"So what if life is meaningless, why does that actually matter?"
I salute you sir! This will be my new philosophy of life.
And indeed, life being meaningless, then that fact is also meaningless (along with every other fact). Any meaning we humans "find" in our life is an illusion at best. One may select and change one's meanings as one wishes, which in all honesty, appears to be exactly what humans do, with abandon. Unfortunately this leaves us precisely where we started: nothing has changed other than that we now permit ourselves to change meanings at whim.
I prefer an evo-devo view. E.g., concerning "courageous or cowardly": these are culture-specific indicators that may assist your reproductive efforts; they likely do matter in that respect.
I salute you sir! This will be my new philosophy of life.
And indeed, life being meaningless, then that fact is also meaningless (along with every other fact). Any meaning we humans "find" in our life is an illusion at best. One may select and change one's meanings as one wishes, which in all honesty, appears to be exactly what humans do, with abandon. Unfortunately this leaves us precisely where we started: nothing has changed other than that we now permit ourselves to change meanings at whim.
I prefer an evo-devo view. E.g., concerning "courageous or cowardly": these are culture-specific indicators that may assist your reproductive efforts; they likely do matter in that respect.
"He who dies with the most toys wins."