The topic of this paper is to apply Nozick’s definitions of value and meaning to the personal aspects of my life; and to show what changes and actions could make my life more valuable and meaningful in the future.
Based on Nozick’s theory there are two types of value people can have in life, instrumental and intrinsic. Both values can coexist and relate to each other. If something is valuable only because it is connected to something else that has value then it is considered to be instrumentally valuable. And if something is worthy by itself then it is intrinsically valuable.
Most frequently meaning of life is connected to its different aspects such as family, career, health, etc., and has some intrinsic and instrumental values. According to Nozick (1989) meaning greatly depends on value. By applying his concept to life I can say that in order for my life to have a meaning it should be related to something that has values. Therefore by connecting with more valuable things my life will accumulate a greater meaning.
If having valuable things in my life will give it meaning I would like to figure out what aspects of my life are valuable to me and what gives my life a real meaning. I will start by pointing out the most important aspects of my life; these are my family, health and wellbeing of my family and myself, financial stability and personal career, as well as some personal and spiritual aspects. Then I will try to show how these aspects create value that makes my life meaningful. And after that I will choose couple of changes that I can implement to make these aspects more valuable that will in turn give my life more meaning.
First and foremost my family is the core of my life and is the aspect that I value the most. It is represented by the diversity of characters united together. I love every single member of my family for who they are. Having my family around makes me happy and happiness is the intrinsic value. Therefore the connection between my happiness and my family makes the latter one an instrumental value. The instrumental value of my family is the reason that makes it very valuable to me.
Health and well being of my family and myself is also of great importance to me. Healthy family leads to a longer, less problematic and happier life. Every day I get up in the morning with the thought of how glad I am that my family is well and healthy. Family health leading to happiness is another representation of instrumental value that I currently posses.
Another instrumentally valuable aspect of my life is my career. My career occupies most of my time and probably one of the most important aspects. It is very valuable to me because it gives me the financial stability. Financial security depends on my health and health of my family, and vice versa. If I am not well I will not be able to work, if I don’t have a job then I won’t have the insurance or money to take care of my health if I get sick. My career allows me to provide support to my family’s wellbeing and financial stability and therefore leads to my happiness. So career and financial stability are very valuable aspects of my life.
The list of instrumental values is continued by the personal and spiritual aspects. These include friendship, recreation, personal growth and development, and peace of mind. Spirituality depends on my family’s wellbeing and health, and our financial stability. For example we would not be able to travel if one of us was not healthy or if we wouldn’t have enough money. Here we can observe the connection to the career aspect that permits me to have a happy family, to give everything that I want to give to my child; everything that is of value to her and makes her happy. Seeing her and all other members of my family happy gives me the biggest satisfaction and lead to my happiness. As a result my family's relation to my happiness makes each family member valuable.
All aspects of my life described above have instrumental values. As Nozick (1989) said “some things have value only as a means to something else that is valuable.” (p. 162). Thus the aspects of my life are considered valuable to me only because they are connected to one main intrinsic value that is happiness.
If, according to Nozick (1989), value is defined by the organic unity and gets greater with the diversity of the elements that are unified then the assortment of my life aspects if unified create a value of my life that is happiness. And if in order for my life to have a meaning it must be connected to something else that has a value then relationship between my life and happiness makes my life meaningful. The more I connect with other people’s happiness the more meaning my life gains.
In my profession as a nurse I meet and help people every day. I affect their health in a positive way thus providing means to make them happy. Therefore once my experience positively affects their happiness, my life attains more value. This example represents Nozick’s concept of value and shows how things become meaningful and valuable when they are related to or connected to something else that has value.
My life is good as it is right now and I am very happy and satisfied with what I have. But by human nature wants more, enough is never enough. So in order to have a more valuable and meaningful life I decided to go back to school. It was a very difficult decision to make but I figured that if I get additional education this will give me more room for career advancement, that will in turn lead to a solid financial stability, more options to choose from, and more places to visit. I will be able to provide my family with more things that they value and make them and everyone around them happy. In addition gaining more knowledge will give me more personal and spiritual satisfaction that leads to ultimate happiness as a result. As I already explained above happiness is of the greatest value to me and the meaning of my life is to be happy and make many close people around me happy as well.
If the meaning of my life is to spread happiness and be happy does that mean that my life looses it’s meaning after it is over? As Nozick (1989) said “people worry about the meaning of their lives when they see their existences as limited.” (p. 166). I will attempt to explain why I don’t think that my life will lose its meaning even after my death. If, as Nozick said, something becomes meaningful once it is connected to something else that is valuable, and I value happiness that primarily comes from my family being happy, then as long as the family grows and continues to be happy my life will continue to have its meaning even after I die. Same applies in the case of all the people that I help every day - as long as their happiness flourish the meaning of my life grows. The happier my family and people I treat get the more valuable and meaningful my life becomes.
In conclusion I would like to say that it was a great self-learning experience to look and see what I value the most. The most valuable discovery I made was to reveal what the true meaning of my life is. Before this assignment if someone would have asked me what was the meaning of my life I would probably start talking about all of my values like my family, my job, and what I do. Now I can simply say “the meaning of my life is to be happy through the course of my life” by keeping my family and people around me content.
References
Nozick, R. (1989). The examined life. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster paperbacks
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