What Do You Want Out of Life? A Philosophical Guide to Figuring Out What Matters

Oct 23, 2025

Valerie Tiberius, a professor of philosophy at the University of Minnesota, discusses her book on navigating life’s conflicting values. She blends personal anecdotes with philosophical insights, emphasizing the importance of understanding what truly matters to us. Tiberius explores hidden goals and values, illustrating them through relatable examples. She also reflects on the impact of community, relationships, and societal challenges, particularly around issues like sexism and racial justice, urging us to embrace conflict while prioritizing our true aspirations.

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ANECDOTE

Philosophy Felt Like Home

Valerie Tiberius describes discovering philosophy in college as a “fish returned to the water.”
She credits an encouraging professor and a second major in environmental studies for shaping her path to grad school.

ANECDOTE

Seminar Paper Sparked Unexpected Reaction

Valerie recounts writing a paper accusing classmates of prioritizing winning over truth in a seminar.
Her classmates misread it as sensitivity and isolated her, revealing a clash in philosophical styles.

ADVICE

Clarify And Prioritize Core Values

Identify your core values and recognize they will conflict; living well means navigating those conflicts.
Use reflection and value-ranking to avoid sacrificing important values for trivial ones.

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What do you want out of life? To make a lot of money, work for justice, run marathons, sing in a choir, have children, travel the world? The things we care about in life—family, friendship, leisure activities, work, our moral ideals—often conflict, preventing us from doing what matters most to us. Even worse, we don’t always know what we really want, or how to define success. Blending personal stories, philosophy, and psychology, this insightful and entertaining book offers invaluable advice about living well by understanding your values and resolving the conflicts that frustrate their fulfillment.
Dr. Valerie Tiberius introduces you to a way of thinking about your goals that enables you to reflect on them effectively throughout your life. She illustrates her approach with vivid examples, many of which are drawn from her own life, ranging from the silly to the serious, from shopping to navigating prejudice. Throughout, the book emphasizes the importance of interconnectedness, reminding us of the profound influence other people have on our lives, our goals, and how we should pursue them. At the same time, the book offers strategies for coping with obstacles to realizing your goals, including gender bias and other kinds of discrimination. Whether you are changing jobs, rethinking your priorities, or reconsidering your whole life path, What Do You Want Out of Life?: A Philosophical Guide to Figuring Out What Matters (Princeton UP, 2024) is an essential guide to helping you understand what really matters to you and how you can thoughtfully pursue it.

Our guest is: Valerie Tiberius, who is the Paul W. Frenzel Chair in Liberal Arts and professor of philosophy at the University of Minnesota. Her books include Well-Being as Value Fulfillment: How We Can Help Each Other to Live Well and The Reflective Life: Living Wisely with Our Limits. She lives in Minneapolis.

Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is a dissertation and grad student coach, and a developmental editor for scholars in the humanities and social sciences. She is the producer of the Academic Life podcast, and writes the show’s newsletter at christinagessler.substack.com.

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