While
the general public tends to regard the subject of meaning as one of
the major questions to be answered by philosophy, it is gradually
disappearing from contemporary philosophical discourses. It is
thought impossible to make an objective distinction between what is a
meaningful life and what is not, and any attempts to do so are seen
as restricted to the sphere of personal and non-substantial reasoning
– an area better avoided by philosophers proper. Contrary to common
conviction, I believe that fundamental and well-delineated research
into meaning
is very much possible. Research focuses on describing and analysing a
number of overall mechanisms and structures of meaning.
My
main point of departure is the difference between more and less
meaningful. ‘More’ and ‘less’ are often associated with
‘better’ and ‘less good’ in this context, so that they risk
being placed in the moral realm of norms and rules. This is not how I
intend to approach the subject. Yet, on a deeper level,
meaningfulness and ethics are interrelated. The ‘origins’ of
meaningfulness seem intrinsically linked to the ‘origins as
in-between’ of ethics (the study of which we have called
hermeneutical
ethics),
and both are closely related to self-understanding. Hence
meaningfulness cannot be understood without reference to both
hermeneutical ethics and self-understanding.
Our
research produces results with social as well as merely theoretical
relevance. It can shed light on certain thus far neglected aspects of
meaning in life and help avoid making mistakes that are not just
theoretically significant but that may also affect individual and
collective behaviour. The main field of application is environmental
ethics.
FWO
2002-2006:
A cultural-anthropological study to the relationship between
‘linkedness’ and ‘individual freedom’ in two development
cooperation projects of Aymara- and Quechua communities (with
Diederik Aerts being the administrative promoter).
GOA
–VUB:
2008-2012: Meeting the Challenges of Late Modernity through a
Broadened Conception of Western Self-understanding (with Diederik
Aerts being the administrative promoter):
FWO:
2008-2011:
A possible typification of the alterglobalisation movement based on
Charles Taylor’s renewed understanding of modern identity (with
Diederik Aerts being the administrative promoter)
FWO-Post-doc:
2009-2012:
An analysis of meaningfulness
Co-promotor
of phd-students 2008-2011
Karen
de Looze
Pieter
Meurs
Teaching
:
Assistant
of cours: (in Dutch)Wereldbeelden en Zin; Master in
Agogiek, VUB
