Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent van Gogh (1890)

A Philosophical Guide to Figuring Out What Matters

In this episode, my guest is Valerie Tiberius, the author of What Do You Want Out of Life? Valerie is the Paul W. Frenzel Chair in Liberal Arts and professor of philosophy at the University of Minnesota. Her books include Well-Being as Value Fulfillment and The Reflective Life: Living Wisely with Our Limits.

In the conversation, Valerie and I discuss,

Strategies for figuring out what matters
Goals and values
Dealing with conflicting values
Existentialism and becoming who you are
Courage and values
Wisdom in daily life and much more

Learn about Prof. Valerie Tiberius here.

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Perennial Notes | 3 Takeaways

Seneca famously wrote in On the Shortness of Life, “You are mistaken if you think that only on an ocean voyage there is a very slight space between life and death. No, the distance between is just as narrow everywhere.” His point was that we need to realize what matters and, with a sense of urgency, start putting our values into practice. Here are three takeaways from my conversation with Valerie Tiberius (and her excellent new book What Do You Want Out of Life?) to help you (and me) figure out what truly matters:

Values, as I define them, are special goals. They tend to be more “ultimate” (rather than “instrumental”), in the sense that we want to achieve them for their own sakes. They also tend to be important to us and, ideally, well integrated into our psychology. In other words, values are goals that are high up in our hierarchy and ones we are not internally conflicted about. […]

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Conflicts among our values and goals pull us in competing directions, away from fulfillment. Conflicts between our goals and the world frustrate our pursuits and lead us (again) away from fulfillment. Our lives go better for us when we can figure out ways of managing these conflicts, and good management requires a good understanding of what we care about in the first place. […]

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All of these conflicts can cause us to wonder whether we’re on the right track. Is the work you do at your company worth the sacrifice? Does being a good parent really demand so much driving? How important is money? What is it you value about your church, and could you get it from a different church? Serious conflicts raise questions about the things we value. […]

Additional Resources Related to the Podcast:

Seneca | On the Shortness of Life
Life is Short with Dean Rickles
The Courage to Lead a Life
How to Avoid Leading a Life of Quiet Desperation

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Thank you for listening; I hope you found something useful.

Until next time, be wise and be well,

P.S. If you enjoyed the conversation. Please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

A Philosophical Guide to Figuring Out What…