University of Kansas, Fall 2003
Honors Program 190: Freshman Honors Tutorial
Ben Egglestoneggleston@ku.edu

______________________________

Writing Exercise: What Matters to You

In The Lives to Come, Philip Kitcher writes the following:

Achieving a sense of self and of the proper direction of one’s life is not just for philosophers in their studies or for some privileged elite, but is common to all those who could sincerely respond to the question, “What is your life about?”  (p. 287)

Elsewhere (e.g., higher on that same page), he says that what he is talking about is a person’s sense of “what matters” to her, or what she would count as making her life go well. My question to you is this:

Do you have a view about what matters to you (overall, not just right now), or what your life is about (not just your life right now, but your whole life)? If so, what is it? If not, what sorts of things (if any) do you think need to happen—experiences, perhaps, that you need to go through—in order for you to have such a view?

Please write your answer in the space below and/or on the back of this sheet.

I’d like like for you to be able to read each other’s answers, but it’s up to you. So that I’ll know your wishes, please check one of the following.

___   It’s o.k. with me if you e-mail what I write below to everyone in the class, with my name attached.

___   It’s o.k. with me if you e-mail what I write below to everyone in the class, but please keep it anonymous.

___   You can read what I write below, but please don’t share it with the class.