Philosophy Review - The Beer Thrillers

Book Review: A Significant Life (Todd May)

B. Kline — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 01:08:59 +0000

Book Review: A Significant Life – Human Meaning in a Silent Universe (Todd May)

First off, Todd May has quickly become one of my favorite philosophers of the present. I first got acquainted with Todd May via the show “The Good Place”. His first work I read was Death, which helped me a lot with my own understandings, feelings, and thoughts about death. Especially around the time of Bart‘s death, and I remember going for a hike at Governor Dick and reading it. This year through AbeBooks I’ve gone and gotten all of his (affordable anyway, there’s a few ones that are 45$ plus shipping and handling, for used copies) works, and been reading them. Alongside my full read through of William Shakespeare and Kurt Vonnegut this year, I’ve also been doing a (nearly) full read through of Todd May. I am planning on posting reviews of the other works as well.

I feel like this review I leaned a bit more cynic and harsh though, but I think the review stands as it does.

A Significant Life by Todd May

A Significant Life

The following is the back of the book blurb on GoodReads:

What makes for a good life, or a beautiful one, or, perhaps most important, a meaningful one? Throughout history most of us have looked to our faith, our relationships, or our deeds for the answer. But in A Significant Life , philosopher Todd May offers an exhilarating new way of thinking about these questions, one deeply attuned to life as it actually a work in progress, a journey—and often a narrative. Offering moving accounts of his own life and memories alongside rich engagements with philosophers from Aristotle to Heidegger, he shows us where to find the significance of our in the way we live them.

May starts by looking at the fundamental fact that life unfolds over time, and as it does so, it begins to develop certain qualities, certain themes. Our lives can be marked by intensity, curiosity, perseverance, or many other qualities that become guiding narrative values. These values lend meanings to our lives that are distinct from—but also interact with—the universal values we are taught to cultivate, such as goodness or happiness. Offering a fascinating examination of a broad range of figures—from music icon Jimi Hendrix to civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer, from cyclist Lance Armstrong to The Portrait of a Lady ’s Ralph Touchett to Claus von Stauffenberg, a German officer who tried to assassinate Hitler—May shows that narrative values offer a rich variety of criteria by which to assess a life, specific to each of us and yet widely available. They offer us a way of reading ourselves, who we are, and who we might like to be.

Clearly and eloquently written, A Significant Life is a recognition and a comfort, a celebration of the deeply human narrative impulse by which we make—even if we don’t realize it—meaning for ourselves. It offers a refreshing way to think of an age-old question, of quite simply, what makes a life worth living.

A Significant Life by Todd May – GoodReads

Book Review: A Significant Life by Todd May

Todd May sets out to offer an answer—rather than the answer—to the question of life’s meaning, a topic he notes is surprisingly underdeveloped in philosophy. Unfortunately, I found the book largely unsatisfying, and often emblematic of what I think of as “classic philosopher pitfalls.”

For one, May devotes a great deal of time summarizing what long-dead philosophers believed about meaning. But if their ideas were wrong—and May clearly thinks they were—why spend so much of the book rehearsing them? When we teach calculus, we don’t trace every mistaken detour taken before Newton and Leibniz; we teach the useful parts. May also shows little interest in what contemporary science—biology, psychology, evolutionary theory—might contribute to the discussion. That blind spot becomes increasingly glaring.

More puzzling still, May defers the most important chapter—the actual core of his argument—until the very end. The result is a reading experience filled with “But what about…?” questions the book refuses to address until it’s nearly over.

He begins by quickly clearing some expected ground: neither the universe nor God can provide meaning. Fair enough, and it’s well-trodden territory, so I appreciated his brevity. But then nearly a fifth of the book is spent recounting what Aristotle (wrong), Bentham (wrong), and Mill (wrong) thought about meaning. Only one-third of the way in does the book finally begin in earnest, when May turns to Susan Wolf’s 2010 work Meaning in Life and Why It Matters. Everything before this feels like padding.

Wolf proposes a now-influential approach to meaningfulness—note: “meaningfulness,” not “the meaning of life”—summed up in her well-known formula:

Meaning arises when subjective attraction meets objective attractiveness.

It’s an intriguing idea, but I never felt May convincingly defended it. I’ll need to read Wolf directly. In May’s gloss, something is meaningful only when you value it (subjective attraction) and others also see its worth (objective attractiveness). He identifies this social dimension with what he calls “narrative values.”

But is this really “objective attractiveness”? It sounds far more like “whatever our society currently approves of.” And societies are often mistaken. What sense does it make to say, “Her life wasn’t meaningful to her contemporaries, but people centuries later think it was”? Meaning becomes historically and geographically contingent in a way that strains the framework.

May insists that meaningfulness and moral goodness are distinct. One can lead a meaningful life that isn’t morally good—and vice versa. Yet his handling of this distinction is unconvincing. At times, the framework produces absurd results:

A devoted Nazi officer could, by this account, have led a meaningful life—steadfastly committing himself to values his society (however horrifically) deemed admirable.

What does “meaningful life” even mean in that context?

Even May seems aware that his theory struggles to deliver the existential weight he wants it to have. He writes loftily that meaningfulness can

“…give heft to our projects… redeem the arc of our lives…”

and that it might

“…address the haunting fear that there is nothing more to our days than being born, dying, and the land increasing.”

He claims it could spare us from looking back on our lives with “desolation.” Yet why should embodying a narrative value like steadfastness produce any of these effects? Why would it add to the world, or redeem anything? The connection is asserted, not demonstrated.

Eventually May even concedes that meaningfulness isn’t necessary:

People whose lives are not meaningful… have not failed in any duty to themselves or others.

And further:

If someone says, “Not interested,” I would have no complaint… I have no argument for why he should feel obliged to express some narrative value.

If meaningfulness is unnecessary and carries no normative force, then what, exactly, is the point of defining it?

Despite all this, there is a small, compelling thread in May’s reflections. He observes:

We find our meaning not beneath or beyond our lives, but within them.

That seems right. Perhaps the problem is that May tries too hard to make “meaning” conduct more philosophical weight than it can bear. The concept raises deeper questions he never touches: What would it mean for a dog or chimp to lead a meaningful life? When in human evolution would “meaningfulness” have begun to apply? If it emerged gradually, doesn’t that suggest a biologically rooted craving rather than a metaphysical condition? And would a non-tribal species ever agree that “objective attractiveness” — i.e., the approval of the group — is essential to meaning?

These questions linger long after May’s framework has exhausted itself, and they are more thought-provoking than anything his own thesis ultimately puts forward.

My rating on GoodReads is *** out of 5. And on LibraryThing it is a 3.5 out of 5.

The overall average rating on GoodReads is a 3.70 as of 10.27.25.

Todd May

As I said earlier, stay tuned for the other books and works of his to be reviewed. I will interlink them all here.

Other Book Reviews

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Book Review: Free Will (Sam Harris)

BKline — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 21:19:39 +0000

Free Will by Sam Harris

Free Will

What is free will? Do you have free will? Do I have free will? Does anyone have free will? I find myself constantly trying to wrap my head around free will, this way and that, attempting to understand it, from this angle or that. From the determinists, that believe that we don’t have free will – the hard line determinists especially in this regard – that everything is cause and effect, and due to some of the various science experiments and studies done over the years that show our brains actually decide an action up towards 7 seconds before we consciously make the decision or know we are making the decision; so from this, they take the stance that everything is out of our hands, that there is no free will, that we make no decisions, and have no choices. That when you decide on ‘strawberry’ ice cream, instead of ‘chocolate’ ice cream, its due to factors outside of our own decision making. Then there are those who believe we do have free will, and that everything is choice, nothing is decision, etc. Or they walk it back a bit, based on various things (ie. brain tumors, or alcohol, or drugs, etc.).

Sam Harris takes the side of determinism, and states that we don’t have free will. Others in various medias and forums and debates, from eminent scholars, to scientists, to politicians, to philosophers, to theologians, have taken both sides as well.

Philosophy

As I’m sure many readers of the blog are well aware of now, philosophy is one of my (few? many?) joys and interests. Especially when it comes to reading. If you’ve checked out our Instagram page I’m sure you’ve seen my beer pics and hiking pics where there is a book in the background, and more likely than not, that’s a philosophy book. I am actually hoping to be launching a Podcast soon, where philosophy and books and literature will be a large staple of it. (As will beer of course, I mean, we are The Beer Thrillers, after all.) But, needless to say, philosophy is a strong / big interest here, as well as fun hobby for me. I enjoy reading, writing, dissecting, and thinking philosophically about many, many, many topics, and interests. (I love the union and crossing of pop culture and philosophy, the Pop Culture Philosophy books are a fun starting point for many people into the realm of philosophy.)

I have previously covered ‘What More Philosophers Think‘ here on the blog, and in due time, there will be plenty more philosophy books covered as well. From all walks of philosophy; as much as I want to say ‘no one school of thought’ will be the heavy favorite…. I would be lying, as I will most likely cover existentialism, philosophy of the mind, and ethics philosophy the most. These are my favorite topics and branches of the philosophy tree, with some of my favorite writers being Albert Camus, Jean Paul Sartre, Samuel Beckett, Baruch Spinoza, Frederich Nietzsche, Peter Singer, and many more. So buckle up, you will be seeing lots of their works covered here on the blog, as well, as hopefully, the podcast once I get that up and running.

Book Review

Free Will by Sam Harris

This is a relatively short treatise on Free Will. It seems to be honest that most free will treatises are just essays and are typically in the short essay form, and this falls in that category. A quick, easy, read (will help pad out your GoodReads 100 Book Challenge), but ultimately will give you lots to chew on and lots of questions, thoughts, and much more to ponder.

GoodReads has it listed as 96 pages, but that’s being a bit generous. My copy (which should be aligned with the one on GoodReads) has the final page as 83 (and this is including the index but not the ‘About the Author’ page). So its certainly a quick read, but there is definitely a fair bit too it. Sam Harris lays out his thoughts and opinions on determinism, how free will is a myth, and his thoughts in general about the subject rather succinctly and clearly and the prose is good and lively. Your mileage on his thoughts may vary, and your opinion of his thoughts and ideas might be different than another person, but his argument is well laid out, and he writes in a clear enough style, staying relatively clear of jargon. This is ‘academia made for laymen’ or as some call it ‘pop philosophy’ or various other terms. It’s an academic and thought out approach, but written for the general public, rather than twelve scholars and academics sitting in big leather chairs high up in some ivory tower probably covered in ivy.

Sam Harris immediately states that free will doesn’t exist, showcases his deterministic viewpoint on the matter, and then proceeds and moves on to why this shouldn’t change anything (or nothing really).

“We do not have the freedom we think we have… Either our wills are determined by prior causes and we are not responsible for them. Or they are the product of chance and we are not responsible for them.”
Free Will (Sam Harris)

He makes sure to point out that regardless of our inability to actually have free will, that we are unable to determine our own thoughts, actions, or behaviors, that this does not give us moral latitude, or justification, or even immunity. That justice must still be done to criminals, that if you murder, regardless of your lack of free will, you still deserve to be punished based on the law. This is always an interesting point, and a ‘sticking point’ for many in the deterministic vs. free will debate. Justice, law, and theology – are typically the biggest battle lines in the debate. If you have no free will, how can you be punished? I you have no free will, how can God send you to heaven or hell? Does morality matter if you have no free will? Etc. Sam Harris is an atheist and a strong proponent of it, but he still states that regardless of your lack of free will, you don’t have moral freedom. Your actions still do matter, regardless if its YOU acting it out or if its YOU ACTING IT OUT BECAUSE ‘X’. That justice and morality still need to function, elsewise society would crumble. Now, Harris doesn’t go full doom and gloom and say that much, but thats the slippery slope argument to it all.

“The intention to do one thing and not another does not originate in consciousness. Rather it appears in consciousness. As does any thought or impulse that might impose it.”
Free Will (Sam Harris)

This is the main hard line for most determinists. And it starts from the studies done with the MRIs and fRMIs, etc, that Libet did, that showcases a person’s choice happens up towards 7 seconds before the person is fully aware of their choice. This is an oft cited study and experiment that the determinists love to use when discussing and having the free will debate. And many articles and essays will go back to this time and time again.

If you are into philosophy, if you enjoy Sam Harris’s writing style, approach, or thought, if you are curious or interested in free will and the debates therein, I would highly recommend this. It’ll be a quick read, a day’s worth, depending on your reading speed and how much you set aside to thinking and contemplating everything. Will it solve your own internal debate on the topic? Will it let you decide if you have free will or not? Is this the ultimate explanation and answer to the debate? — Obviously no. And you, and I, and we all know this going in (or should anyway). No book of philosophy will give you every answer, neither will any book of religion, or science, or any book in general. That’s not the goal or point, or absolute value of a book. But will it give you something to think about? Will it give you a new perspective? Or new insight? Or a new way to look at the argument? That it will, and that is what any good philosophy book should do.

Free will is a tricky subject. Its something we all ‘want’ to have, and also ‘don’t want to have’. Because, we all want to think we have free will – when it obviously benefits us. We want the credit for when we are talented and make an artistic masterpiece, we want credit when we do something right; but at the same time, we don’t want credit (ie. blame) for when we come up short; our failings, our imperfections or flaws, our addictions and vices, etc. Then we want determinism, and to wash our hands and clap and say ‘it was those faulty wires up there’.

Science and philosophy (primarily science) is helping us get closer to the target on this debate, and in the years ahead, it will be interesting to see what new headway and roads we make into this topic and discussion. I’m looking forward to it…. if I chose to or not.

My GoodReads Rating: ****
Average Global GoodReads Rating: 3.87 (as of 8.26.21)
My LibraryThing Rating: ****

Some Interesting Articles on Free Will

Below is a list of some interesting articles, essays, websites, and videos about the subject of free will. Including an hour long discussion by Sam Harris himself on the topic.

As always, thank you everyone for reading. Hope you found this informative and are enjoying our new book reviews on the blog. Be sure to check out more of them, as well as our hike reviews, our beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, and much more. And soon – hopefully in the near future – be on the lookout for our podcasts, which will cover a very wide range of topics. (I just have too many hobbies I think!) Including beer, breweries, home brewing, hop growing, books, literature, philosophy, and pop culture.

-B. Kline

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