Pizhuhish nāmah-i intiqādī-i mutūn va barnāmah hā-yi ̒ulūm-i insāni (Critical Studies in Texts & Programs of Human Sciences)

Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World

Document Type : Research

Author

Hamidreza Mahboobi Arani

Assistant Professor in Philosophy, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.30465/crtls.2021.35404.2257
Abstract
Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World by Prof. Iddo Landau, is a warmly written book, rich with instances from the author's life, history, movies and literature. Prof. Landau attempts to offer new arguments and practical advice that make us become and stay alert to the already meaningful aspects of our ordinary lives and show how we can increase it, if necessary. He confronts most prevailing arguments in the literature that renders our life meaningless or insufficiently meaningful, including the arguments based on perfectionism, the existence of suffering and evil, death and total annihilation of our life and even the whole world and etc. According to Landau, these arguments can at most diminish the meaning in our life, not removing it. We, however, can still find many sufficiently meaningful aspects in our life which are ultimately related to the inherent value of our lives. The book, then, ends up building practical strategies to identify and recognize these aspects. In the current article, I will convey the argument of the book, then elaborate my take on the strategies prof. Landau utilizes this to persuade us that there are many sufficiently meaningful aspects in everyone’s life.

Keywords

Meaning of Life
Perfectionism
Death
Suffering
The End of Life

Subjects

شکسپیر، ویلیام (1396)، ریچارد سوم، ترجمۀ عبدالله کوثری، تهران: نشر نی.
محبوبی آرانی، حمیدرضا (1392)، نیچه و آری‌گویی تراژیک به زندگی، تهران: نشر مرکز.
 
Bishop, Michael, A. (2015), The Good life, Unifying the Philosophy and Psychology of Well-Being, Oxford University Press.
Campbell, Stephen M. and Sven Nyholm (2017), “Notre Dame Review of Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World”:
<https://ndpr.nd.edu/news/finding-meaning-in-an-imperfect-world>.
Landau, Iddo (2017), Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World, Oxford University Press.
Landau, Iddo (2006), Is Philosophy Androcentric?, Penn State University Press.
Plato (1997), “Gorgias”, trans. Donald J. Zeyl, in: Plato's Complete Works, John Cooper, Hackett (ed.), Publishing Company.
Pizhuhish nāmah-i intiqādī-i mutūn va barnāmah hā-yi ̒ulūm-i insāni (Critical Studies in Texts & Programs of Human Sciences)
Volume 21, Issue 11 - Serial Number 99
February 2022
Pages 203-226

  • Receive Date 03 September 2021
  • Revise Date 01 December 2021
  • Accept Date 22 December 2021

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