“It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness.” Karl Marx, A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
When I enrolled in this Great Ideas course, I did not expect to confront the idea of meaning so personally. I thought that we would be going over different important concepts in the same way that a history course would approach teaching Truman’s containment policy: go over the basic principles, its origins, and how it affects the world today. Instead, Dr. Diehl confronted me on the very first day of class with the question “what gives you meaning?” The directness took me by surprise. I had barely read the syllabus before I was tasked with answering one of life’s biggest questions. I was so confused that I just wrote down the first few things that popped into my head—friends, family, and career. As the class went on, we learned to answer this question in respect to Dennis Ford’s The Search for Meaning. Ford finds meaning by looking through the perspectives of worldviews, distinct and inclusive ways of dealing with life and its purpose. Ford’s book revolutionized how I think about thinking itself. I had always approached the world from my own perspective (a very scientific and pragmatic one), and I was unable to imagine a different view. This class and Ford’s writings changed all of that. For the first time, I was constantly faced with other people’s worldviews, which were often very different than my own. The question of meaning rarely comes up in everyday conversation, so my own ideas on meaning rarely face much scrutiny. The Great Ideas classroom offers the perfect space to explore these concepts in a gauntlet of critical thinking. The influx of different worldviews caused me a bit of a personal crisis. The dichotomies and lenses that I had previously seen my existence through did not seem as satisfying as they once were. Fortunately, the shattered remains of my worldview left not a nihilistic void, but rubble with which to rebuild. I was confident that there still is a source of meaning out there, but it will require some searching.
LOOKING OUTWARD Despite Ford’s amazing research and ideas, I never really found much personal meaning in his book. My old ideas were broken down, but they were not replaced. I could definitely see the worldviews in my actions and thinking, but they never answered why I found life worth living. I seem very mythic in my strong, nationalistic patriotism, and my worldly focus on reason and practicality scream science and pragmatism. But as interesting as the worldviews were, I was always dissatisfied with them. While they explained my behavior, they never seemed to answer that pivotal question of meaning. Despite my fierce loyalty to them, science and myth and pragmatism never answered why I woke up every day and somehow found life fulfilling. And I am not alone in this belief. In my discussions with my classmates, they felt similarly towards many of Ford’s ideas. They look great on paper, but average everyday people rarely draw from metaphysics or archetypes or philosophy to get through their day. To look for the source of purpose, I looked at what I did on a daily basis. Through all that I did, I noticed only one common theme: people. Other human beings define my life, make me happy, and give my life meaning. This realization inspired me to come up with a worldview based around this concept of a collective meaning. I like to call it “sociality”. Ford always insisted that I look inward for purpose, but I find meaning by looking outward; to me, meaning is in other people. While most consider the search for meaning to be a personal quest, I see it more as a social one. Without others, life is worthless and impossible. Sociality focuses on the relationships between people to find meaning. In those around us, we uncover that which we cannot find in ourselves—friendship, love, humor, and sympathy. These relationships, from friends, colleagues, and family, crisscross to form a social safety net over the pit of meaninglessness. Without these relationships, without other people, we fall into this pit. Man is a social animal, and this cannot be ignored in the search for meaning. Traditional philosophy states that the human mind is the most basic form of being. In my own search for meaning, I radically disagree with this. In reality, the most basic human level is the “tribe”, whether that be one’s significant other, friend clique, or nation. People cannot live a complete existence on their own. We rely on each other. We learn from each other. By working together, we accomplish feats that we could not do alone, in both a practical and emotional way. Meaning comes from others, not from the self.
A SOCIAL WORLD Evidence for this worldview can be found everywhere in the world. In a most basic sense, we do not live solitary lives. Almost every single person on the planet lives in some social group or another. Whether it be in a burgeoning metropolis, some quaint European town, or an isolated tribe in the Amazon, we do not live alone. Part of this is simply practical—when we work together, we can accomplish much more than we ever could alone. It would be ridiculous for each of us to sew our own clothing, grow our own food, and build our own car. So, we specialize our labor. Some of us work in factories, others grow food, and a few teach Honors classes at universities. While we see it as getting a job and making money, it is essentially everyone doing their part to make society work and function. We all want to contribute to make it all work. But much of this desire to live together is part of our strong desire for social contact and development. We need this social contact. Those who go extended periods of time without proper socializing under horrific mental processes. For example, the worst punishment given in most prison systems is not torture or hard labor, but solitary confinement. This is partially due to ethical concerns, but the rigors of solitary can be even worse than physical pain and toil. Much of this is simple human nature: we are hardwired to work and play with others. It comes naturally to us. Even going back millions of years ago, our distant ancestors evolved in small tribes. A lonely human was a dead human. The only existence that we knew, for thousands of generations, was in organized groups. Our minds shaped to these very unique conditions. In time, we became unable to live without our fellow man. These evolutionary adaptations would eventually allow us to form civilization as we know it. In the social worldview, other forms of meaning can be seen as a method of social fulfillment. Religion is a prime example of this. While religious groups claim to find meaning in the belief of a higher power, there is definitely more to it than that. If this were the case, the same meaning could be found in individual worship. But most religious congregations are very social. Community life often revolves around church participation. Religions control social norms and expectations like morality, marriage, and coming of age ceremonies. Sociality manifests itself through the institution of religion. Schools, governments, and civic organizations follow similar patterns. They are a formalized expression of social cooperation. But what exactly do we, as individuals, gain from these convoluted social networks? Anybody can understand why we need other people in our lives. They provide critical emotional and material support of course, but they are also simply fun to be around. Joy and humor are a critical to even the most Puritanical individuals. It is reminiscent of the 2000 box office hit Cast Away. In this movie, Chuck Noland is trapped on a deserted island with nothing more than the FedEx packages that wash up on the shore. Isolated from any human contact for years, he begins to befriend a blood stained volleyball, which he affectionately names Wilson. He chats and argues with Wilson on a daily basis. When he loses his friend during his escape from the island, loneliness consumes Noland. While this may seem ridiculous, it underscores how important socialization is to the human psyche. Without regular social interaction, Noland slowly goes insane. The urge is so strong that he projects a human consciousness onto a volleyball. Even though Wilson was unable to talk back, Noland found trust, support, and empathy in a piece of sporting equipment. The social mind finds similar values in relationships with friends and family.
FOUR QUESTIONS What Do We Know?
We know that humans are naturally social beings. Human existence is centered on personal interaction and cooperation. When questioned about what makes life worthwhile, most people will think of their family and friends, or social experiences like religion. We experience these interactions every day of our lives. They can be fulfilling in a quaint, innate sense, or personal interaction can be extraordinarily impactful and deep. We are unable to live without social contact in a basic psychological sense. We live together to fulfill this need, we work together to make our lives easier, and we think together to create culture. The united global human network is the most complex and magnificent achievement of our species. We also know that this all exists within a materialistic framework. Sociality does not rely on metaphysics for its framework of meaning. However, it is a very tolerant worldview in regards to alternative explanations.
How Do We Know? We know through a combination of hard facts and subjective experience. In a scientific sense, people need one another to survive. This is true not only in a survival and reproductive sense, but in a psychological one as well. Proper socialization is critical to mental wellbeing. Children who are deprived of this often suffer from severe mental disorders and cannot mesh with society. In addition, social bonds form the very basis of civilization. While humanity is no stranger to conflict, cooperation has always won over in the long run. The relative peace and prosperity of the world today is a testament to that. But at the foundation of humanity is relationships between individuals. And, at least from the experiences of myself and those around me, these relationships make us happy. They satisfy that social need in an unconscious, personal way.
What Does Sociality Emphasize and What Does It Neglect? Sociality emphasizes commonality and relationships. The social mind tends to look past the differences between people to find common ground and friendship. They see the common bond that unites human beings. The social mind is not necessarily friends with everyone that they meet, but the relationships that they do possess are treasured. Social contact is seen as the most important aspect of the human condition. This attitude is very prevalent in university life, where excited youngsters from all walks of life come together to learn and grow. However, the social worldview is not without its faults. It quickly dismisses individualism in favor of its collectivist spirit. Ultimately, the human mind is a self-contained organism with its own thoughts and feelings. Moreover, sociality does not account for social introversion. While we need social contact, we also need to be alone sometimes. In fact, many people find social contact to be physically and mentally draining. Sociality and Meaning Sociality satisfies the question of meaning in a natural, authentic way. We do not need to think deeply about friendships to extract their intrinsic value. People simply enjoy being around other people. Strangers will talk to each other even without the expectation of further social contact. Relationships provide us with happiness, trust, sympathy, and other valuable social values which often have no other source. In contrast with other worldviews, broadens its search for meaning beyond the self. This is an unorthodox way of looking at the search for meaning, but it fills a niche. Meaning is not found in a vacuum, but in a complex sphere of circumstance. We are all greatly influenced by those around us, especially when it comes to our worldly purpose. Why would we not take others into consideration in the quest for meaning?
Sources Cast Away. Dir. Robert Zemickis. Perf. Tom Hanks. 20th Century Fox, 2000. Film. Ford, Dennis. The Search for Meaning: A Short History. Berkeley: University of California, 2007. Print.