Bob on meaning in life and death

Abstract

Robert C. Solomon (“Bob”) took a narrative conception of the meaning of life and of death, and this is of a piece with his existentialism. Through the ongoing process of engaging and re fl ecting, we reposition ourselves and rework our stories, each new version a potential means for responding to the world from a more mature and encompassing stance. Death is meaningful in the context of this narrative, providing the closure to an individual life that gives it a place within a larger whole. Bob’s conception of narrative meaning is evident in his own life, and it is that life as well as the thinker who led it that we celebrate in this volume.