Quote by Aldous Huxley

I had motives for not wanting the world to have a meaning; and consequently assumed that it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption. The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem in pure metaphysics. He is also concerned to prove that there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to do. For myself, as no doubt for most of my friends, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom. The supporters of this system claimed that it embodied the meaning - the Christian meaning, they insisted - of the world. There was one admirably simple method of confuting these people and justifying ourselves in our erotic revolt: we would deny that the world had any meaning whatever.

Summary

This quote by British philosopher and writer Aldous Huxley reflects on his personal motives for believing in the meaninglessness of the world. He acknowledges that his rejection of meaning was not solely a philosophical exploration, but rather a means of liberating oneself from the constraints of a particular moral system that inhibited sexual freedom. By denying the existence of any objective meaning in the world, individuals like Huxley could refute claims that a specific moral framework held any inherent truth or significance. Thus, the philosophy of meaninglessness served as a tool to justify their own pursuit of personal desires without moral consequences.