Not Altogether Meaningless Lives

Abstract ‘Am I leading a meaningless life?’ is a different and more vulnerable question about meaning in life than the question ‘What activities should I pursue for my life to be a meaningful life?’ Most contemporary philosophy of meaning in life focuses on the latter question and assumes that people live under the lucky circumstances of having a choice regarding the activities they want to pursue. Where it discusses crises of meaning, it conflates the crisis question of what prevents life from being altogether meaningless with the choice question about what activities to pursue. I argue this is a mistake. I discuss Matthew Wong as an example of someone who, judging from the perspective of choice views on meaning in life, seemed to lead an eminently meaningful life, yet who experienced existential crisis. I discuss Etty Hillesum and Sam Galesloot as examples of people who had little to no opportunity to develop activities of the type that choice thinkers espouse, yet who experienced meaningfulness and who many others have recognized as leading meaningful lives. All in all, the crisis and choice questions of meaning in life are separate questions and the crisis question deserves philosophical attention in its own right.