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Project
An analysis of meaningfulness. (FWOTM533)
The general public tends to regard the subject of meaning as one of the major questions to be answered by philosophy. Contrary to common conviction fundamental and well-delineated research into meaning is very much possible.
1. People's desire to live a meaningful life is itself an objective fact that can be approached from an objectifying and detached stance, yet any answer to the question of meaning can be relevant only to the extent of its appeal. The quest for a meaningful live is the pursuit of something that can be experienced as significant or relevant. The notion of 'significant' or 'signifying' suggests something that transcends the strictly subjective.
2. Something felt to be meaningful in a particular, limited context may lose its appeal in a different, broader context. The underlying orientation of people's desire to live a meaningful life is usually towards infinity. No a priori assumptions can be made concerning limits to the process of ever widening situatedness or recontextualisaton. Yet, although the desire for meaning seems directed at the infinite, it must necessarily be reconciled with the finite. The question to be answered is how the process of reconciliation works.
1. People's desire to live a meaningful life is itself an objective fact that can be approached from an objectifying and detached stance, yet any answer to the question of meaning can be relevant only to the extent of its appeal. The quest for a meaningful live is the pursuit of something that can be experienced as significant or relevant. The notion of 'significant' or 'signifying' suggests something that transcends the strictly subjective.
2. Something felt to be meaningful in a particular, limited context may lose its appeal in a different, broader context. The underlying orientation of people's desire to live a meaningful life is usually towards infinity. No a priori assumptions can be made concerning limits to the process of ever widening situatedness or recontextualisaton. Yet, although the desire for meaning seems directed at the infinite, it must necessarily be reconciled with the finite. The question to be answered is how the process of reconciliation works.
Date:1 Oct 2009 → 26 Dec 2016
Keywords:Quantum structures, World views, Realism, Cognition, Evolution Theory, Foundations of Biology, Studies of Culture, Foundations of Physics, Foundations of Science, Constructivism, Philosophy of Science, Emergence, Quantum Computation, Operationalism, Foundations of Cognitive Science
Disciplines:Other engineering and technology, Applied sociology, Anthropology, Applied mathematics in specific fields, Philosophy, Theory and methodology of philosophy, General psychology