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Terry Eagleton: The meaning of life (Hardcover, 2007, Oxford University Press) 4 stars

Review of 'The meaning of life' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Delightfully easy to read and understand, as always from Terry Eagleton. This little book tours some of the key debates concerning the question of the meaning of life, drawing on Aristotle, Schopenhauer, Marx, Freud, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein. Much of the book is concerned with trying to understand the question itself, particularly what we mean when we talk of 'life' and of 'meaning'. Following this, Eagleton discusses a range of possible responses to the question, and having rejected a number of them, offers his own suggestion which draws on Aristotle's concepts of Eudaimonia as well as love. It sounds somewhat pithy in how I've described it, but it's a plausible and reassuring view. I highly recommend this book.