Synopsis of upcoming talk to Sydney Atheists on February 14 2014 at Strattons Hotel 249 Castlereagh Street Sydney

For our religionist, theist and faithist brethren in the human family the meaning of life is often bound up with faith or spirituality of some kind. Definitions of these things aside, this is often faith in the existence and reliability of what are usually supernatural entities. There is usually some kind of personal and/or communal inspiration claimed. This in turn is usually in accordance with some doctrine, also often taken to be somehow inspired. For the religionist and faith adherent, the meaning of life must be supplied, inspired, defined, grounded in, and sustained by an external supernatural force, spirit, and/or deity or deities of some kind. Meaning is realized in the nexus of faith based belief in and commitment to the existence of said entities, and the reliability of them for some kind of personal advantage and/or improvement. The meaning of life begins and ends there.

Unlike theologians, professional (and aspiring) philosophers are often quietist about the meaning of life (not venturing to offer any answer, opinion, or solution) or at least resigning about such questions (there are certainly exceptions – most notably perhaps being the Existentialists for whom life was in a very real sense about simply being.) However, in philosophy, the prospect of trying to answer the question of the meaning of life is often treated as something of an in joke: “They’re going to answer what!? Oh well we can all go home then”. Indeed, spend enough time just arguing about meaning, and one of the philosopher’s jobs is to argue, and to challenge accepted ideas. It is not clear what is to be argued, although challenging the idea that an answer is available through faith is more than reasonable.

I will offer neither a quietist nor a positivist answer, but like all aspiring philosophers will try not to embarrass myself pondering the question. I proffer that arguably no philosopher will ever do better than author Douglas Adams, whose characters Loonquawl and Phouchg (Adams frequently righteously lampooned philosophers) and mega computer Deep Thought parlay about the question:

“But it was the Great Question! The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything!” howled Loonquawl.
“Yes,” said Deep Thought with the air of one who suffers fools gladly, “but what actually is it?”
A slow stupefied silence crept over the men as they stared at the computer and then at each other.
“Well, you know, it’s just Everything… Everything…” offered Phouchg weakly.
“Exactly!” said Deep Thought. “So once you do know what the question actually is, you’ll know what the answer means.” (The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Chapter 34, Page 32)