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The Meaning and Value of Life;
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This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
- GenresNobel PrizePhilosophy
166 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1908
5 people are currently reading
195 people want to read
About the author
Rudolf Christoph Eucken
91 books26 followersRudolf Christoph Eucken (German: [ˈɔʏkn̩]; 5 January 1846 – 15 September 1926) was a German philosopher. He received the 1908 Nobel Prize for Literature "in recognition of his earnest search for truth, his penetrating power of thought, his wide range of vision, and the warmth and strength in presentation with which in his numerous works he has vindicated and developed an idealistic philosophy of life".
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 26, 2019
Good grief. The first part was ok. Basically, both spirituality and humanism are insufficient to give meaning and value to life. Ok.
But then the second half. Oy. Basically, the answer to giving life meaning is... wait for it... SPIRITUALITY AND HUMANISM.
But then the second half. Oy. Basically, the answer to giving life meaning is... wait for it... SPIRITUALITY AND HUMANISM.
January 15, 2023
موضوع صعب + لغة معقدة = كتاب غير مفهوم
November 20, 2023
من اسوء الكتب ترجمة لا انصح به
December 28, 2025
Rudolf Eucken’s The Meaning and Value of Life is not a book one reads for pleasure; it is a book one enters as an argument.
Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1908 for his “earnest search for truth,” Eucken represents a philosophical temperament now largely vanished: the moral metaphysician who insists that ideas must answer to lived existence.
His work stands at the crossroads of idealism, ethics, and spiritual inquiry, resisting both materialist reduction and doctrinal religion.
At its core, the book confronts a crisis that remains unmistakably modern: the loss of meaning in an age dominated by scientific explanation and economic rationality. Eucken does not reject science, but he denies its sufficiency.
A life explained, he argues, is not a life justified. Meaning cannot be derived from biological survival or social utility alone; it must be actively realized through what he calls “spiritual life.”
This “spiritual life” is not theological in the conventional sense. Eucken avoids dogma, miracles, and institutional religion. Instead, he proposes an inner transformation—a movement from passive existence to active ethical participation.
Life acquires value only when the individual transcends mere self-interest and participates in a higher moral reality. Meaning is not discovered; it is achieved.
The book unfolds dialectically. Eucken examines competing worldviews—naturalism, intellectualism, and aestheticism—and exposes their inadequacies. Each explains part of human experience while failing to account for its totality.
Naturalism explains mechanism but empties purpose; aestheticism elevates beauty but evades obligation; intellectualism clarifies concepts but sterilizes life.
Eucken’s prose is demanding, often abstract, and unapologetically systematic. He writes in long argumentative arcs rather than memorable aphorisms.
Yet beneath the density lies urgency. This is philosophy written under existential pressure, haunted by the fear that modern humanity may possess knowledge without wisdom.
What gives the book its distinctive power is its insistence that values are not subjective preferences but objective commitments realised through struggle. Ethical life is not comfortable. It requires resistance—to inertia, to social conformity, to the reduction of human beings to functions.
Critics have sometimes dismissed Eucken as vague or overly idealistic, and it is true that his concepts lack the precision of analytic philosophy. But such criticism misunderstands his aim. The Meaning and Value of Life is not a system to be admired but a challenge to be answered. Its measure lies not in conceptual elegance but in existential provocation.
Today, Eucken reads like a voice from a lost conversation—one that assumed philosophy mattered because life itself was at stake.
His work may no longer guide academic discourse, but it still confronts the reader with a question no age escapes: what makes life worth living?
Most recommended.
Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1908 for his “earnest search for truth,” Eucken represents a philosophical temperament now largely vanished: the moral metaphysician who insists that ideas must answer to lived existence.
His work stands at the crossroads of idealism, ethics, and spiritual inquiry, resisting both materialist reduction and doctrinal religion.
At its core, the book confronts a crisis that remains unmistakably modern: the loss of meaning in an age dominated by scientific explanation and economic rationality. Eucken does not reject science, but he denies its sufficiency.
A life explained, he argues, is not a life justified. Meaning cannot be derived from biological survival or social utility alone; it must be actively realized through what he calls “spiritual life.”
This “spiritual life” is not theological in the conventional sense. Eucken avoids dogma, miracles, and institutional religion. Instead, he proposes an inner transformation—a movement from passive existence to active ethical participation.
Life acquires value only when the individual transcends mere self-interest and participates in a higher moral reality. Meaning is not discovered; it is achieved.
The book unfolds dialectically. Eucken examines competing worldviews—naturalism, intellectualism, and aestheticism—and exposes their inadequacies. Each explains part of human experience while failing to account for its totality.
Naturalism explains mechanism but empties purpose; aestheticism elevates beauty but evades obligation; intellectualism clarifies concepts but sterilizes life.
Eucken’s prose is demanding, often abstract, and unapologetically systematic. He writes in long argumentative arcs rather than memorable aphorisms.
Yet beneath the density lies urgency. This is philosophy written under existential pressure, haunted by the fear that modern humanity may possess knowledge without wisdom.
What gives the book its distinctive power is its insistence that values are not subjective preferences but objective commitments realised through struggle. Ethical life is not comfortable. It requires resistance—to inertia, to social conformity, to the reduction of human beings to functions.
Critics have sometimes dismissed Eucken as vague or overly idealistic, and it is true that his concepts lack the precision of analytic philosophy. But such criticism misunderstands his aim. The Meaning and Value of Life is not a system to be admired but a challenge to be answered. Its measure lies not in conceptual elegance but in existential provocation.
Today, Eucken reads like a voice from a lost conversation—one that assumed philosophy mattered because life itself was at stake.
His work may no longer guide academic discourse, but it still confronts the reader with a question no age escapes: what makes life worth living?
Most recommended.
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October 1, 2024بعد ان أنهيت الكتاب وقفت أتساءل ، ما الفائدة ؟
حسنا .. ما معنى الحياة وقيمتها ؟
ماذا كنت انتظر من المؤلف ؟
ما الخلاصة ؟
وانا انتظر الإجابة من نفسي لان ما خلطها هو "اللهم اني اعوذ بك من علم لاينفع "
على كل الكتاب يقارن بين الحياتين القديمة والجديدة ويدعو الى رجوع الانسان الى ذاته بتأسيسه روحيا وميزة ذلك للجماعة والفرد .. فيذكر بأهمية الحياة وخلق معنى وتأصيله روحيا ، وان لا يلهينا الانغماس في الحياة الحديثة القائمة بين العمل و الترفيه عن الجوهر الحقيقي والغاية العليا …
و لازلت اريد حقا ان استخلص شيء نافعا جديدا ،وها انا استحثكم يا معشر القراء ، أنيروني ..
حسنا .. ما معنى الحياة وقيمتها ؟
ماذا كنت انتظر من المؤلف ؟
ما الخلاصة ؟
وانا انتظر الإجابة من نفسي لان ما خلطها هو "اللهم اني اعوذ بك من علم لاينفع "
على كل الكتاب يقارن بين الحياتين القديمة والجديدة ويدعو الى رجوع الانسان الى ذاته بتأسيسه روحيا وميزة ذلك للجماعة والفرد .. فيذكر بأهمية الحياة وخلق معنى وتأصيله روحيا ، وان لا يلهينا الانغماس في الحياة الحديثة القائمة بين العمل و الترفيه عن الجوهر الحقيقي والغاية العليا …
و لازلت اريد حقا ان استخلص شيء نافعا جديدا ،وها انا استحثكم يا معشر القراء ، أنيروني ..
September 25, 2023
ثقيل جداً
March 4, 2022
Nobel Prize 🏆 in Literature 1908
Wow, this was boring! A 19th century German philosopher looking for the purpose and value of life rejects everything ranging from naturalism, idealism, religion, individualism and collectivism, and ends up with Geistesleben (Intellectual life) as the purpose-giver of life.
Christoph Eucken was a member of the Swedish Academy of Science and was nominated for the Nobel Prize by a colleague of his in the Academy. Without this nepotism, he would have been even more forgotten than he already is.
Wow, this was boring! A 19th century German philosopher looking for the purpose and value of life rejects everything ranging from naturalism, idealism, religion, individualism and collectivism, and ends up with Geistesleben (Intellectual life) as the purpose-giver of life.
Christoph Eucken was a member of the Swedish Academy of Science and was nominated for the Nobel Prize by a colleague of his in the Academy. Without this nepotism, he would have been even more forgotten than he already is.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews