The opinion of meaninglessness, by the way, affects a lot more than the selection of alternate worldviews. Infinitely worse, it destroys our ability to select between any set of competing alternatives. Reason may tell me that it is physically healthier to run for thirty minutes everyday than to sit on the couch, play video games, and eat junk food all day, but only objective value can tell me that it is better to be physically healthy than physically unhealthy. Reason may tell me that it is psychologically healthier to see a counselor than to self-harm, but only objective value inclines me to strive for psychological health. Reason may appraise the life of the gracious and benevolent man and forewarn against a life of murder, rape, and child abuse. And yet it is only objective value which can give me the imperative to choose one or the other.
The cynic who says that everything is meaningless probably does not realize the far-reaching implications of his views. He has embraced a worldview which has been proven, time and again, to be incapable of functioning in the world as it is. After the rejection of objective value, the only criterion for decision making would be the strongest desire of the moment. To truly act in accord with this philosophy is to become an animal. C. S. Lewis once argued in The Abolition of Man that those who would reject objective value elect to become slaves to their own native instincts, and thus, to nature itself. To reject meaning is to reject one’s own humanity.
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