ABSTRACT
This chapter critically discusses the most salient arguments pertaining to meaning to be found in Ecclesiastes, that is, the ones that take up the most space or are repeated in the text and those that have been particularly influential in the Western tradition of philosophy. One major source of Koheleth's conclusion that life is futile is his belief that no one will survive the inevitable death of their body. The usual way that philosophers these days criticize Koheleth's position is by suggesting that, even though all of us might well be mortal, some of our lives have more meaning in them than others. A distinct rationale for the conclusion that all is futility, to be found in Ecclesiastes, appeals to the amount of injustice in our earthly lives. By far the two most influential meaning-related views from Ecclesiastes are grounded on considerations of death and desert.
