Name: 活著的意義會不會有耗盡的一天？ | Alex O'Connor (Do reasons for living eventually run out? | Alex O'Connor)
Uploaded: 2026-02-02T18:20:17.000Z
Duration: 8 min 22 s

情態副詞

Most people instinctively think that there is some kind of meaning to life.

大部分人直覺上都會覺得生命有某種意義。

程度副詞

They just sort of assume that it's there.

他們就是覺得「意義」是存在的。

In the same way that if you ask them, why are you getting out of bed to go to work?

就像你問他們，為什麼要起床去上班？

Because I want my children to be healthy.

For some people, they just, they just don't recognize the question.

對某些人來說，他們就是，他們就是不理解這個問題。

They're just like, what are you talking about?

For other people, they hear that and they go, gosh, you know what?

對另一些人來說，他們聽到這個就會想，天啊，你知道嗎？

The nihilist is someone who sort of takes a bird's eye view of it and realizes that it's all a little bit meaningless.

虛無主義者就是那種從宏觀角度看待一切，並意識到這一切都沒什麼意義的人。

It is nicer to think that you are here for some kind of reason that's written into the rules of the universe than that it all is just a happy or unhappy accident.

與其認為一切都只是幸運或不幸的意外，不如認為你來到這裡是有宇宙規則寫好的某種原因，這樣想起來會比較舒服。

I'm the host of the Within Reason podcast.

I think I'm best described as a philosophy YouTuber and former edgy.

我認為我最適合的形容是哲學 YouTuber，以前有點叛逆

Meaning, I think, is used synonymously with purpose.

我認為「意義」和「目的」可以互換使用

And purpose is something like reason to act or reason to be.

而「目的」就像是行動的理由或存在的理由

Whenever anybody acts in any way, when I pick up a glass of water to have a drink, when I walk to a bus stop or something, there will be a reason why I've done that.

當任何人以任何方式行動時，當我拿起一杯水來喝，當我走到公車站什麼的，都會有一個我這樣做的理由

These kinds of behaviors don't just spring up ex nihilo.

And so if you ask me why it is that I'm reaching my arm over there, it might be because I'm trying to pick up a glass of water.

所以如果你問我為什麼要伸手過去，可能是因為我想要拿一杯水來喝。

Well, now we're kind of into some biological science.

嗯，現在我們有點進入生物學的範疇了。

You might say, well, it's been a while since I've last had a drink.

你可能會說，嗯，我已經有一段時間沒喝水了。

And then you might describe what it is about my biology that causes thirst.

然後你可能會描述我的生理機制是如何引起口渴的。

And you might even give an evolutionary explanation for why it is that we've developed this sensitivity to thirst.

你甚至可以給出一個進化的解釋，說明為什麼我們會發展出這種對口渴的敏感性。

And eventually this kind of has to bottom out somewhere.

而最終，這種解釋總得有個底線。

It will either have to bottom out in some evolutionary reason, or this contingent chain of reasoning just essentially goes back forever, or it terminates in something which is self justifying.

它要嘛就得歸結於某個進化的理由，要嘛就是這種偶發的推理鏈會無限延伸下去，不然就是終止於某個自我證明的東西。

對宗教人士來說，那就是上帝。

Everything they do, even if they don't cognize it all the time, will be for the glory of God.

他們所做的一切，即使他們不是時時刻刻都意識到，都是為了榮耀上帝。

And if you're a secular person, it will likely be something else.

如果你是個世俗之人，那很可能就是別的東西了。

For some people, their meaning in life might be the raising of their children.

對某些人來說，他們生命的意義可能是養育子女。

And for most people it probably is relational.

而對大多數人來說，這大概是關係性的。

And when people say that they found their meaning in life, I think a lot of the time they found that self justifying principle.

當人們說他們找到了生命的意義，我認為很多時候他們找到的就是那個自我證明的原則。

The thing that the nihilist recognizes is that the values he or she holds are not grounded in anything other than their own preferences or aesthetic preferences.

虛無主義者會意識到，他所持有的價值觀，除了他自己的偏好或美學偏好之外，並沒有建立在任何其他東西上。

Nihilism comes in many forms and depending on the context can mean many different things.

虛無主義有許多形式，根據不同的情境，它可以有許多不同的含義。

But most broadly it's the lack of belief in, or belief that there is no such thing as an objective purpose to life or to the actions that we commit and the behaviours that we portray within life.

但最廣泛的說法是，它缺乏對生命或我們在生命中所從事的行為和所展現的舉止的客觀目的的信念，或者認為根本不存在這樣的客觀目的。

A lot of people think that if you lived like a nihilist, you'd sort of rot away in bed.

很多人會覺得，如果你活得像個虛無主義者，你大概就會躺在床上爛掉。

And I think there is actually a correlation, a strong correlation, between philosophical nihilism and practical depression.

我認為，哲學上的虛無主義和實際上的憂鬱之間，確實存在關聯，而且是強烈的關聯。

However, nihilism is not about the actual consequences or the things that you're doing, it's about the purpose behind them, it's about the meaning behind them.

不過，虛無主義談的不是實際的後果或你正在做的事情，而是它們背後的目的，是它們背後的意義。

And so, you know, suppose that you're feeling thirsty.

所以，你知道，假設你覺得口渴。

I could explain to you that the only reason you're feeling thirst is because of some animalistic drive that you had no control over.

我可以跟你解釋，你之所以會口渴，只是因為你有一些無法控制的動物性驅使。

But you're still thirsty, you still have that desire, you still have that value of, you know, quenching your thirst and so you'll still do that.

但你還是會口渴，你還是有那種渴望，你還是有那種想要解渴的價值觀，所以你還是會去做。

And the same applies in all areas of life, art and music and poetry, but

這同樣適用於生活的所有面向，藝術、音樂和詩歌，但

also including relationships, friendships, that kind of stuff, you're still going to want to do those things.

也包括了人際關係、友情，這類的東西，你還是會想要去做。

It's like Camus famously described in the myth of Sisyphus.

這就像卡繆在西西弗斯神話中著名地描述的那樣。

This person who suddenly recognizes structure of their day.

這個人突然意識到他一天的結構。

Waking up, having breakfast, getting in the car, going to work, taking a break, work, going back home, eating some food, going to sleep, starting again.

醒來、吃早餐、上車、上班、休息、工作、回家、吃點東西、睡覺，然後再開始。

And you sort of start to notice that you're doing this and it's not anything about what you're doing, it's realizing, taking a step back and realizing that there's no meaning to any of this, there's no that, there's nothing more than just my doing it.

然後你會開始注意到你在做這些事，這跟你做什麼無關，而是你意識到，退後一步，意識到這一切都沒有意義，沒有什麼比我只是在做這件事更重要的了。

One of the still greatest expositions of nihilism that can be found in the printed word is the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament.

在印刷文字中，虛無主義最偉大的闡述之一，可以在舊約的《傳道書》中找到。

Ecclesiastes takes us through the reflections of this man, this anonymous author.

《傳道書》帶我們看這位匿名作者的思考。

Some have tried to identify him, but it doesn't really matter who it is.

有些人試圖辨認出他，但其實是誰並不重要。

我們知道他是一位偉大的人物，一位君王。

He lived an illustrious life, but he saw no meaning in it.

他過著輝煌的生活，但他卻沒有看到其中的意義。

And he keeps coming back to this word hevel, which means literally something like wind.

他不斷地回到這個詞 hevel，字面上的意思有點像風。

And so it's translated as vanity by the King James.

所以英王詹姆斯譯本把它翻譯成「虛空」。

Everything is vanity, Meaningless, meaningless.

凡事都是虛空，毫無意義，毫無意義。

Everything is meaningless is one translation.

凡事都是毫無意義是其中一種翻譯。

He's like, I denied my eyes no pleasure that they saw.

他說，我沒有拒絕我眼睛所看見的任何樂趣。

我喝酒、我開派對、我享受人生。

But in the end, I saw that it was all heavel.

但最後，我發現這一切都是徒勞。

It just happens and then it's gone, and it doesn't mean anything.

它就這麼發生然後消失，而且沒有任何意義。

But the most interesting thing is that it seems to suggest that everything that this guy was saying was true, that it is all just wind, but

但最有趣的是，這似乎暗示了這個人說的一切都是真的，這一切都只是虛空，但是

that somehow by just fearing God and keeping his commandments, you have somehow solved the problem.

透過敬畏上帝並遵守祂的誡命，你就 somehow 解決了這個問題。

I don't think that that's a very satisfying solution.

我覺得這不是一個很令人滿意的解決方法。

But then I think that that is the great theme of nihilistic literature.

但我認為這就是虛無主義文學的偉大主題。

People try for a kind of solution, but ultimately, for me at least, they seem relatively unsatisfying.

人們試圖尋找某種解決方法，但最終，至少對我來說，它們似乎相對令人不滿意。

Fast forward thousands of years and you get Albert Camus Myth of Sisyphus, which famously ends with this idea of imagining Sisyphus happy.

快轉幾千年，你就看到了阿爾貝·卡繆的《薛西弗斯的神話》，這本書以這個想法聞名，想像薛西弗斯是快樂的。

In fact, Camus is celebrated for the starkness of the opening line of the Myth of Sisyphus.

事實上，卡繆的《薛西弗斯的神話》開頭那句極其簡潔的話，廣受讚譽。

That there is one serious philosophical question, and that is suicide.

那就是，只有一個嚴肅的哲學問題，那就是自殺。

Just everything else, you know, how many dimensions there are to space, whether abstract numbers exist, all of that is secondary.

其他的一切，你知道的，像是空間有多少維度、抽象數字是否存在，這些都比較次要。

The most foundational question is whether or not you're going to, as he once put it, have a cup of coffee or kill yourself.

最根本的問題是，你是否要，正如他曾經說過的，喝杯咖啡還是自殺。

Today, you look at the seeming arbitrariness of the world around us, the way that the environment and the organisms within it seem to just sort of almost randomly evolve according to literal just battles for survival.

今天，你看看我們周遭世界看似隨機的樣子，環境和其中的生物似乎只是為了生存而隨機演化。

I think people want something a little bit more than that.

我覺得人們想要的，不只這些。

They want something which feels worthwhile, that's somehow sort of justified by some universal principle.

他們想要一些感覺有價值的東西，能被某種普世原則所證明的東西。

There's almost like a moral element that it's a good thing to be alive, that it's a good thing to live a meaningful life.

這幾乎就像有一種道德上的元素，認為活著是件好事，過著有意義的人生是件好事。

And that kind of thing, I think, is very difficult to ground objectively.

而我認為，這種事情，很難客觀地找到基礎。

In fact, if somebody ever asks me how I might console myself in the face of these existential woes, genuinely, at least personally, it is in agnosticism.

事實上，如果有人問我，面對這些存在主義的憂愁，我會如何安慰自己，說實話，至少對我個人而言，是在不可知論中。