Book Review: Looking for a Poetic Life in the Man’s Spiritual Home: A Review of The Study of the Meaning of Life SunZhengyu, Looking for a Poetic Life in the Man’s Spiritual Home: A Review of The Study of the Meaning of Life. Translated by M. Yang, and Z. Wang. Singapore: Springer Nature, 2024; ISBN 978-981-97-7038-0; ISBN 978-981-97-7039-7 (eBook)Translation from the Chinese language edition: “《生命意义研究》北京师范大学出版集团, ISBN 978 7-303-25803-1, 2020.08.” by SunZhengyu, © 北京师范大学出版集团, 2020. Published by The Study of the Meaning of Life, Beijing: Beijing Normal University Publishing Group, ISBN 978-7-303-25803-1, Aug. 2020. All Rights Reserved.

The Study of the Meaning of Life is a book by Chinese philosopher Zhengyu Sun, which uses his distinctive ‘critique of meaning’ philosophical method to the fundamental issue of the meaning of life behind the relationship between thought and being. In this book, language, consciousness, death and self-realization are all themes closely related to meaning, and the discussions centred around these themes have also become the most distinctive content. Regarding language, he holds that language is an intermediary between man and the world, preserving human history and culture; Regarding death, he suggests that it prompts people to reflect on life; Regarding self-realization, he argues that man achieve transcendental self-realization by fulfilling their aesthetic needs through practical activities. Sun’s philosophy connects Karl Marx and Martin Heidegger while developing an understanding of meaning in the context of Chinese culture.