Posted: September 13th, 2022

Does immortality have any essential role to play in an account of the meaning of life?

Does immortality have any essential role to play in an account of the meaning of life?
The relationship between immortality and the meaning of life has been a topic of interest to many theologians and philosophers for centuries. Would you like to live forever? This question evokes conflicting feelings and opinions among people. Well, immorality might appear desirable to most, but so is death in giving meaning to life. This leads us to imagine what the world of immortal beings would look like. How would immortality affect certain aspects of our life, such as our life goals and relationships with other people? What would be the challenges, if any, and the rewards of leading an immortal life? Would being immortal be beneficial or detrimental to our lives?
Pessimists are of the idea that death makes life meaningless. However, two very influential philosophers in ancient times, Williams and Viktor Frankl oppose this notion and suggest that death gives life meaning. For some reason, there has been very extensive research seeking to shed light on the issue of immortality and whether it is needed for a person to lead a meaningful life. On the other hand, the claim that death is necessary for a meaningful life has received very minimal scrutiny.
Even with the dozens of researches, the idea that one needs to be immortal to have a meaningful life is still uncertain. And what about the opposing theory? Is death really necessary for a meaningful life, or is it just as unconvincing as the first claim? And if indeed death impacts meaning in one’s life, then how is it achieved? Humans’ desire to lead a meaningful life prompts the need to establish and understand the role that these two phenomena, death and immortality, play in impacting meaning in our lives.
Scholars like Earnest Becker and Martin Heidegger support the notion that immortality impacts meaning in our lives. According to them, an immortal life on earth would grant us more time and opportunities to participate in more activities and projects. But Frankl strongly opposes this idea. He responds by arguing that if we were immortal, then we would keep on delaying and postponing activities forever because it would not matter if we completed the actions then or later. Through constant procrastination, eventually, nothing would get done, and our lives would lose meaning. Frankl explains that death puts a boundary to the future, which helps us utilize our lifetime to the maximum without wasting any opportunity.
Fischer, John Martin. “Death, immortality, and meaning in life.” (2020).
Krylova, Svitlana, and Nazip Кhamitov. “Meaning of Life, Death and Immortality in Human Existence.”
Mohammadrezaee, Mohammad, and Seyyedeh Zeinab Mehrianpoor. “Critique of the relationship between immortality and the meaning of life (According to Bernard Williams).” (2020): 95-120.

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