On a trivial level, the meaning of the word meaning is just “that which one intends to convey by language”, the meaning of something is it’s definition, it’s essence.
But we don’t take the question to mean something trivial, such as “what is the definition of life?”
So the deepness comes from connotation, for meaning is something that implies purposeful intent. So really it is the question of a creator in disguise.
Or we take the connotation of purpose to imply we are the agent both conveying and interpreting meaning, and it is thus us who are the source.
Either way, it all ends up being equivalent to asking what we are striving towards at large, the goal of humanity, or perhaps the target of evolution—that which we wish to see the world become.
What is perhaps most interesting is that as humans advance in knowledge or wisdom, there seems to a universal tendency to seek more complex meaning, more universal or non-personal goals. We seek out and work towards higher purpose—goals larger than what evolution appears to have optimized us for (our genes).
On a trivial level, the meaning of the word meaning is just “that which one intends to convey by language”, the meaning of something is it’s definition, it’s essence.
But we don’t take the question to mean something trivial, such as “what is the definition of life?”
So the deepness comes from connotation, for meaning is something that implies purposeful intent. So really it is the question of a creator in disguise.
Or we take the connotation of purpose to imply we are the agent both conveying and interpreting meaning, and it is thus us who are the source.
Either way, it all ends up being equivalent to asking what we are striving towards at large, the goal of humanity, or perhaps the target of evolution—that which we wish to see the world become.
What is perhaps most interesting is that as humans advance in knowledge or wisdom, there seems to a universal tendency to seek more complex meaning, more universal or non-personal goals. We seek out and work towards higher purpose—goals larger than what evolution appears to have optimized us for (our genes).