I will draw on the psychology and sociology of these activities, but also examine the emerging
understanding of how brain processes make love, work, and play sources of meaning. My descriptive
aim is to show that people seem to find meaning through such pursuits, but my normative aim is to
show that love, work, and play really do make life worth living. The normative leap to what ought to
be requires connecting these realms with people's vital needs, via an account of how brains work. I
will relate what is known about the neurophysiology of love, work, and play to the neural models of
emotions and goals presented earlier. A review and analysis of how brains function in love, work,
and play will tell us much about how and why people lead their lives, although the full normative
story about why these activities ought to matter to people will have to wait for the discussions of
needs and morals in chapters 8 and 9.