Being engaged in some way for the good of the community, whatever that community, is a factor in a meaningful life. We long to belong, and belonging and caring anchors our sense of place in the universe.
Patricia ChurchlandRemember, in the heyday of vitalism, people said that when all the data are in about cells and how they work, we will still know nothing about the life force - about the basic difference between being alive and not being alive.
Patricia ChurchlandWhen that theory is isolated from known facts, it is likely not to be productive.
Patricia ChurchlandWhen philosophers try to understand consciousness, much of what they claim is not conceptual analysis at all, though it may be shopped under that description.
Patricia Churchland