Susan  Wolf

Susan Wolf

In thinking about what we want for ourselves and for those about whom we care, we tend to think in terms of the categories of self-interest and morality. We want, in other words, to be both happy and good. These categories, however, leave something out: an interest that our lives be meaningful.

This lecture, “Meaningfulness: A Third Dimension of the Good Life,” with Susan Wolf, proposed an analysis of meaningfulness in terms of subjective engagement with objective values. Understanding meaningfulness this way brings together the attractive elements of other more popular ways of thinking about the concept and makes intelligible why we should care deeply about having meaning in our lives.

This event was sponsored by the College of Arts & Sciences.