Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World

Iddo Landau is Professor of Philosophy at Haifa University, Israel. He has published extensively on the meaning of life.

However, Iddo Landau argues, our lives often are, or could be made, meaningfulwe've just been setting the bar too high for evaluating what meaning there is. When it comes to meaning in life, Landau explains, we have let perfect become the enemy of the good. In this warmly written book, rich with examples from the author's life, film, literature, and history, Landau offers new theories and practical advice that awaken us to the meaning already present in our lives and demonstrates how we can enhance it. He confronts prevailing nihilist ideas that undermine our existence, and the questions that dog us no matter what we believe. While exposing the weaknesses of ideas that lead many to despair, he builds a strong case for maintaining more hope. There are times in which we face the mundane, the illogically cruel, and the tragic, which leave us to question the value of our lives. We must attune ourselves to enhancing and appreciating the meaning in our lives, and Landau shows us how to do that. Along the way, he faces provocative questions: Would we choose to live forever if we could? Does death render life meaningless? If we examine it in the context of the immensity of the whole unive

A pleasure to read." --Owen Flanagan, James B. "This book is rare in being thoroughly versed in many philosophical discussions of the meaning of life, yet full of practical wisdom. Duke Professor of Philosophy at Duke University "Written for the generally educated reader, but of interest to the professional philosopher, Iddo Landau's book is a guide to making life meaningful under less than ideal conditions. Completely accessible to anyone who finds the question of meaning urgent, it sets a standard few discussions of the topic manage to reach." --Simon Blackburn, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Research Professor at UNC Chapel Hill, and Professor at the New College of the Humanities "A deep exploration of the main questions and answers in the meaning of life literature. Making insightful philosophical points without jargon, referring to literature and the arts to illustrate, and also plumbing people's psychologies to identify mental blocks, La