The Journal of Value Inquiry· 2026Q2
Some Questions About the Conditions Necessary for Leading a Life
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- Q2SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Leading a life requires more than mere spectatorship; it involves exercising agency, valuing personal attachments, and engaging with valuable things, according to philosopher Sarah Buss.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Leading a life is distinct from being a spectator of one's own life.
- Key conditions for leading a life include exercising agency.
- Personal attachments and their special claims are crucial for leading a life.
- Engagement with personally valued things is a necessary condition.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Abstract What is it to lead a life? This question prompts many others. In these brief comments, I focus on two issues: (1) How does leading a life relate to occupying the role of a spectator , where this includes being a spectator of one’s life? (2) What is it for a life to be one’s own , where one is justifiably partial toward anything that qualifies as such ? My reflections move from spectatorship to partiality and back. In so doing, they probe three conditions Samuel Scheffler plausibly claims to be key ingredients of leading a life: exercising one’s agency, being subject to the special claims of a very small number of human beings to whom one is personally attached, and being engaged with things one takes to be valuable. How close, I wonder, can one come to not satisfying any one of these conditions without ceasing to lead a life – and even a good life?
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. The Journal of Value Inquiry, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Philosophy
PhilosophyArts and Humanities