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Ideals and Meaningfulness

André Grahle

The book develops a theory of ideals as conceptions of admirable ways of being. It provides a
story of what it means to have an ideal and why the rationality of acquiring one’s ideals implies a
greater degree of selectivity than does our admiration for the manifestation of ideals in others.
Having ideals is understood as a relationship between an agent and an ideal, consisting of a set of
emotional dispositions, at the heart of which lies a feeling of a calling to be as represented by the
ideal. This relationship is normatively significant. It provides the agent with a reason to try to live
up to one’s ideal. The question arises, moreover, whether a life suffused with ideals is a better life.
Here it is argued that the pursuit of one’s ideals doesn’t necessarily make one happier, but has the
potential of rendering one’s life more meaningful in a number of ways.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 176 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-78661-142-0 • Hardback • June 2025 • $110.00 • (£85.00) - Currently out of stock. Copies will arrive soon.

Series: Values and Identities: Crossing Philosophical Borders

Subjects: Philosophy / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, Philosophy / Ethics / Applied Ethics, Philosophy / Movements / Analytic

Ideals and Meaningfulness

Hardback

Summary

The book develops a theory of ideals as conceptions of admirable ways of being. It provides a
story of what it means to have an ideal and why the rationality of acquiring one’s ideals implies a
greater degree of selectivity than does our admiration for the manifestation of ideals in others.
Having ideals is understood as a relationship between an agent and an ideal, consisting of a set of
emotional dispositions, at the heart of which lies a feeling of a calling to be as represented by the
ideal. This relationship is normatively significant. It provides the agent with a reason to try to live
up to one’s ideal. The question arises, moreover, whether a life suffused with ideals is a better life.
Here it is argued that the pursuit of one’s ideals doesn’t necessarily make one happier, but has the
potential of rendering one’s life more meaningful in a number of ways.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 176 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-78661-142-0 • Hardback • June 2025 • $110.00 • (£85.00) - Currently out of stock. Copies will arrive soon.

Series: Values and Identities: Crossing Philosophical Borders

Subjects: Philosophy / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, Philosophy / Ethics / Applied Ethics, Philosophy / Movements / Analytic

Author

André Grahle is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU).

Table of Contents

Introduction / 1. Ideals / 2. Having Ideals - Affective Acquisition /3. Having Ideals II – Reasons / 4. Ideals and Transformative Experience / 5. Ideals and Meaning in Life / Conclusion / Bibliography

Ideals and Meaningfulness

André Grahle

Ideals and Meaningfulness

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