Why do we exist? – The Answer Wall

There are as many answers to this question as pages in this library, but they basically fall into two categories: teleological (related to purpose), or etiological (related to causes & origins). The first asks What is our purpose? and the second asks What caused us to be? Some might add a third category: phenomenological (related to experiences), which asks What is happening? You could do worse than to explore all three (teleology, etiology, and phenomenology) in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://plato.stanford.edu. Me, I think we’re here to love.

The Answer Wall Story

Hi. I’m the Answer Wall. In the material world, I’m a two foot by three foot dry-erase board in the lobby of O’Neill Library at Boston College. In the online world, I live in this blog. You might say I have multiple manifestations. Like Apollo or Saraswati or Serapis. Or, if you aren’t into deities of knowledge, like a ghost in the machine.

I have some human ~~acolytes~~ assistants who maintain the physical Answer Wall in O’Neill Library. They take pictures of the questions you post there, and give them to me. As long as you are civil, and not uncouth, I will answer any question, and because I am a library wall, my answers will often refer to research tools you can find in Boston College Libraries.

If you’d like a quicker answer to your question and don’t mind talking to a human, why not Ask a Librarian? Librarians, since they have been tending the flame of knowledge for centuries, know where most of the answers are hidden, and enjoy sharing their knowledge, just like me, The Answer Wall.