Ep.63 The Philosophy of Love, Part 2

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Love is a driving factor in our decisions. People plan their lives around who they love: they stay close to their parents, take a completely random job to stay with their spouse, and save hundreds of thousands of dollars for their future children’s education. But just as the people we love drive our decisions, so do what activities we love. Famously, Paul Gauguin ran away from his wife and children, culture and country to pursue his love of painting in Tahiti. The composer Piotor Tchaikovsky gave up a potentially lucrative career as a civil servant to study composition. Less dramatically however, we make these decisions all the time in our lives. We sacrifice our time to read, our bodies to play sports, or our sleep to go watch Taylor Swift concerts. We do these activities because we love them. And this love, many philosophers argue, gives our life meaning. But do all activities, even ones that are trivial but that we might enjoy, contribute to meaning? Can humans love any task? If not, what is the criterion and who makes it? And why should we care? Join us today as we unpack the paradox between love and meaning.

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