PHIL 180 Lecture 17: Edwards on Meaning of questions
Document Summary
In paul edwards" 1967 article entitled why, edwards discusses whether or not the question of the meaning of life is itself meaningful. Regarding the first issue, some thinkers insist on the contrast between how and why for religious or metaphysical reasons maintaining that science answers how questions but only religion or metaphysics answers why questions. Other writers like hume who are hostile to metaphysics, maintain that neither science, religion, nor metaphysics can answer why questions. In response edwards makes a number of points. First, how and why questions are sometimes of the same type, as in cases where a causes b but we are ignorant of the mechanism by which it does this. In such cases it would be roughly equivalent to ask, why or how a particular drug works, or why or how some people who smoke get lung cancer but others do not. In these instances, science adequately deals with both why and how.
