Does mortality give life meaning?

Some people claim that death makes our lives meaningless. Bernard Williams and Viktor Frankl have made the opposite claim that death gives meaning to life. However, there is support for the more limited conclusion that our finitude enhances or upholds the meaning in the lives of some individuals in four different ways.

How people define death?

1 : the irreversible cessation of all vital functions especially as indicated by permanent stoppage of the heart, respiration, and brain activity : the end of life — see brain death. 2 : the cause or occasion of loss of life drinking was the death of him. 3 : the state of being dead in death as in life.

Is death really what gives life meaning?

Tolstoy and Nietzsche would argue that that’s absolutely the case—and they’ve gotten plenty of attention for it, especially in Western culture, because it runs contrary to an unspoken assumption that death itself is what gives life meaning. Christians look forward to heaven. Jews see death as a terrible but necessary part of God’s plan.

Is immortality necessary for life to be meaningful?

There has been extensive analysis of the claim that immortality is necessary for one’s life to be meaningful.1 In contrast, there has been very little scrutiny of the claim that death is necessary for a person’s life to be meaningful.

Is death necessary for one’s life to be meaningful?

Death is more than just a deadline with serious repercussions for those who fail to pursue their goals. Death also reveals to us that human life is fragile which, in turn, may prompt us to appreciate our lives. Robert Nozick disputed Frankl’s argument that death is necessary for one’s life to be meaningful.

Is death inherently bad?

Death is inherently bad. Life is meaningful; it’s meaning is completely unrelated to the fact that it eventually ends. The value is in the journey itself, not the inevitable endpoint of the journey, and the fact that the journey must end does not detract from or add to the fact the the journey is unique, special, and irreplaceable.