Abstract

Asking for ‘the meaning of life’ is, on the face of it, an odd question. Requests for meaning are usually questions about language, seeking to know the meaning of a word or a sentence – for example, ‘What is the meaning of the word “jejune”?’ So we can properly ask ‘What is the meaning of the word “life”?’, but that is not the same as asking ‘What is the meaning of life?’ If the beliefs which are supposed to constitute the meaning of life are intellectually untenable, where are humanists to turn? A familiar move at this point is to say that the meaning of life is not something which we can discover, but something which we create. The search for that elusive set of beliefs which will somehow unlock the mystery of the meaning of life will no doubt go on.