Participating in the Meaning of Life, a Contributor’s Critique

Abstract

The aim of this contribution is to critically examine the metaphysical presuppositions that prevail in (Stewart in Found Sci 15(4): 395-409, 2010a) answer to the question "are we in the midst of a developmental process?" as expressed in his statement "that humanity has discovered the trajectory of past evolution and can see how it is likely to continue in the future". What and that humans doHumans select certain elements out of the local dynamics they are confronted with and translate them in records. These selections are part of objectification processes and have a sequential nature. This means that though a selected element can be 'recorded', this does not imply that the record itself has an absolute, 'objective' status. Also, to repeat a particular selection only implies that the objectification procedure is repeated, not that the record will be exactly the same. Of course, some records will be inscribed in a system that, for reasons of visibility and communication, will require some level of stability. When rendered visible and communicable in a system, records can be operationalized. This is what humans do.What humanity does-and this can be extrapolated from Stewart (2010a) argument-is relate to a global system in which the operationalization of records aims at capturing the organization of the global system. This requires the cooperation effort of all humans. Moreover it requires an effort founded on competition-driven selection situated at larger developmental scales. In the end however, competition will be obsolete. It is the moment at which the global society will emerge. This moment has however yet to come.Vidal (