Of course your existence matters to other people—your parents and
others who care about you—but taken as a whole, their lives have no
point either, so it ultimately doesn't matter that you matter to them.
You matter to them and they matter to you, and that may give your life
a feeling of significance, but you're just taking in each other's washing, so to speak.[What does it all mean, T. Nagel]
I can't find the definition of "taking in each other's washing" in my dictionary. What does it mean? Thanks!
I think it means "pleasing each other". Is it right?
Best Answer
"Taking in washing" is an old phrase for someone, usually a housewife, who makes a little income on the side by washing other people's clothes for them. Someone might say, "We needed some extra money, so I decided to take in some washing."
In this case, "taking in each other's washing" is an attempt to make a humorous comment on the idea of people helping each other. Alice might pay Betty to do her washing because Alice has more money and Betty has more spare time. Or maybe Alice hates doing laundry and Betty enjoys it. But for two people to take in each other's washing would be silly and pointless. They're both still doing the same amount of work, now they're just each doing the other person's laundry instead of their own.
The writer is saying that people helping each other is a pointless waste of time because you're just re-arranging mundane tasks.
I haven't read the larger context, and in any case I probably should refrain from commenting on the idea, just discuss the language.