The number 42 is famously known as “the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything” in Douglas Adams’ science fiction series, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. A supercomputer named Deep Thought computed this answer after 7.5 million years, though the question itself was never known, rendering the answer meaningless until the question was discovered. The number 42 has become a widely recognized cultural reference, symbolizing a search for meaning and has also been found in various mathematical and scientific contexts. BUT I SAY THE ANSWER IS “12”…

First rule of hermeneutics, philosophers interpret text from their opinion of their forebears;
Second rule of hermeneutics, history is written in the prejudice of the present;
- Jesus. Life as Poverty
- Hobbes. Life as Brutish and Nasty
- Descartes. Life as Reduced Self
- Hume. Life as Habit
- Rousseau. Life as Wonderful Natural
- Kant. Life as Intellectually Constructed
- Hegel. Life as Worldview (comprehensive)
- J.S. Mill. Life as Emerging Liberty
- Nietzsche. Life as Beyond Moralism
- Ferdinand Tönnies. Life as Gemeinschaft (connected)
- Heidegger. Life as Being
- Arendt. Life as vita contemplativa (praxis as the highest level of the vita activa)
Neville Buch
Latest posts by Neville Buch (see all)
- The “Why Tech Makes Us Fear Forgetting” audio commentary and Comparative Analysis of Memory, Trauma, and Cultural Ideology in Unforgettable (2017), Unforgettable (US TV), and Unforgotten (UK TV): – October 27, 2026
- Marketing Killed the Message: Reclaiming Relational Dignity in an Age of Transactional Utility – October 27, 2026
- The Road to Home. A Re-Narrativization of The Story of Resilience Part 7 – October 26, 2026

