In this interview, philosopher and Nietzsche scholar, Babette Babich argues we must stop searching for life’s purpose in the realms of both science and religion. Instead, life must be appreciated through an admiration of its beauty and its poetry. We must love life’s constant change and becoming, and admire it, as much as is possible, from the perspective of eternity.

See Babette Babich live in London at the HowTheLightGetsIn festival alongside Slavoj Zizek, Sadiq Khan, Phillipa Gregory and many more speakers, musicians and comedians. Book your place now.

Ricky Williamson: You are appearing in three debates at this year's HowTheLightGetsIn festival. One on whether aesthetics should be our highest value, one on language, and one on purpose in life. All relate nicely to your work on Nietzsche. Starting with aesthetics… 

Nietzsche of course said many very interesting things about aesthetics. One of those things was this, "it is only as an aesthetic phenomenon that existence and the world are eternally justified." I take this as meaning that existence cannot be justified morally, or by having meaning. Rather, existence is only justified in the sense that a work of art is justified. So we must make existence an aesthetically good enough work of art to be justified. If you accept the question on these terms... how can we make existence aesthetically good enough to be justified eternally?