"The meaning of life" . . we question it, ponder it, dispute and fret about it, but at some point each of us finds the need to address this fundamental issue of human existence. Some believe that there is a purpose inherent in our nature as human beings and in the vast universe of which we are but a small part. Others hold that the values we strive for and the virtues we seek are revealed to us by a divine creator of the cosmos in whose plan we figure as integral components. Still others say that our lives have no intrinsic meaning beyond that which we give them.
With such competing views, how are we to sort out for ourselves this special human concern? In Does Life Have A Meaning? well-known philosopher and scholar Milton K. Munitz suggests that we must first set aside our comfortable assumptions and try to gain an accurate understanding of this powerful concept known as "the meaning of life." Capturing its influence on our lives requires that we first consider the basic character of the world around us. We can approach this intellectual and spiritual need by trying to map out the major dimensions of existence in the hope of sorting out what constitutes the content of our world. Equipped with such an overview, we should be in a better position to consider the locus, opportunities, and limits for finding various types and sources of meaning in our individual lives.
In pursuit of this goal, Munitz contends that we must recognize a basic distinction between two important dimensions of Reality: (1) the Observable Universe - the domain of interactive existence (including human existents) open to increasingly refined identification of its varied contents, their intelligibility, and - in very limited cases - to human control, and (2) Boundless Existence, a wholly unintelligible, transcendent aspect of Reality that should not be confused with common theistic conceptions of God.
Does Life Have A Meaning? will tweak many comfortable beliefs about who we are and what, if anything, life has to offer. It will help remove the intellectual clutter from a topic that has occuped our attention for centuries.
