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Carolina Seminar on Philosophy, Ethics, and Mental Health: “Absurdity and Meaning” with Dr. Kieran Setiya
October 19, 2022 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Carolina Seminar on Philosophy, Ethics, and Mental Health: “Absurdity and Meaning” with Dr. Kieran Setiya, Professor and Section Head of Philosophy at MIT
Wednesday, October 19, 2022 at 6:00pm
Contact daniel_moseley@med.unc.edu for Zoom link
It is a cliché about philosophers that they ponder the meaning of life. Except they don’t. In recent philosophy, the question of life’s meaning is usually dismissed as nonsense; and for most earlier philosophers, the question doesn’t arise. In this talk, I’ll use the surprisingly recent origins of “the meaning of life” to argue that the question of life’s meaning does make sense. I’ll relate this question to the problem of life’s absurdity, explaining how it could have a positive answer—even if there is no God—and how the answer depends on us.