ABSTRACT
Summary
In this chapter we discuss the concept of ‘meaning’. Technology is a part of culture. By culture we understand everything brought about by human activity. In this technology plays an important part. For many things made by human beings are created with the aid of technical means. Acting is concerned with meaning: in their activity people unlock the meaning of what they encounter. In this chapter a distinction is made between ‘meaning’ as a concept referring to the relationships in everyday experience on the one hand and ‘meaning’ as a metaphysical or world-viewish concept that refers to the foundation of being or the essence of life. Eventually the conclusion emerges that both concepts are mutually connected. Human activity is subject to the directional or regulatory guidance of worldviewish ideas about reality.
We begin this chapter with the introduction of the concept ‘meaning’. Subsequently we proceed with a closer analysis of this concept and illustrate that there are two sides to it. On the one hand ‘meaning’ is a given: human beings interpret the ‘meaning’ of things. On the other hand ‘meaning’ has to be unlocked by human activity. Thus both passivity and activity come into play. On this basis we describe how the terms ‘meaning’, ‘activity’, ‘culture’, ‘history’ and ‘technology’ are mutually connected. This chapter concludes with a view on the ‘metaphysical’ or ‘worldviewish’ concept of meaning.
