The Pre-Meaning
Consider
the ‘meaning of life’. Does life have a meaning, or not? I propose that this is
like the ‘first cause’ problem; in that life is full of meaningful activity,
each meaning having a deeper meaning, and so on recursively, just like
causation; is there a first one?
In an earlier post I mentioned a ‘zeroth cause’, the
putative cause of the putative first cause. Is there a zeroth cause? I see
three resolutions: there is no first cause, as causation is infinitely deep; or
there is a first cause, itself uncaused; or there is a first cause, and a
zeroth cause, which cause each other.
In similar fashion, define the “Pre-meaning” to be the
meaning of the meaning of life. Is there a pre-meaning? I see three
resolutions: every meaning has a deeper meaning, so there is no meaning for all
of life; or life has a meaning, itself meaningless; or life has a meaning, and
a pre-meaning, which mean each other.
So either life has no meaning; or its meaning has no
meaning; or meaning flows in a loop. I vote the third; life is full of loops.
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