Settle for the bland and boring, Eagleton reveals with a mixture of humour and intellectual rigour how the question has become particularly problematic in modern times. So what is the meaning of life? In this witty, spirited, and stimulating inquiry, Eagleton shows how centuries of thinkers - from Shakespeare and Schopenhauer to Marx, Sartre and Beckett - have tackled the question. In ethics, we can talk of love, of practice and not just theory, of the 'other', of the imperative to live and not only to think.'Philosophers have an infuriating habit of analysing questions rather than answering them', writes Terry Eagleton, who, in these pages, asks the most important question any of us ever ask, and attempts to answer it. But when Eagleton says that the meaning of life is more ethical than metaphysical, he addresses the 'problem of existence' with a kind of warmth and humility. Kant was right to call it strewn with 'wreckage' even as he tried to salvage it in his own form of reason. To live in this way is not just to have life, but to have it in abundance.'When I was a really naive student in college, I was often frustrated with philosophy, particularly metaphysics, not only because it was so hard, but because it always seemed to find itself at an impasse-desolate, subject-centered, cold.

When you act in this way, you are sharing in the love which built the stars. The cosmos revolves on comforting the sick. It is not something separate for life, but makes it worth living.'And this is my favorite part of the book: 'Eternity lies not in a grain of sand but in a glass of water. As such, it can only really be known in the living.The meaning of life is not a solution to the problem, but a matter of living in a certain way. It is not an esoteric truth, but a certain form of life. I agree with what he says: 'The meaning of life is less a proposition than a practice. At only 100 pages, it's a rather slim volume, but it manages to cover a lot of ground, discussing heavyweights like Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Beckett, and the king of doom, Schopenhauer.I underlined this passage, which seems to summarize Eagleton's conclusion.

It was written by respected literary critic Terry Eagleton, whose lucid writing style is always entertaining and informative. This book has a funny title, but it is actually quite good.

The meaning of life by terry eagleton