Conceptualizing great meaning in life: Metz on the good, the true, and the beautiful

This article is a reply to Thaddeus Metz's 'The good, the true, and the beautiful' (2011). I suggest that Metz's theory is too broad since it entails that merely understanding Einstein's or Darwin's views can make a life highly meaningful. Furthermore, it is unclear whether 'fundamental conditions', toward which highly meaningful lives are oriented, may or may not be necessary conditions to 'non-fundamental conditions', how completely the former should explain the latter, and whether Metz's account is indeed non-consequentialist. While acknowledging the importance of Metz's contribution, I consider alternative directions that future research might take.