What is the meaning of life? It's a question every thoughtful person has pondered
at one time or another. Indeed, it may be the biggest question of all. Most of us
have asked ourselves this question at some time, or posed it to somebody we respect.
It is at once a profound and abstract question, and a deeply personal one. We want
to understand the world in which we live, but we also want to understand how to make
our own lives as meaningful as possible; to know not only why we're living, but that
we're doing it with intention, purpose, and ethical commitment. But how, exactly, do
we find that meaning, and develop that commitment? How can we grasp why we are here?
Or how we should proceed? And to whom, exactly, are we supposed to listen as we shape
the path we will walk? The Meaning of Life: Perspectives from the World's Great
Intellectual Traditions is an invigorating way to begin or to continue your pursuit
of these questions, with no previous background in philosophical or religious thought
required. Its 36 lectures offer a rigorous and wide-ranging exploration of what
various spiritual, religious, and philosophical traditions from both the East and
the West have contributed to this profound line of questioning.
Guided by Professor Jay L. Garfield of Smith College.as well as of the University
of Massachusetts, Melbourne University in Australia, and the Central University of
Tibetan Studies in India.you'll gain insights from a broad array of sources,
including these:
* Ancient Indian texts, including the Bhagavad-Gita
* Foundational Chinese texts such as the Daodejing and the Chuang Tzu
* Classical Western texts such as Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics and Marcus
Aurelius's Meditations
* Modern philosophers such as David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche,
and Leo Tolstoy
* The unique perspectives offered by Native Americans; in this case, the Lakota
Sioux medicine man and writer, John Lame Deer
* More recent and contemporary philosophers, such as Mohandas Gandhi and the
Dalai Lama
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