The Relational Nature of the Meaning of Life in Nozick

  • Mirela Oliva University of St. Thomas, USA
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/10.5281/zenodo.3596157
Keywords: Meaning of Life, Relation, Value, Ein Sof.

Abstract

Nozick claims that the quest for the meaning of life entails a relational account of meaning. I defend his claim and show that the meaning of life is not one value among many but rather represents the connectedness of all aspects of human life. The meaning of life is a transcending of our limits towards value. This account leads Nozick to a theistic conclusion: the ultimate meaning of life can be only something that has no further meaning and is its meaning, namely the Unlimited (Ein Sof in the Kabbalist tradition). The paper starts by discussing Nozick’s definition of meaning as a relational dimension of reality. I underscore the difference between his approach and other approaches to the meaning of life, and then I examine the relation between meaning and value. The second part analyzes the various modes of life’s meaning as they emerge from the use of “meaning” in everyday language. I end with the discussion of the self-relationality of the Unlimited, which grounds the relationality of meaning.

Author Biography

Mirela Oliva, University of St. Thomas, USA

MIRELA OLIVA is Associate Professor and Rudman Chair of Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, USA. PhD in Philosophy at the University of Freiburg i. Breisgau, Germany. Her main interests are in philosophy of religion and ethics. She has published Das innere Verbum in Gadamers Hermeneutik (Mohr Siebeck, 2009), edited the Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 2014–2018, edited and translated Paul Ricoeur, Tradurre l'intraducibile. Sulla traduzione (Pontificia Università Urbaniana, 2008).

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Published
2019-12-31
How to Cite
[1]
Oliva, M. 2019. The Relational Nature of the Meaning of Life in Nozick. Disputatio. 8, 11 (Dec. 2019), 469-494. DOI:https://doi.org/10.5281/10.5281/zenodo.3596157.
Issue
Vol. 8 No. 11 (2019)
Section
Articles and Essays

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