06 January 2008

HUMANS: MEANING MAKERS

Quite subtly, humans, when they think about it, can imagine possible futures that might have occurred, if certain events, including decisions, had or had not taken place. Apropos of this, I propose that we recast humans as, not Homo sapiens, humans the wise, but as Homo habilis sententia, humans the meaning makers. Humans attribute meaning to past events; they interpret the present; and they give meaning to potential futures. Meaning making is perhaps what distinguishes humans from all other creatures.

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