The above is a quote from a Neo-Calvinist Dutch philosopher I had never heard of until today - Herman Dooyeweerd. Is anyone here familiar with his Cosmonomic philosophy, the philosophy that posits the pre-theoretical attitude of thought (Divine or Religious Meaning) as a starting point from which to begin to understand what makes theoretical thought possible? I typed his name in the search box in the forum and nothing came up.Meaning is the being of all that is created, and even of our selfhood and the nature even of our selfhood. It has a religious root and a divine origin.
Dooyeweerd posits that Meaningfulness originates in the Creator rather than as as afterthought of human subjectivity meaning that things are meaning rather than have meaning. According to Dooyeweerd, meaningfulness and law are the ground for existence, process, ethics and rationality. Dooyeweerd breaks God's Meaningfulness into fifteen different aspects, aspects that include all forms of life, from plant to thinking man. From Wikipedia:
Aspects (ways of being, functioning, etc.)
Quantitative aspect: amount
Spatial aspect: continuous extension
Kinematic aspect: flowing movement
Physical aspect: energy, matter
Biotic/Organic aspect: life functions, self-maintenance
Sensitive/Psychic aspect: feeling and response
Analytical aspect: distinction, conceptualization
Formative aspect: formative power, achievement, technology, technique
Lingual aspect: symbolic communication
Social aspect: social interaction
Economic aspect: frugal use of resources
Aesthetic aspect: harmony, surprise, fun
Juridical aspect: due (rights, responsibility)
Ethical aspect: self-giving love
Pistic aspect: faith, vision, commitment, belief
Dooyeweerd's understanding of God as ultimate Meaning-Maker is, I believe, a wonderful anecdote for today's nihilistic times.