What Is Meaning? How Much Would It Matter If We Had None?

(A) IntroductionMeaning is the one of our most central and ubiquitous concepts. Anything at all may, in suitable contexts, have meaning ascribed to it. In this article, I will depart from the usual focus on linguistic meaning to discuss how numerous things can be meaningful. I will explore whether meaning is objectively definable, whether there really is meaning at all and to what extent it matters to strive for meaning rather than letting our lives just be . By taking the problem of meaning out of the technical philosophy of language, I hope to be able to provide a perspicuous overview [1] of the term s behaviour. Wittgenstein s ideas were especially influential in bringing the idea of meaninglessness to centre stage, with the theory of Verificationism [2], developed by the logical positivists (inspired by Wittgenstein). In order to analyse the impact of a world without meaning, it is important to establish the meaning of meaning and distinguish between different types of meaning. The German, Russian and Dutch languages all have numerous words for different types of meaning and would render this question, as Leontiev[3] suggests, somewhat simpler. Nevertheless, in sticking to English, I will also attempt to delve into, arguably, the most urgent of questions [4]: what is the meaning of life, if any? Furthermore, the second part of the question, which raises a practical issue in addition to a theoretical one, requires definition: what is denoted by having no meaning , how should we differentiate between what matters and what does not, and can meaning be both objective and subjective?

(B) Meaning Beyond a Linguistic ConceptMany take it for granted that questions about meaning belong to the philosophy of language, with only linguistic items holding the capability to have meaning. Horwich s Meaning [5], for example, falls victim to such constrictions, with The Oxford Companion to Philosophy also equating questions about meaning with ones about linguistic meaning and the way language relates to reality [6]. It might be argued that, in some sense, language is more important in human life than any other bearers of meaning. Nevertheless, linguistic meaning cannot be said to be primary in this regard our ancestors, one assumes, could recognize the significance of one another s gestures and facial expressions, and of natural occurrences, long before they shared a language. Therefore, in search of What is meaning? , it is important to examine meaningbeyond the boundaries of language for Wittgenstein, philosophy, in general, was a challenge of showing the fly the way out of the fly bottle the bottle being the limitations in how we use language. Whether or not Wittgenstein was right, it is important that we analyse meaning without reductive explanation , without a narrow focus on semantics and the Theories of Meaning , but with a widespread synopsis of its social impacts on our lives and the lives of others.

(C) What is Meaning?For the purpose of this article, I will distinguish between three ways in which meaning is used (even though many more meanings of the term could be distinguished): there is, first of all, the meaning of linguistic expressions, such as words and sentences we consult the dictionary when attempting to discern the meaning of an unknown or unfamiliar term. Secondly, meaning is often established from facts when an individual sees black clouds forming in the sky, this person may say that this means that bad weather/rain is incoming. Thirdly, something can be said to have meaning with reference to its implications a proposition may also mean another one, held to be deducible from it. Hence, the meaning that I will define can be equated to the relevance, significance and value of our existence. In essence, meaning can be paralleled to the relationship between a phenomenon and a subject, in this case, between human beings and their existence.

Meaning may, perhaps, live in the realm of social constructs we cannot prove or verify meaning, nor can meaning mean the same for each person. Indeed, for Merleau-Ponty, we are traffickers in meaning , creatures condemned to meaning [7] meaning has been the target of man s investigation ever since the first human being started to view the Nature in which he finds himself. We, arguably, deploy the notion of meaning when attempting to understand one another and the world around us. Nevertheless, at no point do we stop and ask ourselves what the significance of meaning is, whether meaning is innate or self-defined and whether meaning matters at all. Answering such questions has been, primarily, the aim of the existentialists for some time. Sartre, for example, considers that to be human means to recognize oneself as sole legislator [8] even if god(s) existed, it would make no difference as humans would still have to create their own values and meanings for their lives to be meaningful. But if Sartre was right, how do we generate subjective meaning and to what extent is meaning required in our lives? How does meaning, such an intangible concept, manifest itself in our minds and how can we uphold its existence?

(D) The Importance of MeaningMeaning is at the core of our experience and actions. It is, disputably, only through meaning that we can make sense of our existence. In life, we find meaning through a sense of purpose. Frankl, an Austrian existential-psychologist, asserts that it is the will to find meaning in our lives which is the primary motivation underlying all human behaviour [9]. In this sense, meaning becomes more than a factor of our existence but a reason for it, something which governs what we do with our lives. Bruner acknowledges the importance of meaning beyond the subjective, noting that without meaning systems we would be lost in murk of chaotic experience and probably would not have survived as a species in any case [10] the American phycologist goes further than his European counterpart, suggesting that meaning is a key component in the survival of the human race. Meaning, in this respect, acts less as a theoretical and philosophical concept, and more as a reality serving to maintain human attention on earth. Furthermore, meaning can be said to have an immense bearing on human health and well-being to live without meaning, goals or values can provoke considerable distress. Meaning provides us with a sense of control over the events in our lives, a sense of self-worth. Often, hardship, failure or injury can contribute to lifetime meaning building on the past gives life a new direction and renders it more meaningful. Many pursue meaning throughout their lives in an attempt to reach what Aristotle believed was a sufficient end in itself, the highest good [11], the ultimate goal: happiness.

(E) Meaning Subjective or Objective?In our darkest hours, life seems pointless and shallow, meaningless our best efforts seem to lead nowhere. For Taylor, a repetitious, cyclic activity that never comes to anything [12] is the paradigm of a meaningless life. But what if, for example, the gods were to inject Sisyphus with some substance that gave rise to an obsession to roll stones? After all, his life would become meaningful for him. What does this suggest? That an activity which is objectively meaningless, in that it lacks a lasting end that can be considered the purpose of the activity, can, nevertheless, be meaningful for him whose existence it is. Arising from this, we can then begin to make a distinction between subjective and objective meaning parallel to Sartre s theory of self-definition , meaning can be established not only by an individual but by those around him/her. As a result, meaning becomes a tool for social integration and a critical component in building worthwhile relationships. Wolf affirms that life is meaningful when subjective attraction meets objective attraction . In other words, the subjectivist view ,that meaning requires finding one s passions, does not suffice for a meaningful life engagement with objective value is needed as well.

(F) What is Meaninglessness?Many people occasionally feel that life is absurd or meaningless (I follow Sartre in making no distinction between the two, though there is a case for discrimination). These feelings vary from person to person in strength, duration and frequency. In his Being and Nothingness, Sartre describes life as fundamentally absurd. Very much like Camus version of The Absurd , Sartre s conclusion stems from the failure of Reason to explain the world. As a result, we can only view the activities we undertake throughout our lives as mediation we distract ourselves from our essentially meaningless lives with seemingly meaningful tasks and goals.

Indeed, many dismiss the possibility of the existence of meaninglessness with theories of escape, of an afterlife or heaven, through some abstract Good , which cannot be proven. This is because the thought of a meaningless world, an absurd reality, can reduce individuals to madness and scepticism the Russian writer Tolstoy, for example, ventured on the brink of suicide, pledging that One can only live while one is intoxicated with life as soon as one is sober, it is impossible not to see that it is all a mere fraud and a stupid fraud! [13] However, Camus, by acknowledging and, in fact, embracing absurdity instead of running away from it, provides hope for a meaningful life ,despite its apparent meaninglessness Camus likens our fates to the tragic Greek hero condemned to spend eternity rolling a stone up a hill, only to watch it trundle back down, again and again. And yet, Camus Sisyphus, fully recognizing the absurdity of his monotonous situation, is able to transcend his fate with laughter and happiness the struggle itself is enough to fill a man s heart [14]. From this (which, despite being a myth, provides valuable insight into the nature of meaning on earth), it can be said that we are able to surpass meaninglessness, drawing from it meaning, regardless of our beliefs about death and God.

(G) Is life without meaning possible?A life without a purpose is a life without destination. For Dostoyevsky, The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for. [15] Nonetheless, it is possible to live such a life, without meaning or significance, no matter how miserable this may be. Mr. Duffy, for example, in Joyce s short-story A Painful Case, is the subject of an adventureless tale [16], living as though he were, paradoxically, dead. Indeed, it can be said that life without meaning is detrimental to the human psyche, which strives for gain and progress a meaningless life has destructive impacts on an individual s well-being and happiness. Newton s fear , for example, was not of death itself, but a death without meaning [17]. Some argue that there is value in just living , without worrying about anything else. In this case, meaning, for such people, can be extracted from the fact of their very own existence. But what if we , the whole human race, had constructed the term meaning to provide significance, value and relevance to our meaningless existence.

(H) Meaning a myth? Does it matter? For something to have meaning, there must be an agent for which that object means something. A world without animals, without cognitive processes, cannot possess meaning if it is the fact of our existence which produces such meaning in the first place. Social constructionists believe that it is the interactions between individuals and their society which gives meaning to otherwise worthless things, creating an artificial reality. In this respect, the strong social constructionists agree with Nietzsche s existential nihilism: that life is without objective meaning, purpose or intrinsic value meaning exists dependently of human society. However, meaning is also something which we ourselves depend upon to fuel our existence and, therefore, meaning matters enormously. Frankl stresses the significance of meaning, revealing that There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one`s life. [18] To have no meaning, whether inherent or not, would reduce humans to objects, incapable of evolution and condemned to paralysis.

[1] The Meaning of Meaning, Ogden and Richards pub.1923

[2] Verificationism was a central thesis of logical positivism, a movement in analytic philosophy that emerged in the 1920s by the efforts of a group of philosophers who sought to unify philosophy and science under a common naturalistic theory of knowledge. Logical positivists garnered the verifiability criterion of cognitive meaningfulness from young Ludwig Wittgenstein`s philosophy of language posed in his 1921 book Tractatus.

[3] Alexei Nikolaevich Leontiev was a Soviet developmental psychologist, and the founder of activity theory (1903-1979)

[4] The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus pub.1942

[5] Meaning, Paul Horwich pub.1998

[6] The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, ed. Ted Honderich pub.1995

[7] Phenomenology of Perception, Maurice Merleau-Ponty pub.1962

[8] L Existentialisme Est un Humanisme, Jean-Paul Sartre pub.1946

[9] The Unheard Cry for Meaning, Viktor Frankl pub.1978

[10] Acts of Meaning, Jerome Bruner pub.1990

[11] Nicomachean Ethics Book 1, Aristotle, translated by W.D.Ross, pub.2005

[12] The Meaning of Life, Richard Taylor pub.1970

[13] A Confession, Leo Tolstoy pub.1882

[14] The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus pub.1942

[15] The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky pub.1880

[16] Dubliners, James Joyce pub.1914

[17] Revolutionary Suicide, Huey Newton pub.1973

[18] Man s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl pub.1946

Bibliography:

Acts of Meaning, Jerome Bruner pub.1990

L Existentialisme Est Un Humanisme, Jean-Paul Sartre pub.1946

Man s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl pub.1946

Meaning, David E. Cooper pub.2003

The Meaning of Life, Richard Taylor pub.1970

The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus pub.1942

Philosophy of Meaning, Knowledge Value in the Twentieth Century, ed. Canfield pub.1997

This resource was uploaded by: Harry

Other articles by this author

• The Strong State - Key to Lasting Economic Growth?