Meaning in Life; Irving Singer Library Series

In his trilogy, "The Nature of Love", Irving Singer traces the development of the concept of love in history and literature from the Greeks to the 20th century. Now, in a sequel to his previous work, Singer offers a different approach. A "systematic mapping" of the various facets of love, the present volume is an extended essay that offers a philosophical and psychiatric theory of his own. From sexual love to religious love, from love of parents and children to love of friends and peers, from love of self to love of other creatures, nature, or God, "The Pursuit of Love" is wide-ranging. Singer explores the distinction between wanting to love and wanting to be loved. He examines love as merging and love as acceptance of another's uniqueness and autonomy. And he discusses attempts by various thinkers to differentiate between phenomena such as passion and reason, love and civilization, and animal and human love. In mapping and exploring this diversity of concepts, Singer explains, his role throughout remains that of a humanistic philosopher rather than counselor or problem-solver.
With insights into literature, the history of ideas, and the complexities of our being, "The Pursuit of Love" aims to be a thought-provoking inquiry into fundamental aspects of all human relationships.

Meaning in Life

by Irving Singer

Published 1 November 1991

An acclaimed philosopher views the search for meaning in life as the search for a mode of creativity that will make our lives meaningful.

What is meaning in life? Does anything really matter? How can a life achieve lasting significance? How can we explain the human propensity to struggle for ideals? How is meaning related to contentment, happiness, joy? Is meaning something we discover, or do we create it? What is the nature of value, and what are its sources in human experience? Can there be a meaning in life without religious faith? What is the meaning of death? Is life worth living? What would enable us to have a love of life?

"Meaning in life," writes philosopher Irving Singer, "and the meaning in our own lives, results from creative efforts on our part. It is not a prior reality awaiting our discovery. Though we talk about a 'search' for meaning, what we are seeking is primarily a mode of creativity that will make our lives meaningful." In The Creation of Value, the first volume of his Meaning in Life trilogy, Singer studies the nature of imagination, idealization, and love in the context of humanity's attempt to define itself through the pursuit of meanings and values that it creates. Singer confronts life's most troubling problems: the meaning of death, the presence of anxiety in daily existence, the conditions needed for us to have a life worth living, and the possibility of a love of life in others as well as in ourselves.