Investigating the Conditions for a Meaningful Life
Philip Larkin, who in 1984 was offered (but declined) the position of British Poet Laureate, wrote the following:
Strange to know nothing, never to be sure
Of what is true or right or real, …And yet spend all our life on imprecisions,
That when we start to die
Have no idea why.—Ignorance
This poem highlights a topic in philosophy that interests me. Arguably, we lack knowledge of important existential issues; such ignorance presents us with a philosophical puzzle. Why are we ignorant about matters crucial for our welfare?
In a recently-published article in the academic journal Perichoresis, I examine this and related issues. I emphasize an epistemic gap between our beliefs about the meaning of human life and the evidence available to justify such beliefs. I ask the following question:
Does this epistemic gap render human life absurd?
The title of my paper is An Investigation of Conditions for the Meaning of Life. My working answer is that this problem poses a threat of absurdity, but that if we adopt some key assumptions, we might be able to avoid the absurdity, although significant objections (some of which I raise and answer) remain for further discussion.
The paper covers issues in axiology, epistemology, philosophical theology, and analytic existentialism. I suggest that the paper also addresses what I call philosophical agnotology.