Susan Wolf
A life is meaningful when one loves what is worthy of love and engages with it actively.
Life
Susan Wolf, born in 1952, is an American philosopher and professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She works on free will, morality and the meaning of life. She argues that a life has meaning when love for what is worthy of love meets activity that engages with it, and that morality is not the only value in a good life.
Main works
Argues that perfect moral sainthood is not a desirable ideal of life (article, 1982).
Argues that freedom requires the ability to respond to reasons, in line with the true and the good.
Proposes a theory of meaning in life in which subjective attraction meets objective worth.
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceResponsibility requires the ability to act in line with the True and the Good, not an undetermined will: a compatibilist "Reason View".
Wolf, Freedom within Reason (1990)
She treats some things as truly valuable, independent of our wishes, which is why meaning can be missed.
Wolf, Meaning in Life and Why It Matters (2010)
Meaning arises when subjective love meets objective worth: we must be engaged with something truly worthwhile.
Wolf, Meaning in Life and Why It Matters (2010)