Sir, – What a pleasure it is to see The Irish Times has been hosting a debate on “the meaning of life” (“In Ireland, we’ll talk about anything except the meaning of life”, Opinion, March 9th; Letters, March 13th).
With the decline in religious practice (if indeed it is a decline) we need a way to articulate some of our deepest concerns. The debate coincides (one hopes fruitfully) with the related discussion in the University of Galway and elsewhere on the fate of the so-called “humanities” and the traditional arts degree.
There is much to be said for incorporating philosophy, including ethics, in the school curriculum, which would entail a prior debate on the age at which students should be introduced to such matters. Such an innovation might even help us to escape the error of overrating the importance of artificial intelligence (AI).
Who knows, we might end up returning to the classical philosophers (Aristotle, Plato, etc) and include in our discourse words such as “wisdom” and “common sense” (or, if you prefer, Aristotle’s loaded Greek word “phronesis”). – Yours, etc,
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BRIAN COSGROVE,
Cornelscourt,
Dublin 18.
Sir, – While on holiday, one thing I find important is having the time to consider existential questions and draw conclusions around the meaning of life.
For now, I suggest that my fellow humans may be neatly classified in two groups: those who have the ability to move their outdoor furniture silently, and the cohort that pull and drag in a thunderous manner. In the case of the latter, such behaviours tell me everything I need to know about them as human beings. – Yours, etc,
FRANK J BYRNE,
Gran Canaria,
Spain.
