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“I’ve lost my taste for life, can you help me?” Philosopher Michel Lacroix asked this question to three of his colleagues … from the past. And he imagined what they could answer him.
Dear Kant, dear Nietzsche, dear Sartre!
About the Developer
Michel Lacroix – Doctor of Philosophy, lecturer at the French University Evry-Val d’Esson, author of many books, among the latest “Personal Development” (“Le Developpement personnel” Flammarion, 2004. Not translated into Russian).
I am well aware that, directly addressing the great philosophers with a request to teach me how to live, I behave unusually and, perhaps, even unceremoniously. However, I’m sure you can help me. I feel that I am wandering through life at random, without purpose and meaning, although I have everything a person needs to be happy: family, friends, favorite work. I lost faith in everything that was important to me before, and first of all I lost faith in humanity, which, in my opinion, is heading straight for its own destruction. I fell victim to something akin to melancholy. Help me to feel the joy of being again. Explain the meaning of life – if it exists at all.
Michel Lacroix
PS (Kantu.) Please don’t try to teach me a lesson in morals instead of answering to the point.
About it
- Immanuel Kant. Anthropology from a pragmatic point of view. Science, 2002.
- Friedrich Nietzsche. On that side of good and evil… Harvest, 2003.
- Friedrich Nietzsche. Human, too human. A book for free minds. Audiobook, 1cd/mp3, Ardis, 2004.
- Jean-Paul Sartre. Being and nothing. Experience of phenomenological ontology. Republic, 2000.
- Jean-Paul Sartre. Nausea. Stone. Folio, 1999.
ANSWER Immanuel Kant “Help humanity become better”
Dear Michel, do not worry, I will not repeat to you about a moral duty and a moral imperative. It is customary to attribute excessive strictness and categorical judgments to me, however, among other things, I am also a philosopher of history – it is in this incarnation that I would like to talk to you, because I see that you have fallen into despondency not only about your own life, but also about the future of the human race as a whole.
For reasons which it would be difficult and unnecessary to state here, I firmly believe in the progress of mankind. I believe in the approach of a better human society, each member of which will be an individual, a free person, worthy of serving the highest goal of being, and not a means to achieve it.
In this future world, the dignity of everyone will be recognized, politics will be subordinated to morality, and indestructible peace will come between states. In other words, your pessimism is not justified. There is only one “but”: all this will not happen by itself. “The kingdom of harmony,” as I call it, is just a weak sprout rooted in human nature, and it depends only on people of good will whether it withers or survives and begins to bear fruit. And here a lot depends on you. Make this beautiful dream come true: help humanity become better. Use your energy to achieve freedom, justice, peace. This way you will keep up with history. And besides, you will find the meaning of life.
ANSWER Friedrich Nietzsche “Fill life with energy”
Michel, don’t expect me to pretend to be smart and play the role of an expert on the meaning of life. I hate philosophers who take it upon themselves to claim that they have penetrated the essence of things and unraveled the root cause of being. My advice to you: do not seek solace in abstract ideals. Justice, democracy, individual rights – all this is nothing more than fiction (I read Kant’s answer, and, to be honest, he left me at a loss). As for religion, don’t you know how I feel about it. Like the plague, flee from priests, rabbis and other imams. Only one thing should matter to you – life. Your life.
But beware: there are two types of people in the world. Some lead a humiliated existence: they feel guilty for simply existing in the world, and their eternal destiny is to remain powerless slaves of morality. Others dare to live for real. They use the life force that is in them, and are not afraid to listen to their most secret desires. Become one of them – live intensely. Be passionate about everything that can make you stronger, be it sports, music, travel, literary creativity, work, meditation, entertainment, love, science … The most important thing is to follow your calling to the end, not stopping at any obstacles. Only in this way will you become a superman, my son.
Jean-Paul Sartre’s ANSWER “Use your freedom”
Michel, you write that confusion has seized you, that your life is meaningless. First of all, let me notice the following: this letter testifies to the clarity of your consciousness. Yes, the fate of man is exactly as you describe it: our life, by definition, has no meaning. We are thrown into this world without any reason, but apart from our consciousness it does not exist. There is nothing to cling to: no God, no goodness in oneself, no truth, no salvation. But recognizing this is only the first step. The absence of meaning is a great opportunity to use your own freedom: your life will have no other meaning than the one you yourself choose for it. I insist on this word – “choose”: the question is not what kind of choice you will make, but that you will make a choice.
Use your freedom – make plans, do things. There are more opportunities today than ever before. Find a point of application of your efforts, and thereby you will create the meaning of your own existence. But here’s what is important: you are free, but this does not give you the right to senseless throwing. You are responsible not only for what you are, but also for all other people. Whatever you do, trying to get closer to the image of a person you have chosen, at the same time you inevitably bring the image closer to what you think it should be. Remember that in choosing yourself, you are choosing the human being as such.