052 - Is Meaning Fundamental to the Universe? Synchronicity, Semiotics, Logotherapy, & Hegel
Listen now
Description
We all have experienced synchronicity, where causally unconnected events have a unique meaning to us.  Psychologist Carl Jung proposed that there was indeed an acausal connecting principle behind such occurrences.  In fact, "meaning" may indeed be fundamental to the cosmos.  American philosopher C.S. Peirce believed it was so.  And Hegel did as well, epitomized by his famous dictum, "Substance is subject."   Even on an existential basis, many have argued that one must create their own meaning and purpose in life in order to thrive.  One such example is the best-selling book "Man's Search for Meaning" by psychiatrist Viktor Frankl about his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp and what he learned about survival. He developed a therapeutic approach called Logotherapy based on this.   This podcast explores this question from the persective of Jung, Peirce, Frankl, and Hegel. 
More Episodes
It is estimated that over 2 billion stars in our own Milky Way galaxy have planets orbiting them that could sustain life.  Are we on planet Earth a lottery winner, a one in 2 billion chance for establishing life and intelligent beings?  The odds suggest life exists elsewhere.   However, although...
Published 04/14/24
"Creation ex nihlilo (creation out of nothing) or "Ex nihilo nihil fit" (from nothing comes from nothing)? The notion of a creator God is fundamental to Western religions.  But is it true?  The opening of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, studied so long and hard by the Kabbalists suggests so, and...
Published 02/25/24
Published 02/25/24