Whatt is the purpose of meaning?

Question

a philosophical question. i just want to know some insights about your answers. thanks.

Answer 1

I've heard Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory cannot answer that question. But, that question was a kind of joke to exaggerate the intelligence of Dexter, that with super genius mind could not answer such an easy question, but he can answer everything except for that question. I am assuming you got that question from that cartoon. Well, anyway, a simple answer is: The purpose of meaning is to know the definition of a word.
BUT... If you take a closer analysis to the purpose of meaning, you'd find out that there is really no purpose of it. BECAUSE, if I am not wrong, meaning came out first before there was purpose. It's because, meaning is definition, AND, it is the beginning of understanding any word's meaning. If you try to find the purpose of something that existed before we knew what "purpose" means... isn't it hard to think about its logic? Because, you need to define purpose first before understanding a "purpose" of something... right? Please try to understand first my philosophy before you'd like to react with it. You may mislead into a conclusion that it is an incorrect assumption.

Answer 2

The purpose of meaning is so you can understand what's going on and run your life intelligently. If you come up to a stop sign at a busy intersection and you don't know what it means, you'll end up in the morgue. C.K. Ogden and I. A Richards wrote an interesting books entitled, THE MEANING OF MEANING. You see a sign but you don't understand the symbol on it - What does it mean? Or the Indians could tell that it was going to rain when the clouds looked like the skeleton of a fish (fish-ribbed). If a girl looks at you and has a knowing smile on her face, you'd better be bright enough to figure out what it means or you might find yourself in a lot of trouble. The purpose of being able to know what something means is to be able to be more intelligent. "What cannot be understood cannot be managed intelligently."/John Dewey

Answer 3

The purpose of meaning is to enhance the development of understanding. We may use the same language and the same words but we do not always reach a shared meaning.

Michael Fullan described it best in his scholarly work, "The Meaning of Educational Change", but his concept of shared meaning is applicable to any jargon laden endeavour.

Answer 4

Hi, Insignia,
The word “meaning” is an abstraction... So is the word "purpose"... When we deal with abstractions, we get away from the reality of our experience... We get lost in words...
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When you complain that something "lacks meaning"… this abstract expression seems to imply that there’s a way to add meaning, the way you could add a pinch of salt to a dish that lacks salt.... So you keep looking for ways to add meaning... And, of course, it doesn’t work that way....
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My definition of the purpose driven life is : "you're vibrantly aware of what you want out of life, and you go for it"...
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In other words : finding meaning, and discovering your life purpose, are consequences of being in touch with your emotional core.... Which is another way of saying : experiencing your life through your emotional intelligence, not just your intellect...
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Thanks, for the question!;)

My regards!

Answer 5

For a lot of people, having meaning gives them the strength to accomplish things or just to go about their day to day life. Believing that there is meaning in life offers you a sense of stability that you come to rely on. It has a lot to do with "happiness" and "wellness" to a lot.

Finding meaning in things offers a possibility that there are things that should matter and that there are reasons behind having such things. This gives us purpose in our life and helps us to believe that we are headed in the right direction. Living life without meaning kind of leaves you feeling alone and worthless.

Answer 6

One of the many things in this world that cannot be defined unless utilizing some complicate theory (ex: the meaning of life)

The purpose of meaning:
meaning is the "essence" of an object, place, person, term, action, thing, group, ideoligy, etc...
if a term is to have no essence that would render that term useless.

As a retorical question it means "I dont know"

mr.T: what the hell did you get that tatoo!?!?
Billie:Whats the purpose of meaning?
*mr.T slaps Billie*
mr.T: I pittie the fool who mocks mr.T

Answer 7

The purpose of meaning is to unite in a structure.

Answer 8

the purpose of knowing the meaning if something is to understand it better & to be able to go little more deeper into that perticular. matter sorry i don't consider this as a philosophical question.

Answer 9

The purpose of meaning , is the purpose of life.
Life is a gift given to us by God to have a chance to experience all things in life. To taste, to feel, to smell, to touch, to love, and cry, and hurt in pain even. Without the meaning of living these things daily they would only be empty words.
Unknown to our senses and our emotions.
Before life, we are forever in a state of non-existence. We feel nothing, hear nothing, see nothing, know nothing. We are in nothingness.
So whether you are happy or sad, suffering or celebrating, try to see life as the wonderful experience that it is!

Answer 10

The purpose of meaning is the converse of the meaning of purpose.