Subjective vs. Objective Meaning of Life
Richard Taylor: Meaning Comes from Within
Richard Taylor claims: “The meaning of life is from within us, it is not bestowed from without, and it far exceeds in both its beauty and permanence any heaven of which men have ever dreamed or yearned for.”
There is no objective meaning to human life because objectivity rejects personal interest or beliefs. Taylor implies that life has meaning under a subjective perspective; value or meaningfulness is met when activities are paired with our will. Hence, meaning is found within and is defined by each individual’s actions and beliefs, ultimately based on one’s subjectivity.
The Myth of Sisyphus and Meaninglessness
In Taylor’s argument, we find an example to better understand the relationship between subjectivity and meaningfulness. Sisyphus is punished to push a rock uphill, but each time he reaches the mountain’s peak, the stone rolls back to the base of the hill. Then he starts all over again, pushing the stone to the top for it to roll back down. Why does he keep pushing the stone up the hill? How is it meaningful for his life? Objectively, it is meaningless since he is repeatedly doing the same action over and over, based on the punishment of a greater figure.
This example helps us to establish the idea of a meaningless life; meaninglessness is essentially endless pointlessness, and meaningfulness is, therefore, the opposite. In other words, meaningfulness is found when the action isn’t found to be pointless but, rather, when the action is motivated by our personal beliefs.
Ultimately, what makes our repetitive lives meaningful is not the general outcome but the importance it has for us, the emotion behind it. Unlike Sisyphus’s task, an obligation established by a greater figure, we personalize the actions despite them being pointless or repetitive.
Wiggins’ Critique of Taylor’s View
In contrast, Wiggins agrees with Taylor on denying that nothing external to our will is able to provide meaning to life but fails to assume that meaningfulness only comes from within and, therefore, is subjective.
Non-Cognitivism and the Search for Meaning
Wiggins views Taylor’s theory as based on non-cognitivism, the duality between the inner perspective (subjective thinking or emotion) and the external perspective (objective thinking or facts), which establishes that the only way to give our life any meaning is through emotion and not facts because the inner view has to be unaware of the outer one.
Non-cognitivism presents itself as a true theory of the meaning of life, but for Wiggins, it seems impossible to obtain such a conclusion without using intellectual reasoning. Hence, this argument is caught in an incoherence.
Wiggins claims that non-cognitive theory is inconsistent with the experience of finding meaning in our lives; whatever the will chooses to treat as a good reason to engage itself is, for the will, a good reason. But, through this search, the will deliberates the different reasons and unconsciously uses objective reasoning.
Wiggins defends that meaning in life can be found through subjective and objective reasoning. In other words, perception can be entirely compatible with emotions and provide meaning to life as long as it is founded on something that can engage our wills.