PHIL 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Getgo, Tao Te Ching, Laozi
Document Summary
Gordon"s conclusion to his article is an answer to what renders reality meaningful: ranganathan: ok. But that"s really odd, because meaning of life is at least linguistically, and perhaps conceptually, distinct from meaning of reality. Gordon"s conclusion: life is meaningful only if it is (a) beautiful and (b) this beauty is not accidental, but the intention of a creator. If (b) fails, then the world might be beautiful, but accidentally beautiful. If it is accidentally beautiful, then it is not meaningfully beautiful: the magic premise in this argument: that what is meaningful or purposive must be a function of a conscious decision of an agent. In which case they are unintelligible, though perhaps pretty. The product of random forces may indeed be beautiful, but a beautiful accident is no more meaningful than is a hideous one. A beautiful and accidental world could not satisfy the demand for intelligibility. (gordon, p. 245)
