The Quest for Meaning

A Journey Through Philosophy, the Arts, and Creative Genius

By (author) William Cooney

Not available to order

Publication date:

28 July 2014

Length of book:

288 pages

Publisher

UPA

ISBN-13: 9781461691648

The Quest for Meaning explores the deep-seated human need to create a life that is meaningful. In an effort to understand this need, author William Cooney examines the works of philosophers from Plato to Sartre as well as the insights of artists, poets, writers, psychologists, and film-makers. He discusses the nature of humanness, creation, freedom, and choice, all of which are facets of a meaningful life. Cooney also addresses postmodernism, arguing that it does not offer real guidance for those seeking a life of significance. Maintaining that some ways of creating meaning are preferable to others, he concludes that it is up to each individual to craft a meaningful life and that this process must take place within a context of giving and receiving.

chapter 1 Introduction: The Philosophical Attitude and The Gift of Existence
chapter 2 The Nature, Tasks, and Branches of Philosophy
chapter 3 Plato: Philosophy and the Arts, and the Need for Control
chapter 4 Aristotle: The Arts and the Human Person
chapter 5 From Augustine and Aquinas to Leonardo and Michelangelo: Coming out of the Aesthetic Dark Ages
chapter 6 Rousseau and the Romantics: The Role of Feeling in the Arts
chapter 7 Kierkegaard and Nietzche: The Art of Creating the Individual
chapter 8 Marcel and Sartre: On the Nature of Creation, Human and Divine
chapter 9 The Challenge of Postmodernism
chapter 10 Mozart and Beethoven: Two Faces of Creative Genius
chapter 11 Emily Dickinson: A Poetic Genius Looks at Death
chapter 12 Vincent Van Gogh: Risking My Life for My Art
chapter 13 Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray
chapter 14 Frank Lloyd Wright: Creative Force of Nature
chapter 15 Carl Jung: On Psychology and Art
chapter 16 Conclusion: The Quest for Meaning as an End-in-Itself

The Chapters on Kierkegaard and Nietzche, Marcel and Sartre are really special. The distinction drawn between curiosity (problem) and metaphysical uneasiness (mystery) and the relation of the latter to the nature of human creativity is stunning.