The meaning of life. Five lessons from the study of meaning in language

What is the meaning of life? This is a question that we all eventually ask ourselves, at least at some point in our lives.

As a linguist, I know a few things about meaning in language. And I like to bridge the gap between this abstract knowledge and its practical (and even spiritual) application — it makes academic pursuits much more real (and worthwhile). So let’s see whether we can use what we know about meaning in language to help answer the question about the meaning of life.

In language, meaning is studied by exploring the relation between form and meaning.

You take a sentence (I love my dog) and you ask yourself, How does this word or this sentence mean what it means?

To know the meaning of a sentence you have to know its truth-conditions.

You don’t have to know whether the sentence I love my dog is true to understand it. All you have to know is what the world would have to look like for this sentence to be true. [This insight is due to Tarski]

The meaning of a sentence is composed from its constituent expressions and the way they are combined.

The sentence I love my dog means what it means because of the words used in this sentence (I, love, my, dog) and the way these words are combined. So if you change a word, you change the meaning. So the sentence, I lost my dog means something very different, though I only changed 1 word. And the sentence My dog loves me also means something different, though I only changed the way I combined the words. [This insight is attributed to Frege]

In language, meaning is not just encoded in the form, but it can be enriched with contextual information.

Just think about the meaning of I and you. What these pronousn mean, depends on who is talking to who. And the meaning of here and there depends on where you are talking. And the meaning of now and yesterday depends on when you are talking. well you get the point. [This insight has been brought to the fore by Kaplan]

And finally,

Truth-conditions do not always rely on the actual world, but can depend on possible worlds.

We can talk about what could be the case if we were not constrained by the logic of our world. And so we can talk about flying pigs or a peaceful, inclusive world. No matter how unrealistic this seems given the actual world. [Possible world semantics can be traced back to Carnap]

But does this apply to life at all? Let’s treat life as the form. What is its meaning? And how is life associated with meaning, whatever it is?

First, does life have truth conditions? And what would it mean to know the truth conditions of one’s life?

Suppose we use our intuitive mind, — the one in our gut — to know the truth conditions of our life. Yes, the gut has been argued to be our second brain. It alarms us when something is off. Maybe our gut alarms us if we are not living our truth.

Lesson 1: Live your truth (and trust your gut!)

Next, consider compositionality. Is the meaning of life compositional? If life is the complex expression, what would its constituent expressions be? And the rules that combine it?

Suppose that the constituent expressions are our experiences in life. Clearly, experiences make up our lives. But this means that for life to have meaning, it has to be lived. And living your life means that there will be change. So maybe change is the meaning of life, it is, after all, its only constant.

Lesson 2: Live and embrace change. It gives life meaning.

But now, back to compositionality. Are there rules that combine our experiences? Is there a logic behind the way our experiences are strung together?

Your answer might depend on your belief system and your philosophy of life. But maybe you believe — like I do — that these rules are determined by your very own spirit. Whatever it is that drives us is what appears to connect our experiences. Or maybe, it even causes them. Maybe it is your spirit that is responsible for the story of your life.

Lesson 3: Find your spirit and let it compose your life.

Next, we turn to the role of context in the meaning of life. Well, imagine your life in isolation: no context, no people, no shared experiences. Would your life still have meaning?

Lesson 4: For life to be meaningful, let the world inspire you!

But then, we also saw that meaning in language is not confined by the actual world. So applied to the meaning of life, the lesson is clear:

Lesson 5: Don’t let your world confine you. It might get in the way of fulfilling your dreams.