Philosophy
Scientific American blogger and academic psychologist Clay Routledge writes that "To Feel Meaningful Is to Feel Immortal".
My comment: It's nice to know that empirical research confirms what religion and philosophy have been saying for a couple of millennia.
But is this "feeling" of immortality rationally justifiable or is it merely a useful illusion? When Dr Routledge describes us as "meaning-making animals," he seems to encourage the latter view: that there is no meaning apart from what we "make."
I find it difficult to imagine being satisfied by a "meaning" that I am conscious of having "made" myself.
By contrast, the Platonic tradition in philosophy (and similar traditions in Asian thought) give reasons for regarding meaning as a feature of reality--a reality that the feeling of immortality, then, reflects.
To take this thought seriously, we must of course consider systematically what we mean by "reality"; and this may involve reconsidering the nature of "empirical" investigation. I look forward to the day when "empirical" psychology will have the nerve to consider these questions with an open mind.
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Are historians scientists? They frame hypotheses about the causes and effects of real events and use empirical evidence to support their accounts. But they don't do not look for regularities to make into laws; to the contrary, they account...
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Our senior thesis writers this semester have been working on some interesting topics. Want to raise some questions this week that have come to mind listening to them develop their arguments. One is looking at the notion of ownership. ...
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On Presidents' Day, PBS showed a new documentary about the Clinton presidency. I heard an interview with the director on Fresh Air where he argued that the time was right for this work because it was far enough in the past that it had just become...
- Justifying Fashion
This is fashion week in New York. To be honest, I've always had an antipathy for fashion. Growing up as a nerd in an upper-middle class suburb, fashion always seemed to me to be a two-pronged evil. On the one hand, it was something...
Philosophy
Meaning and Immortality
Scientific American blogger and academic psychologist Clay Routledge writes that "To Feel Meaningful Is to Feel Immortal".
My comment: It's nice to know that empirical research confirms what religion and philosophy have been saying for a couple of millennia.
But is this "feeling" of immortality rationally justifiable or is it merely a useful illusion? When Dr Routledge describes us as "meaning-making animals," he seems to encourage the latter view: that there is no meaning apart from what we "make."
I find it difficult to imagine being satisfied by a "meaning" that I am conscious of having "made" myself.
By contrast, the Platonic tradition in philosophy (and similar traditions in Asian thought) give reasons for regarding meaning as a feature of reality--a reality that the feeling of immortality, then, reflects.
To take this thought seriously, we must of course consider systematically what we mean by "reality"; and this may involve reconsidering the nature of "empirical" investigation. I look forward to the day when "empirical" psychology will have the nerve to consider these questions with an open mind.
- Can You Really Own A Position?
I've been thinking about the use of the verb to own with respect to an intellectual view. When a student is being wishy-washy about a proposition he or she is arguing for and clearly believes, I'll tell the student to "own the position." ...
- Historians, Archaeologists, And Scientists
Are historians scientists? They frame hypotheses about the causes and effects of real events and use empirical evidence to support their accounts. But they don't do not look for regularities to make into laws; to the contrary, they account...
- Are There Varieties Of Ownership?
Our senior thesis writers this semester have been working on some interesting topics. Want to raise some questions this week that have come to mind listening to them develop their arguments. One is looking at the notion of ownership. ...
- How Old Is History?
On Presidents' Day, PBS showed a new documentary about the Clinton presidency. I heard an interview with the director on Fresh Air where he argued that the time was right for this work because it was far enough in the past that it had just become...
- Justifying Fashion
This is fashion week in New York. To be honest, I've always had an antipathy for fashion. Growing up as a nerd in an upper-middle class suburb, fashion always seemed to me to be a two-pronged evil. On the one hand, it was something...