What is the purpose of meaning?
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What is the purpose of meaning?
i know it, but i can't tell you as telling the purpose of meaning would be ironic.
Because, without meaning, nothing really matters, does it?
The sound of one hand clapping.
Becaue our brains were designed that way.
successful communication.
Actually, it's a pretty good philosophical question, if you ask me. Don't know or mark intended it that way, or that he was just being funny. Anyhow, one-liner-topics result in one-liner-responses. But blablabla.
Basically, it is a good question WHY some things would motivate you. Like, if you like surfing, because it is fun, why should you do it? I mean, why Really? Basically because we are evolutionary programmed to do that, what we like.
Actually, that isn't really the same thing as what this topic was about. Anyhow.
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If we could get back on topic...
True happiness.
To give shape to the limitless void?
I think that ...ing was one of the first words ever written - depicted by a runic symbol meaning 'man/woman or human kind'. and that the word 'meaning' means just that
me an ing (man)
this would then describe how you (me/we) relate to man (your universe) and therefore give you meaning or interpretation of you world, like a reflection or feedback driectly to you .........
Webster defines purpose as "something set up as an object or end to be attained". I assume 'signify' is a good synonym for 'mean' in this case.
So the question can be rephrased as: What is the end to be attained by the act of signifying? The answer is obviously to convey information.
Or, if by 'mean,' we mean 'is important to the degree of--", then the question is rephrased as: What is the end to be attained by the act of being important to some degree? or perhaps, more clearly, What is the end to be attained by finding importance in something to some degree? Then, we could take different viewpoints of why it is that we should want things.
Finally, 'meaning' can be synonymous with 'intent.' So the question is: What is the end to be attained by intention? This is most clearly a conundrum, since it implies the intention to intend. An intention to intend is quite alien to human thought, and one might ask what the objective of intending to intend is, and intending to intend to intend, and so on forever and ever.
I vote for the second interpretation.
I'm very disappointed in all your responses.
what, even mine? :(
Yes, even yours.
It must be because you don't know what their meaning is. Maybe you'll understand:
Don't you see? The purpose of meaning is the purpose of caring. If you didn't ask the question you wouldn't need to give meaning to "the purpose of meaning".
Picture this: You walk toward someone who is walking toward you, but he passes you. You might ask, "Why is he walking that way?", but it is the same meaning as to why you are walking your way. So your opening question can actually be asked about itself. Hence Pyrofan1's point.
So you're saying the purpose of meaning is that it's because I'm going to Wal Mart because I broke my Guitar Hero controller.
The problem is that it doesn't make sense.
I don't want to hear about your philosophy until you've five-starred at least one song on expert.
Why, does it make my philosophy mean more to you? That's it!
If you don't give meaning to something, it will have no meaning and so it will become useless to you. So, the purpose of meaning I guess is to survive.
If you gave meaning to nothing, you'd be feeling very sick, and worse; not caring that you're sick.
Hmm, I wonder why you're telling me how you interpret my posts. Is it all you can say? Is it describing yourself more than it describes me?
Clearly this is a commentary on you. I'll let you figure that one out.
Are you looking for a specific answer, Mark, or one that just makes sense? In the case of the latter, let me elaborate...
What is the purpose of anything meaning anything? So that it matters - so that it's significant. It is the basis of logic. What does a bottle opener mean? In my case, it means you can open a bottle of beer. What does opening a bottle of beer mean? It means you can, with enough bottles open, get drunk. What does getting drunk mean? It means you can get to experience the world in a perspective different from the "norm." What does that mean? It means that there is not only one way to perceive that which we all perceive on a daily basis. It highlights significance.
"Meaning" is simply the acknowledgment of why anything actually matters, either subjectively or objectively. What is the meaning of establishing movie theaters? It is so that people can go and enjoy films. What is the meaning of weaponry? It is so that one can either defend oneself, or elevate the level of one's own offense.
The word "kill" means "cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly." It shows the significance of the word "kill." It is a progression that tells how something progresses into the significance of something else.
Yes, no?
If this is a trick question, though, and you are looking for a specific answer that you already have in mind, I've got nothing.
I guess, you can saying it interpret figured want.
I however you it out, because I actually you what I am know.
No. Asking "what is the purpose of meaning" is perfectly valid question, not senseless banter.
Asking "why do CD's eat turkey before rising with the devil in the pale moonlight" is senseless banter. If you want to begin senseless banter with a question..begin it with an invalid one.
Perhaps it's not the question that's senseless, but rather, the answers.
Am I a philosopher yet?
perhaps you are a senseless philosopher?
Look, you don't understand my points, and that's fine, but there's no need for this ad hominem.
Until you clearly state a point (which does not include feigning back on "maybe I was making senseless banter that you turned into a perfectly philosophical question"), you don't have one. Try again. :wink:
I may be drunk, but I'm still paying attention. :chuckle:
What is the purpose of this question? What is the meaning of this one? What is the purpose of the meaning of purpose? What is the purpose of this post? There is no purpose in answering any of this. So what meaning does it have?
That's what I'm trying to figure out!
The meaning is everywhere. It is all around us. (duh).
Or did I hear something like that in a movie..
A TV show, perhaps.
Mark's super incredible room that is fabulous beyond awesomeness is stupid!
No. Only super, incredible, fabulous and awesome.
It makes things interesting.
you rat bag I thought long and hard about my response to your question 'What is the purpose of meaning' and it seems that your nacisistic little brain didn't take that into account oooooooooooohhh!!!!!!!!
Are you sure it wasn't your narcissistic little brain that just couldn't cope with the fact that your long and hard thinking had yielded no results of any worth?
Meaning divorced from context has no intrinsic significance - meaning cannot be invested in itself.
Only human actions have purpose. Meaning has no purpose.
The purpose of meaning is to give us purpose in our lives, because without meaning, nothing would mean anything... at least, not purposefully. Without meaning, we would be like rocks, or like trees, because they can't purposefully assign meaning to their lives, and so they're purposeless and meaningless. Purpose and meaning are really just two different sides of the same coin, abstractions derived from the human ability to see things in specific lights that are more meaningful than others.