Life Isn't Pointless Because We Die

As a philosophy student, I've had my fair share of existential crises. Among these is the consideration that if everyone and everything will die in the end anyway, why bother? Isn't it just a pointless 80-year exercise that no one will remember in a few centuries? It seems hard to justify anything if we're all going back to stardust soon anyway.

I've come to appreciate that while it is true that we (and likely any memory of us) will cease to exist in a few hundred years, this isn't any less of a reason to live or find life absurd. I took a module in my philosophy course called Reasons For Action, which is exactly what it sounds like - it explores why we should do things, and what justifications we can give for our actions. 

All of our actions are performed for a reason, and this chain of reasoning can stretch back a long way if you take the time to reflect on it. Why did I take a degree? To have better employment prospects. Why do I want better employment prospects? To earn a decent wage. Why? To live well and have time to do things I enjoy. Why? You get the idea - it's not dissimilar to a child's irritating habit to ask 'but why?', except I turned it into a degree! The worry is that because we die, none of these chains will ever be justified - philosopher Thomas Nagel (1971. The Absurd, p.717) describes them as "leaving off in mid-air":

"Another inadequate argument is that because we are going to die, all chains of justification must leave off in mid-air; one studies and works to earn money to pay for clothing, housing, entertainment, food, to sustain oneself from year to year, perhaps to support a family and pursue a career - but to what final end? All of it is an elaborate journey leading nowhere."

So should we all abandon our posts and give up our dreams? Fortunately, there is more to the story. We are all making a crucial assumption when we are convinced by this argument, which is that for our lives to have meaning, they must be justified by something else. This is the whole idea of making a "chain" of justifications -we think an action must be justified by something else before it. 

If we introspect on why we do certain things, we discover that this is simply false. Why did you scratch yourself? To get rid of an itch. Why do you want to get rid of an itch? Well….you just do. There isn't any justification needed. This applies to any intrinsically valuable activity - playing the piano, painting for fun, or in my case, taking a philosophy degree. If I only wanted to improve my employment prospects, I would've taken a degree that leads to a high-paying, in-demand job, like a software engineer. I am a few thousand years too late (unfortunately) for a job as a philosopher, but I chose to follow the path anyway because I am passionate about it. For me, it is inherently valuable to study philosophy - and there's nothing more to it.

Furthermore, if everything had to be justified by a preceding event, nothing could ever be justified. Intuitively, we understand that many things are justified in both our lives and other peoples' lives. When we agree and empathise with a story, it is because we think that the person's choices are justified - perhaps they have saved a duckling that fell down a drain, or started a successful business from scratch. We don't question whether or not these people's actions were justified, because if they're helping others or doing what they love, these things are inherently meaningful!

Finally, consider a world in which you lived forever. Would it make your life any more meaningful, if you had experienced the rise and fall of civilizations and had a wealth of accumulated wisdom? You would still eat breakfast the same, do activities you enjoy, and be with people you love, just as you do now. For many, living forever doesn't even seem to be an appealing prospect. Therefore, if we don't look to immortality as a source of meaning, we can find comfort in the fact that our lives are not rendered pointless because of our death - and we are free to pursue fulfilling activities as we please!