The Metaphysical Components of the Meaning of Life in Irvin D. Yalom`s View

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 sh.shayanfar@alzahra.ac.ir

2 graduated from the Department of Philosophy and Islamic Theology of Al-Zahra University

Abstract

According to Yalom, life is inherently meaningless and we have to make the meaning of life for ourselves, not discovering it. He holds that the meaningful life is the result of commitment to a set of ethical-psychological principles that has been invented by man. These moral-psychological principles are based on metaphysical components. The aim of this paper is to deal with the following question: What are the metaphysical components of the meaning of life in Irwin Yalom` s point of view? The achievements of this research are as follow: first, From the point of view of Yalom, the meaning of life is related to three components of value, ultimate anxieties, and culture; and the second a world free from God, a meaningless world, and meaningful life without believing in the metaphysical world are the most important ontological components of the meaningful life according to Yalom and responsibility, love, boundary position (border experiences), guilt, death, dreams and emotions, fear and anxiety, and loneliness are among the most important anthropological components of the meaning of life in Yalom` s view. Therefore, on this basis, it can be said that Yalom considers life as meaningful without God and beyond believing in metaphysical world, which are a significant metaphysical and ontological components of the meaningfulness of life for him. The reason to take such perspective is that he indeed does not consider the belief in God as well as the belief in metaphysical world as the necessary and essential moral conditions for human life in order to comply human life with such beliefs.

Keywords

References

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Journal of Ontological Researches
Volume 8, Issue 15
August 2019
Pages 67-93

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