These questions are at the heart of where I ended up when I thought about
the "meaning of Mendel's life" question last December...
I was puzzled by the fact that Mendel's life seemed more meaningful because
he is widely remembered more than 100 years after his death, yet he died
anonymously with no expectation of memetic immortality.
It was the realization that there is no intrinsic meaning that resolved it
for me -- that meaning is a relationship of the form:
The meaning of ______ to _______.
So, the phrase "the meaning of Mendel's life" is incomplete and thus
subject to ambiguity.
"The meaning of Mendel's life to Mendel" is a closed book after Mendel's
death since he is no longer a receiver of meaning. Nothing that happens
afterward can have any influence on this.
However, "Mendel's life" can still be (and is) transmitting meaning. For
example "the meaning of Mendel's life to future generations" is still an
open question and will fluctuate with time.
So, David's questions above translated in my mind into the question: What
kinds of things can be receivers of meaning?
(For example, is "future generations" a true receiver of meaning, or is it
just a sloppy way of saying "the sum total of the meaning to all
individuals making up future generations"?)
Deron
btw, I read Robin's post immediately after I posted the "puzzle" and saw
that he had already solved it ... he wrote 'And that's the point: all
meaning is "to someone", i.e. is subjective.'