Tuesday, August 02, 2005

i've always had a problem getting ideas across to people. Ussually, i have to tell them complete different things to get the to get what im saying. For instance, if, for some reason, your hair was on fire, and for some other reason, you didnt know it, you would hear something like, "Indigo voracious walruses named beavis are dancing the polka on the tenth planet of hiccups!" when i came up to you and said "your hair is on fire". Likewise for the inverse. So, although i ussuallyget by by not setting people's hair on fire and not concerning myself with the affairs of indigo walruses. However, this phenomenon has always affected me deeply and one day i will become a postman because of it.

***PLOT TWIST***

What is the meaning of meaning? This seems a trick question but it is crucial in philosophy which is language-dependent. It helps us clarify the way information emerges, how information is sustained and how something can be measured.

Socrates questioned the fundamental meaning of what we believed with the Socratic Method. Cogito ergo sum was Descartes’ way of discovering the meaning of life and the universe. However, there are yet other meanings to meaning. Frege noted that meaning of a name is not just what it refers to. Grice distinguished between natural meaning which links connected ideas and non-natural meaning which links independent ideas.

I would like to suggest that meaning is what we give to the world around us. However, the natural world does not need meaning to justify itself. Meaning is the product of human civilization. It distinguishes the aspects of the world and gives us the illusion of control. It helps us face the reality of an infinite universe and relentless time. For example, what meaning exists in the constellations? Yet, all sorts of beliefs from astrology to cosmology have emerged.

Meaning has many meanings. It answers our persistent questions. The finding of meaning is what makes us human.