Bell, Jacob (2024) A Phenomenological Analysis of Meaningful Existence. Masters thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David.
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Abstract
Although meaning in life has been investigated widely through disciplines including philosophy and psychology, it has not been rigorously pursued phenomenologically. In taking a phenomenological approach, my thesis is an attempt to illuminate the experiential character of meaning in life. To engage in such an inquiry, I situate my analysis within Martin Heidegger’s existential framework, and I establish a basic concept of meaning in life through the work of Viktor Frankl. I follow Frankl in emphasizing the uniqueness of meaning in the lives of unique individuals. This uniqueness implies that meaning in life is a diverse and pluralistic phenomenon. If meaning is diverse such that what one experiences as meaningful varies from one individual to another, in virtue of what shared characteristics are those distinctive experiences each an instance of meaning in life? The answer to this question, I suggest, lies in the existential structures of meaningful experience. To illuminate the structures of meaningful experience, I oscillate between descriptive and hermeneutic phenomenology. The former enables me to bring particular experiences of meaning into view, and the latter enables me to investigate the existential structures of those particular experiences. My analysis focuses on passion and love as two modes of meaningful experience. After describing particular instances of the meaning in life that is experienced through passion and love, I proceed to an existential analysis of those experiences, attempting to illuminate their structures. In my structural analysis, I set out to articulate the existential constitution of meaning in life. This existential constitution, I suggest, brings unity to the pluralistic nature of meaning in life. I refer to this unifying structure as existential meaning, and I argue that this structure is shared across the broad range of experiences of meaning in life.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology |
| Divisions: | Theses and Dissertations > Masters Dissertations |
| Depositing User: | Jacob Bell |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Jul 2024 15:42 |
| Last Modified: | 10 Jul 2024 08:10 |
| URI: | https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/3000 |
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