|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Meaning of Life FOR Terry Eagleton, philosophy is the practice of "thinking hard" and the "possibility of the hitherto unthought-of", as he suggests in his new book, The Meaning of Life.
John Cottingham speaks of a meaningful life as "one in which the individual is engaged `85 in genuinely worthwhile activities that reflect his or her rational choice as an autonomous agent". This view apparently is deeply individualistic and rules out "the meaning of life as a common or reciprocal project". It is not a solution but a matter of the quality and the intensity with which a life is lived. Philosophically speaking, we can never definitively answer the question. There can really be no single answer as confusion abounds in human affairs. Such metaphysical musings pertain more to the human than the animal world which is least obsessed with the meaning of life. This fixation with the meaning of life is a modern preoccupation especially after the unifying role of Christianity has ended, giving place to globalisation when "transnational capitalism has helped forge humanity into one". It is true that with the development of capitalism, a universal human subject has been created but paradoxically, human conflict has largely intensified along with ecological imbalance and the failure of the working-class movement. Across the world one sees a confusion caused by free market forces that have to be controlled by ruthless economics by the same Western powers that support liberal economics, thus contradicting the very basis of neoliberalism. The marginalised or the excluded grow in number daily. In a world taken over by Anglo-American unilateralism, as well as the underlying smugness of the affluent, an engaging participatory involvement along with the understanding of the relevance of religion and the metaphysical question of survival in a war-ridden world where humanitarianism is at its lowest ebb, becomes meaningfully relevant. With Braudillard in one hand and the Bible in the other, an all-encompassing view is possible to comprehend the pressing issues of fundamentalism and love, evil and death, madness and reason. A formidable history stares us in the face; worlds in collision necessitate the upsurge of "an absolute truth" so far denied by postmodernism. This is the chief concern of Terry Eagleton. The book ends on a note of utopianism with a comparison of the meaning of life with the image of a jazz group in which each member has the freedom of expression, acting "with the receptive sensitivity to the self-expressive performance of other musicians". The complex harmony emerges from the understanding of free expression of the others. This according to Eagleton is opposed to the operation of totalitarianism, as jazz is based on the "fulfillment and realisation of power" and through the production of the creative work giving rise to a feeling of fulfillment and love. When we act in this way, we "realise our natures at their finest". Eagleton concludes by saying that it must not be construed that the meaning of life is nothing but jazz. The construction of a community that reflects the spontaneity and the harmony of jazz on a large scale is effectively the work of politics. Nevertheless, the analogy does give society a direction: "What we need is a form of life which is completely pointless, just as the jazz performance is pointless. Rather than serve some utilitarian purpose or earnest metaphysical end, it is a delight in itself. It needs no justification beyond its own existence. In this sense, the meaning of life is interestingly close to meaninglessness". However, this does not end the debate on the meaning of life. Nothing comes to a fixed conclusion in the age of modernity. But the subject under consideration is vital to our existence and "our failure to find common meanings is as alarming as it is invigorating". A socialist society where the existence of an unexploitative community that respects fundamental human rights and an ethical social framework must be underpinned by a theoretical paradigm based on liberation and dialogue. This demands a rigorous and expansive place for coming to grips with the reality of social engineering as well as a willingness to entertain new ways of understanding various and multiple discourses on human existence.
|
||
|
|
||
What
is the meaning of life anyway? Eagleton takes a humorous as well as a
serious view of the question by first considering the meaning of
"meaning", right from Shakespeare and Schopenhauer to Marx,
Sartre and Beckett, and shows how it was unproblematic in the olden
times but has become an obsession in our highly material world. On the
one hand, life is inherently regarded as meaningless which is often
filled by football to sex, or "New Age softheadedness" or
fundamentalism. On the other hand, Terry Eagleton also regards
"meaning of life’" as being evolutionary which has no
inherent definition except what each one of us bestows on it. Thus,
the meaning of life is essentially a personal matter: "The
assumption that the meaning of life is primarily an individual affair
is still alive and well." The power and responsibility resides
mainly with the individual who has to find the meaning.