In the final chapter of his book The Happiness Hypothesis, Jonathan Haidt examines The Ultimate Question. First, he says, we need to understand what we are asking. What does the meaning of life mean? We are not asking for a definition of life (although even that is hard to answer); rather, The Ultimate Question is a plea for help to make sense of life given that, most ways you slice it, it has the tendency to appear rather meaningless.
Looking at it this way, The Ultimate Question can be re-framed to mean "Tell me something enlightening about life." Haidt identifies two specific sub-questions to which people want answers and for which they find answers enlightening.
1. Purpose of life: "What is the purpose for which humans beings were placed on Earth? Why are we here?"
2. Purpose within life: "How ought I to live? What should I do to have a good, happy, fulfilling, and meaningful life?"
In answering the first question, science and religion are often seen as antagonists, and indeed they do sometimes offer conflicting answers. The two major classes of answers are that (a) you believe the universe was intentionally and intelligently created, or (b) you believe in a purely material, intentionless universe.
Many people attempt to answer the second question based on their answer to the first, and indeed see the two questions as inseparable. But as Haidt explains, it needn't be that way:
Because I embraced the scientific answer to the question of the purpose of life, I thought it precluded finding purpose within life. It was an easy mistake to make because many religions teach that the two questions are inseparable. If you believe that God created you as part of His plan, then you can figure out how you ought to live if you are going to play your part properly. The Purpose Driven Life is a forty-day course that teaches readers how to find purpose within life from the theological answer to the question of the purpose of life.
The two questions can, however, be separated. The first asks about life from the outside; it looks at people, the Earth, and the stars as objects -- "Why do they all exist?" -- and is properly addressed by theologians, physicists, and biologists. The second question is about life from the inside, as a subject -- "How can I find a sense of meaning and purpose?" -- and is properly addressed by theologians, philosophers, and psychologists. The second question is really empirical -- a question of fact that can be examined by scientific means.
Haidt spends the rest of the chapter developing solutions to the how ought I to live question based on research from psychology (with wisdom from ancient philosophers sprinkled in). It is one of the best books I have read, and I recommend it to everyone.
In a future post, I hope to explore the implications of his solutions.
