Purpose of Life

Stewart Goetz is Ross Frederick Wicks Distinguished Professor in Philosophy and Religion at Ursinus College, PA, USA. He is co-author with Charles Taliaferro of Naturalism (2008) and A Brief History of the Soul (2011). He serves on the board of directors for Blackwell's Philosophy Compass.

• PrefaceChapter 1: Clarifying the QuestionWhat is the Meaning of Life?Clarifying Questions and Answers to ThemPerfect HappinessA Plausible Understanding of "What is the meaning of life?"A Plausible Understanding of "What makes life meaningful?"Euthyphro's ObjectionA Plausible Understanding of "Is life meaningful?"This World, the Afterlife, and the SoulConclusionAddendumChapter 2: Perfect Happiness and Its Atheist CriticsPerfect Happiness Is Not the Meaning of LifePerfect Happiness: Setting the Bar too High"Why Should I Be Moral?"A Section Not Strictly Necessary"Why Should I Be Moral?" againChapter 3: Perfect Happiness and Its Theist CriticsThe Problem of PleasurePleasure Cannot Be Intrinsically Good: Religious ConcernsPleasure Cannot Be Intrinsically Good: Philosophical ConcernsIs Pleasure Present in Everything We Enjoy?ConclusionChapter 4: Purposeful Explanation and NaturalismA Brief OverviewLooking Backward versus Looking ForwardThe Nature of Purposeful ExplanationNaturalismThe Causal Closure PrincipleScience Is Not the ProblemSurvival or Pleasure: What Explains What?Evolution versus CreationAddendumChapter 5: The Problem of EvilSkeptical Theism, the Purpose of Life, and the Problem of EvilChoice and Life PlansLife Plans and Perfect HappinessA TheodicyThe Plausibility of My TheodicyNot So Fast!A Skeptical Theist Turned TheodicistJustice as an Organic UnityTying Together Some Loose EndsThe Experience of Evil by BeastsAddendumChapter 6: ConclusionBibliographyIndex

Stewart Goetz’s remarkable book, The Purpose of Life: A Theistic Perspective, provides a rigorous analytic treatment of a theistic theory of the meaning of life that addresses the best arguments of its nontheistic detractors. Beyond that self-described goal, Goetz also mounts a direct assault on naturalism, defends his specific understanding of life’s meaning against the objections of his theistic friends, and presents a kind of free will theodicy. ... [P]acked full of insights and arguments that would benefit a readership that ranges from advanced undergraduates to the most learned theologian or philosopher.