{"id":3015,"date":"2025-06-18T03:00:28","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T10:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/?p=3015"},"modified":"2025-06-27T12:23:03","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T19:23:03","slug":"whats-the-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/whats-the-point\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Find Meaning and Purpose in a Busy World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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How to Find Meaning and Purpose in a Busy World<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n
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\n\n \n Learn how defining your \u201cwhy\u201d can boost your happiness, well-being and clarity in life.\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n By<\/span>Tomas Weber<\/a><\/strong>\n \n June 18, 2025<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\u201cSo, what\u2019s it all about, then?\u201d a London cab driver once asked British philosopher Bertrand Russell. Perhaps thrilled to have one of the world\u2019s great thinkers in the back of his taxi, the driver seized the opportunity to pose a question as old as time itself: What does it all mean? But to his surprise, Russell didn\u2019t have a ready answer. \u201cAnd, you know, he couldn\u2019t tell me!\u201d the cabby later recounted.<\/p>\n

You might think this is exactly the kind of question a philosopher, of all people, should have nailed. But the search for life\u2019s meaning is a thorny conundrum \u2014 especially for those who devote their careers to thinking about it. Philosophers often care less about answers and more about the right questions. Some even argue that \u201cWhat is the meaning of life?\u201d might not be a meaningful question at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do we even mean by \u2018the meaning of life,\u2019 anyway?\u201d asks Stephen Finlay<\/a>, an adjunct professor of philosophy<\/a> who taught a USC Dornsife course of the same name for several years. Does it suggest a single, objective meaning that applies to everyone? And if not, should that leave us disheartened? Or is it possible that meaning varies \u2014 that different lives might hold different meanings?<\/p>\n

Untangling these questions requires patience and careful thought. But for many students, engaging with them can be a profoundly transformative experience. \u201cIt\u2019s often the first time students have seriously confronted these questions,\u201d says Finlay. \u201cBut they are questions and ideas that, once contemplated, are never forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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\n What It Means to Be Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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In a world increasingly impacted by AI, does the definition of humanity need a reboot? USC Dornsife experts examine traits such as empathy, creativity and curiosity that shape our shared human experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n

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Grappling with Mortality<\/h2>\n

Many students begin the course assuming that life will be meaningful if it has an objective purpose. But Finlay is quick to challenge that idea. To make his point, he plays a clip from the film The Matrix, <\/em>illustrating how even a life with a clear, objective purpose can be devoid of any satisfying meaning. \u201cWhy are we here?\u201d he asks. \u201cWell, this movie provides an answer: We\u2019re being farmed by machines to provide energy. That\u2019s the entire purpose of our existence.\u201d Finlay pauses, then poses the deeper question: \u201cSo, do you feel that this information would give you an answer to the meaning of your life? Or would it instead suggest that your life is utterly meaningless?\u201d<\/p>\n

To push students further, Finlay opens the course with a discussion of death and suffering, asking them to consider what might happen to their bodies after death. Why so macabre off the bat? He explains that the idea of life ending with the body\u2019s destruction was a key reason 19th-century philosophers began questioning whether existence has any meaning at all. Two centuries later, Finlay says, jolting students out of their comfort zone remains a powerful way to alert them to what\u2019s at stake for them personally.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost students have never grappled with their mortality. A little bit of doom and gloom, even some shock and horror, is effective in waking people up to issues they\u2019re usually very comfortable ignoring,\u201d Finlay says. \u201c<\/strong>How,\u201d he asks, \u201ccan life be worth living when we are going to die and all memory of us will eventually be obliterated?\u201d This was Tolstoy\u2019s question. One of the first major writers in the European tradition to grapple with the possibility that life might be ultimately meaningless, the Russian novelist experienced a profound existential crisis in the 1870s. Originally an atheist, Tolstoy became consumed by the question of life\u2019s purpose \u2014 a question that, according to Finlay, \u201cbegan to gnaw at him, eventually becoming an all-consuming blackness as he wondered: How can anything have any value if it\u2019s all going to crumble to dust and be forgotten?\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaking the Foundations<\/h2>\n

While Tolstoy may have felt the weight of meaninglessness more than most, he wasn\u2019t alone. The 19th century was a time of deep existential unease, as advances in biology and geology began to shake faith in traditional religious teachings. The idea that humans had evolved from apes, or that Earth\u2019s history extended far beyond the Biblical timeline, raised unsettling questions about our place in the universe.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the anxiety stemmed from the rise of modern science, which revealed a vast cosmos and an immense timescale,\u201d says Ralph Wedgwood<\/a>, director of the School of Philosophy at USC Dornsife and professor of philosophy. \u201cWe began to appear to be minuscule, insignificant \u2014 almost infinitesimal \u2014 fragments of the universe.\u201d Recent scientific breakthroughs \u2014 including the realization that our galaxy could contain billions of potentially Earth-like planets \u2014 have shrunk humanity\u2019s significance further still.<\/p>\n

\"Schopenhauer\"After a period of deep anguish, Tolstoy found solace in Christianity, placing his trust in religious tradition to restore meaning to his life. But other 19th-century thinkers, equally consumed by the question of life\u2019s purpose, couldn\u2019t find their answers in God.<\/p>\n

The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, deeply influenced by Buddhism, believed the secret to a meaningful life lay in eliminating desire, which he saw as the source of all suffering. English utilitarian philosophers such as Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill proposed a contrasting answer: The meaning of life, they argued, is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. That philosophy later inspired contemporary movements like effective altruism, in which adherents \u2014 many of them based in Silicon Valley \u2014 believe we should use logic and data to determine how best to help others and then devote our lives to that cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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\n Headstart for Happiness\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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5 easy ways to boost your mood<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n

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Happiness Isn\u2019t the Answer<\/h2>\n

\"Nietzsche\"Friedrich Nietzsche had little patience for the utilitarians. In this German philosopher\u2019s view, a hedonistic quest was not the purpose of life. \u201cMankind does not strive for happiness,\u201d he wrote \u2014 adding wryly, \u201conly the Englishman does that.\u201d Instead, Nietzsche believed the meaning of one\u2019s own life must be invented, not discovered. French existentialist philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus later echoed that view, arguing that life has no inherent meaning and that it\u2019s our responsibility to create one for ourselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe existentialists thought that, if there is no God, then it\u2019s up to us to shape the truth about who we are,\u201d says Finlay.<\/p>\n

The USC Dornsife philosopher embraces that existential outlook himself. Finlay firmly rejects the idea that life comes preloaded with some external meaning, waiting to be discovered. \u201cAs human beings, we try to impose artificial and false simplicity onto a chaotic world,\u201d he says. But does that mean life is pointless? Not necessarily. \u201cI\u2019m not a raving nihilist,\u201d Finlay insists. Nietzsche, he believes, was on the right track. There can be joy in shedding illusions and facing reality head-on. \u201cThere\u2019s a joyful wisdom in being able to look the world in the eye, see it for what it really is, and say, \u2018Yes, bring it on. I want this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sartre\"It\u2019s an idea, says Finlay, that can feel exhilarating. If there\u2019s no single, objective meaning to life, we are free to shape our own. And while existence may not come with a built-in purpose, life can still hold many meanings \u2014 ones that resonate with us personally and offer feelings of happiness and fulfillment. From this perspective, pinpointing the meaning of one\u2019s life becomes a process of exploration, trial and error.<\/p>\n

Finlay says that one of the questions he asks students is, \u201cWhy the <\/em>meaning of life? Might there be many meanings for different lives? Might your life have different meanings at different times?\u201d<\/p>\n

Wisdom, Knowledge and Virtue<\/h2>\n

Wedgwood, however, offers a very different perspective. He\u2019s more persuaded by the Ancient Greek philosophers, who, while they never explicitly asked about \u201cthe meaning of life,\u201d were interested in its purpose. And for thinkers like Plato and Aristotle, that purpose was clear: The aim of life is self-perfection \u2014 the pursuit of wisdom, knowledge and virtue.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people think that sounds terribly self-centered,\u201d says Wedgwood. \u201cBut almost all the ancient philosophers who advocated some version of this view insisted that playing your part within the communities to which you belong is also a crucial element of self-perfection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wedgwood\u2019s perspective, he admits, is a \u201cminority view.\u201d While many philosophers dispute the existence of a universal purpose to life, he insists there is an objectively correct answer to how we should live. He acknowledges the difficulty of determining what makes a life good, but he defends the view that it is possible to live an objectively good life \u2014 or an objectively bad one \u2014 and that some people fall short of their potential.<\/p>\n

Humans, he argues, have certain capacities, including the unique ability to reason. Realizing those capacities, he says, is what it means to live well. \u201cIndividuals definitely do find different paths through life, different experiments in living,\u201d he says. \u201cBut it\u2019s still objectively true that some of those paths are good and reasonable ones, while others are bad and unreasonable. You can have a view that accepts and even celebrates diversity in human beings while still holding that virtues \u2014 such as courage and fair mindedness \u2014 are fundamentally objective.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dark Side of Greek Philosophy<\/h2>\n

\"Aristotle\"The Ancient Greek philosophers, in fact, did accept that different people might have different goals and capacities. But for Assistant Professor of Philosophy Merrick Anderson<\/a>, that very idea points to an abhorrent aspect of Aristotle\u2019s legacy: his defense of slavery.<\/p>\n

\u201cAristotle is notorious for having defended \u2018natural slavery,\u2019\u201d says Anderson. \u201cWhat he meant by that is certain people are just born ill-equipped intellectually to figure out how to lead their own lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an odious idea. And yet, even if their values sometimes clashed with ours, the Ancient Greek philosophers were still asking the right questions, Anderson argues \u2014 especially about how we ought to live.<\/p>\n

For thinkers like Plato, Socrates and Aristotle, those questions weren\u2019t abstract thought experiments. They were deeply personal and political. Socrates, after all, was sentenced to death for encouraging others to question traditional beliefs \u2014 a reminder that, in some eras, simply asking how to live can carry life-or-death consequences. \u201cThey were the first people to ask how we should live in a systematic way,\u201d says Anderson. \u201cThat is a major philosophical accomplishment, and it\u2019s something we owe to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

No Easy Answers<\/h2>\n

So, the next time a cab driver asks Finlay the meaning of life, how will he respond? Like Russell, he might demur. His goal as a philosopher and teacher, he says, isn\u2019t to deliver easy answers. \u201cHumans want to be able to boil things down to a simple idea,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd the search for the meaning of life is partly a symptom of that desire for simplicity \u2014 the desire to understand things that are complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fundamentally, Finlay thinks the idea that there\u2019s a single, objective answer to how we should live is a comforting fiction. \u201cHow on Earth do you prove the existence of these \u2018meanings\u2019 of life?\u201d he asks. \u201cI don\u2019t think any philosopher has ever succeeded in providing any good evidence for them. It seems to me that what it comes down to is a strong desire for them to be true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of offering an answer, Finlay\u2019s goal is to encourage his students to wrestle with the question of life\u2019s meaning themselves. \u201cThe course gives them a palette of options,\u201d he says. Many arrive with what he calls a package deal \u2014 often shaped by a religious tradition \u2014 about what life is supposed to mean.<\/p>\n

A Christian, for example, may believe that the meaning of life is to know and glorify God. Finlay never challenges his students\u2019 religious beliefs, and some may even leave the class with their faith strengthened, much like Tolstoy, who found renewed meaning through religion after a period of deep doubt. But ultimately, Finlay hopes that students walk away with something deeper: not an answer, but a readiness to ask better questions. \u201cI hope they leave the course with a deeper understanding,\u201d he says, \u201cso that when they face this question later in life, they are better equipped to explore their own answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n USC Dornsife Magazine\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Spring \/ Summer 2025<\/h2>\n

The Life Issue<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Philosophers tackle life\u2019s biggest question \u2014 and offer some surprising answers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":3016,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Find Meaning and Purpose in a Busy World<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how defining your \u201cwhy\u201d can boost your happiness, well-being and clarity in life.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/whats-the-point\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Find Meaning and Purpose in a Busy World - 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