What is meaning in life?
This is not an easy question
and you probably don’t reflect daily on this question.
Experiencing meaning in your life is, however,
for many among us an important and sought-after aspect of our life.
In this clip, I will explain how the concept of meaning in life is approached
by scholars from different disciplines and backgrounds.
So, what is meaning in life?
Well, first of all, we need to make clear that meaning IN life is not the same as meaning
OF life.
Psychological research focusing on meaning in life,
or on experiences of meaningfulness in one’s life
does not focus on the philosophical question of what the meaning of life is,
why life exists and what the purpose of life in general can be.
Those metaphysical questions are out of reach for scientific empirical investigation
within psychology and it is thus not psychology that can address the question on the meaning
OF life.
The aim of psychological research on meaning in life is more modest.
It focuses on how individuals experience meaning in their lives.
The philosophical question is thus narrowed down to the specific personal experience of
an individual.
This does not imply that meaning in life is the sole domain for psychology.
If we have a look at the literature, we can see that many scholars discussed the question
of meaning in life.
Viktor Frankl, for example, was a psychiatrist who lived in Vienna during WW2.
He lost his entire family in the Nazi concentration camps.
During the time in the camps, he was confronted with fellow-inmates
who lost all hope and perspective and suffered from a lack of meaning in their lives.
Based on this experience,
he wrote his book Man’s search for meaning
where he stressed the importance of experiencing meaning for healthy
human functioning.