Meaning, Agency, and Morality
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24193/subbphil.2026.2.12Keywords:
meaning, morality, transformative agency, Gewirth, moral rightsAbstract
In this paper, meaning in a human life is related to transformative agency, by which an agent commits herself to goals and projects that go beyond the satisfaction of her self-centred interests. Susan Wolf’s objectivist idea that meaning requires objective worth is rejected. Instead it is argued that it is sufficient that a project of meaning appears objectively valuable from within the agent’s own perspective. However, what is meaningful is not necessarily morally justified. Since all projects of meaning involve agency, they can be morally evaluated according to the Gewirthian principle that all agents should act in accord with their recipients’ rights to freedom and well-being.
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