , 81) I will argue that we should see them as separate. Both are fundamental ways of evaluating one's life as a whole, but there is a distinction to be made: worthwhile life is the broader category—an evaluation of worthwhileness takes into account all possible things that can influence the judgment whether a certain life is worth living and whether a certain life is more choiceworthy than another life.…”

Section: Separating Meaningfulness From the More Broad Question Of A mentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Both are fundamental ways of evaluating one's life as a whole, but there is a distinction to be made: worthwhile life is the broader category—an evaluation of worthwhileness takes into account all possible things that can influence the judgment whether a certain life is worth living and whether a certain life is more choiceworthy than another life. For example, eating ice cream and other hedonistic activities are usually taken as examples of activities that do not contribute to the meaningfulness of a life (e.g., Metz , 443). However, other things being equal, a life that includes a steady stream of hedonistic enjoyments is more worth living than a life that lacks joy and ice cream.…”

Section: Separating Meaningfulness From the More Broad Question Of A mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Meaningfulness as Contribution

Martela¹

2017

The Southern J of Philosophy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article aims to offer a refined way of understanding what we mean by the concepts of meaningfulness and meaning in life. The first step is to separate worthwhileness, as the broadest evaluation of life taking all types of values into account, from meaningfulness, which is seen as one type of intrinsic value along with, for example, well‐being, moral praiseworthiness, and authenticity, which I argue are also separate types of intrinsic value. After discussing why we should not settle with the currently popular fitting attitudes analysis of meaningfulness, I argue that the meaningfulness of a life should be seen to be about the positive contribution beyond itself that this particular life is able to make. I show how this analysis is different from previous similar accounts and how it is able to avoid a number of challenges that have troubled these previous accounts, such as the pleasure machine challenge, the results machine challenge, and the doing good unintentionally challenge. I also demonstrate how it is able to account for prototypical examples of meaningful and meaningless lives and how it is compatible with subjectivism, supernaturalism, and objective naturalism, which is seen as a merit. Finally, I conclude with some notes about what could make life meaningful, given the current analysis of meaningfulness itself.

show abstract

Section: Separating Meaningfulness From the More Broad Question Of A mentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Separating Meaningfulness From the More Broad Question Of A mentioning

confidence: 99%

Meaningfulness as Contribution

Martela¹

2017

The Southern J of Philosophy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Several research findings have shown that meaning of life is an essential element in the psychological-emotional well-being and is systematically associated with different aspects of personality, physical and mental health, stress adaptation, religion and religious activities and behavioral disorders. [23][24][25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of Group Hope Therapy on the Psychological Indicators in Women With Addicted Husbands

Koolaee

Mosalanejad

Gholami

et al. 2017

IRJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives: Hope therapy is one of the psychological interventions to help the couples deal with addiction problem. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the hope therapy on the orientation of the purpose and meaning of life expectancy in women with addicted husbands. Methods:This was a quasi-experimental study with pretest, posttest control group. The population of this study included all wives of male addicted patients who referred to drug rehabilitation institutions in Tehran to treat their husbands' addiction in 2014. The sample size was 30 people. Convenience samplings were carried out to collect data. Data gathering were done by MLQ (Meaning of Life Questionnaire) and AGQ -Achievement Goal Questionnaire (goal orientation)-and analyzed by ANCOVA through SPSS software version 20. Results:The findings showed that hope therapy increased the orientation of purpose and meaning of life scores in experimental group (P<0.001). While, these changes were not observed in control group. Discussion:The results revealed that the hope therapy intervention could raise the psychological positive elements like goal setting and the meaning of life among wives of male addicted patients. Rehabilitation counselors and psychologists could apply these interventions to reduce the burden and disturbance of those who live with their addicted couples.

show abstract

“…In contrast, and thanks mainly to philosophers, there are many theoretical and phenomenological fi ndings on thinking about the meaning and purpose of life (e.g., Baggini, 2005;Metz, 2007;Metz, 2012;Solomon, 1976). In My Confession, Tolstoy (2000) discusses how, despite the excellent circumstances of his life, thinking about the meaning and purpose of his life led him to become completely dissatisfi ed.…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%