The No Self View and the Meaning of Life

Philosophy East and West 69 (2):419-438 (2019)
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Abstract

Several philosophers, both in Buddhist and Western philosophy, claim that the self does not exist. The no-self view may, at first glance, appear to be a reason to believe that life is meaningless. In the present article, I argue indirectly in favor of the no-self view by showing that it does not entail that life is meaningless. I then examine Buddhism and argue, further, that the no-self view may even be construed as partially grounding an account of the meaning of life.

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Baptiste Le Bihan
University of Geneva

Citations of this work

The Meaning of Life (Second Revised Edition).Thaddeus Metz - 2021 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Conceptions of Supreme Deity.Graham Oppy - 2024 - Sophia 63 (3):389-399.
The Meaning of Life.Thaddeus Metz - 2012 - In Ed Zalta (ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford, CA: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

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Monism: The Priority of the Whole.Jonathan Schaffer - 2010 - Philosophical Review 119 (1):31-76.
Objects and Persons.Trenton Merricks - 2001 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Philosophical Explanations.Robert Nozick - 1981 - Mind 93 (371):450-455.
Meaning in Life and Why It Matters.Susan Wolf - 2010 - Princeton University Press.
Material Beings.Peter Van Inwagen - 1990 - Philosophy 67 (259):126-127.

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