Why We Matter (The Science Behind What Makes Life Meaningful)

A compelling examination of our relationship with scientific truth, dogma, and the human need to make meaning in our lives, from an expert in the field

Thanks to rigorous work in the fields of psychology and philosophy, Dr. Jess Tracy presents an argument against the standard materialist belief that our lives cannot be meaningful. The science we’ve been taught dictates that we live in a universe shaped by random chance and natural selection, that life has no intrinsic value. But humans need to have a sense of existential meaning in order to find life worth living. We yearn for a sense that our lives are significant—and if we’re forced to live a meaningless life, we’re very very unhappy.

But what if this nihilistic view comes not from science—that immense body of empirical data that has been amassed through the scientific method—but from scientism, the dogma that have been built up over the past several centuries around the knowledge and methods that comprise scientific pursuits? Most scientists today accept that there is no why to our existence, but in fact, this doesn’t align with any provable scientific assumption at all.

In place of this standard scientism, Dr. Tracy argues for a systems approach to understanding our meaningfulness within the larger world. From this perspective, we understand physical things as only part of reality. In order to understand more, we need to understand the relationships between things—the patterns in the world. It’s a complex concept, but Dr. Tracy unpacks it with clarity and warmth, inviting even the most suspicious scientists to consider the evidence.

Understanding systems theory has been described as the cognitive skill of the 21st century, rivaling the invention of writing in early 3100 BC. With Why We Matter, Dr. Tracy offers an invaluable primer to a general audience.