If science does not answer this question, it is sterile. However, the objection is unfounded. Science does not value, but it provides acting man with all the information he may need with regard to his valuations. It keeps silence only when the question is raised whether life itself is worth living. This question, of course, has been raised too and will always be raised.
Man lives in the shadow of death.
Whatever he may have achieved in the course of his pilgrimage, he must one day pass away and abandon all that he has built. Each instant can become his last. Seen from the point of view of this ultimate and inescapable outcome, all human striving appears vain and futile. Moreover, human action must be called inane even when judged merely with regard to its immediate goals. As soon as one want is satisfied, new wants spring up and ask for satisfaction Civilization, it is said, makes people poorer, because it multiplies their wishes and does not soothe, but kindles, desires.