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Terry Eagleton - The Meaning of Life : A Very Short Introduction

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Book:
The Meaning of Life : A Very Short Introduction
Author:
Terry Eagleton
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Genre:
Books / Religion
Year:
2007
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The phrase the meaning of life for many seems a quaint notion fit for satirical mauling by Monty Python or Douglas Adams. But in this spirited Very Short Introduction, famed critic Terry Eagleton takes a serious if often amusing look at the question and offers his own surprising answer.Eagleton first examines how centuries of thinkers and writers--from Marx and Schopenhauer to Shakespeare, Sartre, and Beckett--have responded to the ultimate question of meaning. He suggests, however, that it is only in modern times that the question has become problematic. But instead of tackling it head-on, many of us cope with the feelings of meaninglessness in our lives by filling them with everything from football to sex, Kabbala, Scientology, New Age softheadedness, or fundamentalism. On the other hand, Eagleton notes, many educated people believe that life is an evolutionary accident that has no intrinsic meaning. If our lives have meaning, it is something with which we manage to invest them, not something with which they come ready made. Eagleton probes this view of meaning as a kind of private enterprise, and concludes that it fails to holds up. He argues instead that the meaning of life is not a solution to a problem, but a matter of living in a certain way. It is not metaphysical but ethical. It is not something separate from life, but what makes it worth living--that is, a certain quality, depth, abundance and intensity of life.Here then is a brilliant discussion of the problem of meaning by a leading thinker, who writes with a light and often irreverent touch, but with a very serious end in mind.......We have all wondered about the meaning of life. But is there an answer? And do we even really know what were asking? Terry Eagleton takes a stimulating and quirky look at this most compelling of questions: at the answers explored in philosophy and literature; at the crisis of meaning in modern times; and suggests his own solution to how we might rediscover meaning in our lives.**ReviewThis is a brief, ambitious, and satisfying book. As a survivor of the theory wars, Terry Eagleton has emerged as a critic and thinker who will help us theologues ponder not only lifes meaning but the next steps we should take as even postmodernism fades into cultural history. If there is a cultural life for us all in the aftermath of the conflict between essentialism and relativism, Eagletons provocative essay will point the way both to making and discovering its meaning.--Gary R. Hall, Anglican Theological ReviewEagletons witty eclecticism is perfect for such a lofty subject, but would it be inappropriate to ask for more?--Leoppold Froelich, PlayboyThe Meaning of Life may be lie relative to how much more a scholar like Mr. Eagleton might have said, but it is still a work that demands close attention from readers who are already well grounded in literature and philosophy.--Mark Grannis, The Washington TimesThe news that Terry Eagleton has tackled the meaning of life in a book of a mere 185 pages shouldnt raise any eyebrows. If anyone can pull it off, its probably him. Eagleton, unsurprisingly, has written an elegant, literate, cogent consideration of a maddeningly slippery topic, one whose conclusions run contrary to conventional wisdom, especially in this country.--Laura Miller, Salon.comEagletons is unlike most works on lifes meaning, in which writers often invoke theology. Eagletons notion of love may seem to lead back to theism, but he shows us we can have meaningful lives whatever our theology, and he invites us all to choose. He deserves a place in most collections.--Leslie Armour, Library JournalRegardless of whether you agree with him, youll find yourself challenged by this little book.--Houston ChronicleAbout the AuthorTerry Eagleton is Professor of Cultural Theory and John Rylands Fellow at the University of Manchester. His literary criticism includes Literary Theory: An Introduction, Heathcliff and the Great Hunger, and After Theory. He has also written a novel, Saints and Scholars, several plays and a memoir, The Gatekeeper. He divides his time between Manchester, Dublin and Derry.

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The Meaning of Life: A Very Short Introduction

warm intellectual pleasure meticulous treatment of the subject. It looks
like Eagleton got it right.
Mario Pisani, The Financial Times

A charming personal voyage round himself, I can only say it left me
thoroughly surprised and delighted.
Simon Jenkins, Times Literary Supplement Books of the Year

The name Terry Eagleton assures us of stimulation, style, sparkling,
sometimes acerbic, wit, and wide-ranging erudition. In other words he is
eminently readable [a] commendably pocket-sized book.

Gordon Parsons, Morning Star

The books a little gem
Suzanne Harrington, Irish Examiner

It is a stimulating and often entertaining Cooks tour around the chief
monuments of western philosophy and literature The Meaning of Life is
unusual and refreshing.

John Gray, The Independent

A lively starting point for late-night debate

John Cornwell, The Sunday Times

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX 2 6 DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the Universitys objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide in
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in the UK and in certain other countriesPublished in the United States
by Oxford University Press Inc., New YorkTerry Eagleton 2007
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
Database right Oxford University Press (maker)First published in hardback 2007First published as a Very Short Introduction 2008All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press,
or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate
reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction
outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department,
Oxford University Press, at the address aboveYou must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover
and you must impose the same condition on any acquirerBritish Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Eagleton, Terry, 1943
The meaning of life: a very short introduction / Terry Eagleton.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 9780199532179
1. Life. 2. Meaning (Philosophy) I. Title.
BD431.E14 2008
128dc22 2007051203
ISBN 9780199532179
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
Printed in Great Britain by
Ashford Colour Press Ltd, Gosport, Hampshire

Very Short Introductions available now:

ADVERTISING Winston Fletcher

AFRICAN HISTORY John Parker and Richard Rathbone

AGNOSTICISM Robin Le Poidevin

AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS L. Sandy Maisel

THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY Charles O. Jones

ANARCHISM Colin Ward

ANCIENT EGYPT Ian Shaw

ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY Julia Annas

ANCIENT WARFARE Harry Sidebottom

ANGLICANISM Mark Chapman

THE ANGLO-SAXON AGE John Blair

ANIMAL RIGHTS David DeGrazia

ANTISEMITISM Steven Beller

THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS Paul Foster

ARCHAEOLOGY Paul Bahn

ARCHITECTURE Andrew Ballantyne

ARISTOCRACY William Doyle

ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes

ART HISTORY Dana Arnold

ART THEORY Cynthia Freeland

ATHEISM Julian Baggini

AUGUSTINE Henry Chadwick

AUTISM Uta Frith

BARTHES Jonathan Culler

BESTSELLERS John Sutherland

THE BIBLE John Riches

BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY Eric H. Cline

BIOGRAPHY Hermione Lee

THE BOOK OF MORMON Terryl Givens

THE BRAIN Michael OShea

BRITISH POLITICS Anthony Wright

BUDDHA Michael Carrithers

BUDDHISM Damien Keown

BUDDHIST ETHICS Damien Keown

CAPITALISM James Fulcher

CATHOLICISM Gerald OCollins

THE CELTS Barry Cunliffe

CHAOS Leonard Smith

CHOICE THEORY Michael Allingham

CHRISTIAN ART Beth Williamson

CHRISTIAN ETHICS D. Stephen Long

CHRISTIANITY Linda Woodhead

CITIZENSHIP Richard Bellamy

CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY Helen Morales

CLASSICS Mary Beard and John Henderson

CLAUSEWITZ Michael Howard

THE COLD WAR Robert McMahon

COMMUNISM Leslie Holmes

CONSCIOUSNESS Susan Blackmore

CONTEMPORARY ART Julian Stallabrass

CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY Simon Critchley

COSMOLOGY Peter Coles

THE CRUSADES Christopher Tyerman

CRYPTOGRAPHY Fred Piper and Sean Murphy

DADA AND SURREALISM David Hopkins

DARWIN Jonathan Howard

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS Timothy Lim

DEMOCRACY Bernard Crick

DESCARTES Tom Sorell

DESERTS Nick Middleton

DESIGN John Heskett

DINOSAURS David Norman

DIPLOMACY Joseph M. Siracusa

DOCUMENTARY FILM Patricia Aufderheide

DREAMING J. Allan Hobson

DRUGS Leslie Iversen

DRUIDS Barry Cunliffe

THE EARTH Martin Redfern

ECONOMICS Partha Dasgupta

EGYPTIAN MYTH Geraldine Pinch

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN Paul Langford

THE ELEMENTS Philip Ball

EMOTION Dylan Evans

EMPIRE Stephen Howe

ENGELS Terrell Carver

ENGLISH LITERATURE Jonathan Bate

EPIDEMIOLOGY Roldolfo Saracci

ETHICS Simon Blackburn

THE EUROPEAN UNION John Pinder and Simon Usherwood

EVOLUTION Brian and Deborah Charlesworth

EXISTENTIALISM Thomas Flynn

FASCISM Kevin Passmore

FASHION Rebecca Arnold

FEMINISM Margaret Walters

FILM MUSIC Kathryn Kalinak

THE FIRST WORLD WAR Michael Howard

FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY David Canter

FORENSIC SCIENCE Jim Fraser

FOSSILS Keith Thomson

FOUCAULT Gary Gutting

FREE SPEECH Nigel Warburton

FREE WILL Thomas Pink

FRENCH LITERATURE John D. Lyons

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION William Doyle

FREUD Anthony Storr

FUNDAMENTALISM Malise Ruthven

GALAXIES John Gribbin

GALILEO Stillman Drake

GAME THEORY Ken Binmore

GANDHI Bhikhu Parekh

GEOGRAPHY John Matthews and David Herbert

GEOPOLITICS Klaus Dodds

GERMAN LITERATURE Nicholas Boyle

GERMAN PHILOSOPHY Andrew Bowie

GLOBAL CATASTROPHES Bill McGuire

GLOBAL WARMING Mark Maslin

GLOBALIZATION Manfred Steger

THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE NEW DEAL Eric Rauchway

HABERMAS James Gordon Finlayson

HEGEL Peter Singer

HEIDEGGER Michael Inwood

HIEROGLYPHS Penelope Wilson

HINDUISM Kim Knott

HISTORY John H. Arnold

THE HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY Michael Hoskin

THE HISTORY OF LIFE Michael Benton

THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE William Bynum

THE HISTORY OF TIME Leofranc Holford-Strevens

HIV/AIDS Alan Whiteside

HOBBES Richard Tuck

HUMAN EVOLUTION Bernard Wood

HUMAN RIGHTS Andrew Clapham

HUME A. J. Ayer

IDEOLOGY Michael Freeden

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY Sue Hamilton

INFORMATION Luciano Floridi

INNOVATION Mark Dodgson and David Gann

INTELLIGENCE Ian J. Deary

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION Khalid Koser

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Paul Wilkinson

ISLAM Malise Ruthven

ISLAMIC HISTORY Adam Silverstein

JOURNALISM Ian Hargreaves

JUDAISM Norman Solomon

JUNG Anthony Stevens

KABBALAH Joseph Dan

KAFKA Ritchie Robertson

KANT Roger Scruton

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