The search for meaning : a short history

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Title:

The search for meaning : a short history

Author:

Ford, Dennis, 1947-

ISBN:

9780520253001

9780520257931

Personal Author:

Ford, Dennis, 1947-

Publication Information:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2007.

Physical Description:

xxii, 290 p. ; 22 cm.

General Note:

Formerly CIP.

Contents:

Introduction -- Part I: Classical sources of meaning -- Myth and meaning -- Philosophy and meaning -- Science and meaning -- Postmodernism and meaning -- Part II: Contemporary sources of meaning -- Pragmatism and meaning -- Archetypal psychology and meaning -- Metaphysics and meaning -- Naturalism and meaning -- Conclusion -- Appendix: How meaning affects our sense of right and wrong.

Abstract:

"In The Search for Meaning: A Short History Ford explores eight approaches human beings have pursued over time to invest life with meaning and to infuse order into a seemingly chaotic universe. These include myth, philosophy, science, postmodernism, pragmatism, archetypal psychology, metaphysics, and naturalism. Ford distills these systems to their bare essentials, answering such questions as, What difference does it make to see the world from a religious point of view or from the perspective of a naturalist? How does a scientific worldview compare with a philosophical one? Ranging widely over intellectual history, Ford investigates the contributions of the Greeks, Kant, and William James, among others, and brings the discussion up to date with contemporary thinkers such as Huston Smith, James Hillman, and Joseph Campbell.

The Search for Meaning is an invaluable tool for understanding both the ways people acquire a sense of meaning and the root causes of intractable ethical, political, and cultural conflicts."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject Term:

Meaning (Philosophy)

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168025433919	140 F699S 2007	1	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

In The Search for Meaning: A Short History, Dennis Ford explores eight approaches human beings have pursued over time to invest life with meaning and to infuse order into a seemingly chaotic universe. These include myth, philosophy, science, postmodernism, pragmatism, archetypal psychology, metaphysics, and naturalism. In engaging, companionable prose, Ford boils down these systems to their bare essentials, showing the difference between viewing the world from a religious point of view and that of a naturalist, and comparing a scientific worldview to a philosophical one. Ford investigates the contributions of the Greeks, Kant, and William James, and brings the discussion up to date with contemporary thinkers. He proffers the refreshing idea that in today's world, the answers provided by traditional religions to increasingly difficult questions have lost their currency for many and that the reductive or rationalist answers provided by science and postmodernism are themselves rife with unexamined assumptions.