PHL-220 Death and the Meaning of Life examines philosophical questions surrounding mortality and its implications for how humans understand meaning and purpose. The course treats death not as a topic to avoid intellectually, but as a genuine philosophical lens for examining what makes a life meaningful — using the reality of mortality to sharpen, rather than avoid, questions about how to live.
Mortality as a genuine philosophical lens on meaning
The course uses the reality of death specifically as a lens for examining what makes life meaningful, treating mortality's inevitability as a genuine philosophical tool for clarifying values and priorities, not a topic to be avoided.
A genuinely uncomfortable subject examined rigorously
PHL-220 tackles a subject many people avoid discussing directly, applying genuine philosophical rigor to questions about death and meaning rather than leaving them as purely emotional or avoided topics.
Key topics in PHL220
- Philosophical perspectives on mortality
- Death's implications for meaning and purpose
- What makes a life meaningful
- Confronting mortality philosophically
- The relationship between finitude and value
- Living well in light of mortality
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Worked example: mortality clarifying what matters
- Avoidance approach: Treating death as a topic too uncomfortable for rigorous intellectual examination
- PHL-220's approach: Using the reality of mortality as a genuine philosophical tool for clarifying what actually matters in a meaningful life
- Lesson: PHL-220 teaches that confronting mortality directly and rigorously can genuinely sharpen, rather than diminish, our understanding of what makes life meaningful
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Frequently asked questions
Mortality's inevitability genuinely shapes and clarifies what people consider meaningful — the fact that time and life are finite is precisely what gives certain choices and relationships their weight and urgency — meaning questions about death and questions about meaning are genuinely interconnected, not separate philosophical topics. PHL-220 uses this integrated approach because examining meaning without accounting for mortality would miss a genuinely central factor shaping how people actually think about purpose and value.
Avoiding direct examination of mortality doesn't make the philosophical questions it raises disappear, and genuine intellectual engagement with death — rather than emotional avoidance — allows for a more honest and clarifying exploration of what actually gives life meaning. PHL-220 tackles this subject rigorously because philosophy's value lies precisely in examining difficult, uncomfortable questions carefully rather than only easy or comfortable ones.