ABSTRACT
In his introduction to Life, Death, and Meaning, David Benatar claims "the question of whether life has meaning is arguably the biggest of the big questions". In his book On the Meaning of Life, John Cottingham also suggests that the question as to whether life has meaning is one that "does not go away". At first sight, Richard Rorty's approach to the question fails to recognize this, and is liable to appear evasive or superficial. Rorty does provide elaboration and justification, but not directly, and not in a form that might normally be expected of a philosopher. Rorty tells a number of different versions of his historical story. The two main common threads are the modern trends of secularization and democratization. Rorty contends that each life can best be viewed as an endlessly interesting poem when the idiosyncrasies and chance events that go into making it up are given their due.
