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Robert Rowland Smith

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Driving With Plato: The Meaning Of Life's Milestones Through The Eyes Of Philosophers (PHOTOS)

Posted: 05/ 2/11 10:00 AM ET
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In grandiose or ill-advised moments, we might talk about the meaning of life. The trouble is that the question, like an elephant, is too big to swallow in one gulp. Breaking life down into milestones, from cradle to grave, helps us to think about it a little more cogently. What's more, if we can draw on a range of philosophers, writers, artists and psychologists in the process, we're in even better shape. That's the idea behind Driving with Plato. There's being born as seen through the eyes of Sartre, starting school with Louis Althusser, losing your virginity with Madonna, even having a midlife crisis with Dante, right up to crawling into old age with Proust. As for the afterlife, well, that's anybody's guess.

Being Born
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According to Jean-Paul Sartre, the accident of birth only reinforces the contingency of all human life. There's nothing necessary about our existence on earth; it's merely random. On the other hand, that meaninglessness means there's nothing to stop us from creating meaning for ourselves.
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In grandiose or ill-advised moments, we might talk about the meaning of life. The trouble is that the question, like an elephant, is too big to swallow in one gulp. Breaking life down into milestones,...
In grandiose or ill-advised moments, we might talk about the meaning of life. The trouble is that the question, like an elephant, is too big to swallow in one gulp. Breaking life down into milestones,...
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DanielAdler
5 minutes ago (9:36 AM)
http://dan­ielryanadl­er.com/ this is where i talk about the coming of age step
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JenniferAllen8319
28 minutes ago (9:13 AM)
Nice one! Milestones in life are those events which the psychologi­st in us sees as a life altering while the artist in us sees it as life changing. Taking a step back in retrospect­ion and a step inward in introspect­ion creates a whole new world of perception­s.
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demilieu
19 hours ago (2:31 PM)
When I was 20, 30 even 40 I assumed I'd live forever. Getting old sucks. You get no respect for your experience in life. And it's hard to text when you don't see as well and they keep making the damned keys smaller and smaller.
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Pilatunes
3 hours ago (7:09 AM)
I played chess with my nephew the other day on a really small board and couldn't tell the pieces apart. Yup, getting older sucks.
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Pilatunes
21 hours ago (1:11 PM)
I wish the 'Losing Your Virginity' had come earlier. That's all I have to say.
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dahpunkster
20 hours ago (1:37 PM)
I regret not doing it sooner either. I was so afraid to give it to the wrong person or something really terrible would happen. It went way more spectacula­r than I could have ever hoped.
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GreatRedShark
19 hours ago (2:52 PM)
regret is useless. I regret nothing. You learn from yours and others wrong doings.
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quorthon
21 hours ago (12:40 PM)
Hegel was wrong on the having children thing--his antagonist Schopenhau­er was more on the mark. As far as midlife crisis: I'm not looking forward to that either, but given that memory tends to favor the good times over the bad, I will have to make it a point to work harder at rememberin­g the sucky times of my youth, so as to best avoid maudlin nostalgia.
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edwcorey
22 hours ago (11:57 AM)
"Learning to talk is a blessing in that it allows us to communicat­e with others. But it's also a curse because there's no universal language."

An analysis implies that modern language originated only once, in southern Africa.

http://www­.nytimes.c­om/2011/04­/15/scienc­e/15langua­ge.html?sc­p=1&sq=ori­ginal%20la­nguage,%20­africa&st=­cse
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LearnMe
22 hours ago (11:33 AM)
"That meaningles­sness means there's nothing to stop us from creating meaning for ourselves.­"
I can appreciate that. I think I've tried to do this with my sons homeschool­ing; his private education was becoming meaningles­s so we decided to infuse new life and meaning of our own by homeschool­ing him. www.learnm­eproject.c­om
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realitytrumpsbull
22 hours ago (11:32 AM)
Yeah yeah yeah, virgin birth. We buy THAT story, don't we? That might have been what she told her husband...
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electricladyland
22 hours ago (11:14 AM)
Losing your virginity with the Madonna? That's not right.
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demilieu
19 hours ago (2:33 PM)
Madonna is still a very attractive woman.
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electricladyland
19 hours ago (3:04 PM)
Ever hear of "The Madonna?"
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