Existential Meaning Research Articles

Meaningful choice: Existential consumer theory

It is controversial whether consumption can constitute genuine, existential meaning for the individual. Building on philosophical explorations of subjective meaning, this study suggests a dynamic relationship between existential and teleological consumption. On the one hand, consumers demonstrate deep-level engagement with entities in the marketing eco-system (such as brand narratives and certain service encounters) to explore their own potentiality and develop an authentic vision of the good life. This is existential consumption. On the other, consumers adopt teleological modes of consumption where products and services are used more instrumentally to enact their vision of the good life. It is proposed that consumer choice is existentially meaningful insofar as it is conducive to the development or realisation of the individual vision of the good life. The theory and its implications are discussed in the context of recent deterministic and pessimistic/nihilistic challenges to marketing theory.

Disease-preventive behaviors and subjective well-being in the COVID-19 pandemic

BackgroundSafety precautions and activity restrictions were common in the early, pre-vaccine phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. We hypothesized that higher levels of participation in potentially risky social and other activities would be associated with greater life satisfaction and perceived meaning in life. At the same time, prosocial COVID-preventive activities such as mask wearing should enhance life satisfaction.MethodWe assessed the impact of COVID-preventive behaviors on psychological well-being in October 2020. A nationally representative sample of U.S. adults (n = 831) completed a demographic questionnaire, a COVID-related behaviors questionnaire, a Cantril’s Ladder item, and the Multidimensional Existential Meaning Scale. Two hierarchical linear models were used to examine the potential impact of COVID-preventive behaviors on life satisfaction and meaning in life while accounting for the influence of demographic factors.ResultsThe study revealed significant positive relationships between COVID-preventive behaviors and subjective well-being. Wearing a mask was significantly associated with higher life satisfaction, while maintaining social distancing of six feet and avoiding large groups were significantly associated with higher perceived meaning in life. Social activities including dining at restaurants and visiting friends and family were also significantly associated with higher life satisfaction and meaning in life, respectively.ConclusionThe study’s findings support the conclusion that disease prevention measures such as social distancing and mask wearing do not reduce, and may enhance, subjective well-being during a pandemic. Utilizing the unique context of the COVID-19 pandemic to examine relationships between behavior and subjective well-being, the study also indicates that shallow or medium-depth social activities are likely to be more central to life satisfaction, whereas narrower, deeper social interactions with friends and family are more important to perceived meaning in life.

Организационная психология в условиях специальной военной операции и после: задачи прежние, контексты и акценты новые

Introduction. The problem of the peculiarities of the work of organizational psychologists in the conditions of a special military operation (SMO) and after its completion is raised. The similarity of the existential meanings of the Great Patriotic War and the SMO and the differences in the socio-psychological processes that accompany them are revealed. Theoretical analysis. It is argued that while maintaining traditional tasks, but changing the conditions for their solution, the content of the activities of organizational psychologists undergoes transformations that can become even more pronounced after the end of the SMO. New socio-psychological contexts lead to different emphases in the work of organizational psychologists. In particular, on the basis of analysis of the tasks of organizational psychology and current practical experience, new emphasis has been identified in such areas of work of psychologists in organizations as the preservation of organizational culture and the cohesion of work teams, the psychological support of workers, the formation of their psychological readiness for constructive interaction with participants in the SMO after their return to civilian life, advising the latter on their requests. Conclusion. As a result of the analysis, a position was formulated on the need to pay increased attention to the training of organizational psychologists to work in new conditions, to solve the problem of quantitative and qualitative support for this training.

Existential meaning, spiritual unconscious and spirituality in Viktor Frankl.

There is robust evidence to support the relationship between spirituality and mental health, but the mechanisms of this association are not well-understood. The existential meaning provided by spirituality may be one of these mechanisms. This was the central theme of Viktor Frankl's psychology, which he explained using the notion of the spiritual unconscious. Thus, we sought to explain how Frankl understands this spiritual unconscious and the two pieces of evidence he presents for its existence: the phenomenological description of responsible action and the analysis of dreams. Lastly, we discuss his contribution to the current understanding of the relationship between having an overarching purpose and/or religious meaning and improvement in mental health.

Lifeworld hermeneutics: An approach and a method for research on existential issues in caring science.

The aim of the present article was to elaborate on a research approach and method called 'lifeworld hermeneutics'. Significant to lifeworld hermeneutics is that interpretation is the main methodological instrument for explaining and understanding existential research questions and lived experiences. From a caring science perspective, this often refers to research that aims to gain a deeper understanding of existential phenomena and issues, such as existential meaning of health, well-being, homelessness, lostness, suffering and ageing, as well as what it means to experience unhealthiness and illness, the need for care, and caring that responds to such needs. Theoretical paper. The article briefly covers ontology and epistemology that clarifies the meaning and importance of a lifeworld hermeneutic attitude. This is followed by suggestions for how to perform a lifeworld hermeneutic study, expressed in relation to methodological principles for the interpretation, validation and structuring of interpretations. Thereafter, follow reflections on how to use theoretical or philosophical support to develop and deepen existential interpretations. The findings of lifeworld hermeneutic research consist of existential interpretations where the researcher, with an open and pliable attitude towards the phenomenon and the aim of the study, clarifies, explains and suggests new ways of understanding participants' lived experiences; the researcher should maintain such an attitude towards their understanding of the phenomenon as well. The lifeworld hermeneutical approach and method described in this article makes it possible to further deepen the understanding and knowledge about existential issues that is relevant for caring and caring science.

Polish version of the Aesthetic Experience Questionnaire: validation and psychometric characteristics.

The purpose of the article is to present the results of works on the Polish version of the Aesthetic Experience Questionnaire (AEQ). The AEQ is a 22-item tool for assessing aesthetic experience in the following dimensions: emotional, cultural, perceptual, understanding, and two dimensions about flow (proximal conditions and flow experience). In the course of works on the Polish version of the AEQ, 3 independent studies with the participation of more than 800 people were carried out. In addition to the AEQ measurement, the tools included: the Emotion Regulation Strategies for Artistic Creative Activities Scale, the Brief Music in Mood Regulation, the Aesthetic Competence Scale, the Aesthetic Processing Preference Scale, the Need for Cognition Scale, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression Scale, the Material Values Scale and the Multidimensional Existential Meaning Scale. The results obtained in the three studies through Confirmatory Factor Analysis indicated the compliance of the factor structure of the Polish version of the AEQ with the original and its good psychometric characteristics. It was also shown that the overall result and individual components of the aesthetic experience correlate positively with emotion regulation through artistic creative activities and mood regulation through music, aesthetic competences (music, literature, plastic arts, film), cognitive curiosity and some dimensions of aesthetic processing preferences. The studies also proved a very weak positive relationship between aesthetic experience and meaning of life. The assumption about a negative correlation between aesthetic experience and depression or materialism was not confirmed. The Polish version of the AEQ is a credible psychometric measurement and encourages scientists to design research on the psychology of art and aesthetics in the Polish cultural conditions.

The wisdom of language: an enquiry into the origins, meaning and present-day relevance of ‘responsibility’

ABSTRACT In this article I endeavour to clarify the meaning of ‘responsibility’, which in the last decades has become a cornerstone of the ethical and political debate. To this end, I carry out an etymological enquiry into this notion with respect to antique and modern European languages. The thesis I argue is that language evidences a unique capacity to cherish, nurture, and foresee with a touch of wisdom an inexhaustible repertoire of existential meanings, which take the stage in human endeavours. As a result, this enquiry helps to understand the original relational and future-oriented significance of ‘responsibility’. Additionally, the analysis steers clear of incorrect or incomplete interpretations, as well as of those willing to deal with the complex and multifaced meaning of ‘responsibility’ in a purely logical-analytical way, which results in moving to the background, if not disregarding altogether, its historical and linguistic stratifications, which are in fact relevant to the full comprehension of this notion.

The Reinstatement and Ontology of Meaning

While science and logic are incredible intellectual endeavors, and while reductionist methodologies have led to advances in knowledge, these methods do not tell the whole story of life, world, and reality. There are real phenomena that, due to their experiential and holistic nature, cannot be properly quantified over by limiting oneself to science, logic, or reductive means of explanation and description. Attempting to understand the world and the human condition requires a plethora of epistemic pursuits to more fully quantify over the plurality of phenomena. Existential meaning is, I argue, an experiential and holistic phenomenon, and as such it cannot be quantified over by reductive endeavors, pure logic, or scientific inquiry. Meaning emerges through the relation of a complex structure (human) in relation to the world, and it exists as an irreducible embodied and embedded experience.

“정신의 연장”으로서의 시간

In Book 11 of the Confessions, Augustine thinks of time as “distension of the mind”. He understands distentio animi both as an extension of the mind that reaches out in opposite directions in order to measure duration and as a spreading out and scattering of the mind occupied and distracted by the multiplicity of temporal things: the existential and spiritual meaning, inspired by Phil 3:12-14, is thus added to the philosophical meaning of distentio as an act of the mind that strives to grasp duration. In his reading of Book 11 of the Confessions, Balthasar favors the second meaning: the distension of the spirit is “the fragmentation of existence” that characterizes the time of the fall which we can hardly dissociate from the time of creation in our experience. Ricœur, on the other hand, gives priority to the first meaning: what he is interested in is the enigma of the measurement of time which manifests the impossibility of a pure phenomenology of time.

Safety and Closeness in Religious Socialization: A Mixed Methods Study of Finnish Families

Abstract In this study, we analyze how do safety and closeness, or the lack of them, affect religious socialization in Finnish families. Our empirical data consist of family interviews and a large survey data. As a result, three key dimensions were found: 1) the atmosphere in families, 2) the atmosphere related to religious communities, and 3) the atmosphere related to one’s own spirituality. Our study suggests several implications both for practice in religious and other communities of existential meaning and for the study of those communities and empirical theologies. The study is part of the international research project “The transmission of religion across generations: a comparative international study of continuities and discontinuities in family socialization”, funded by Templeton Foundation.

Религиозная идентичность в смысловой саморегуляции молодёжи

The article presents an analysis of the links between the religious identity of young people and their ideas about the meanings of life, family, education, work in dynamics (2017-2020), including through connection with the choice of life strategies (stability /change), behavior patterns (reliability and calm / change and risk). Based on the comparative analysis of the data of two studies, the authors draw conclusions about the ambiguous manifestation of religious identity in the self-regulation of the life of young people. In different periods, it activates both traditional and modern meanings. For believers, compared with non-believers, love is understood much broader than the love between a man and a woman is more significant as the meaning of life. Along with the uncertainty-avoidance attitude inherent in believers, during the Covid-19 pan- demic, the value of a calm and comfortable life among them is significantly increased. The existential meanings of "manifestation of one's individuality (self-realization)" and "striving for truth", correlated with modern culture, are less valuable for believers than for non-believers. The ratio of the terminal and instrumental meanings of the family practically does not differ between believers and non-believers, but the significance of the terminal mean- ings themselves changes: for believers, “love” is less significant, but “need for a fam- ily” is higher. The ratio of terminal and instrumental meanings of labor is also similar. However, believers are characterized by the increased importance of the meaning of work as earnings during the COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis of the meanings of education shows the most pronounced instrumentalization among young believers than non-believers. The instrumentalization of the meanings of work and education is also associated with an attitude to avoid uncertainty in this group.

The Problem of Recognition in Modern Philosophy: Social and Anthropological Dimensions

Purpose. The purpose of the article lies in studying the main socio-anthropological measurements of the problem of recognition represented primarily by the philosophy of recognition of Alex Honneth, which is actualized by the struggle of the Ukrainian people for their existence and national-cultural recognition. A consistent analysis of the communicative paradigm in contemporary philosophy led to the understanding of its transformation into the reality of the problem of recognition and the identification of the main forms of recognition in it, which determine an individual’s perception of the social space as fair or unfair, where his dignity is disrespected. Theoretical basis. Turning to the works of Jurgen Habermas, Otfried Hoeffe, Ernst Tugendhat, Stefan Gosepath, and Thomas Rentsch made it possible to supplement the mainly procedural, theoretical-communicative way of philosophizing with a philosophical-anthropological, existential, contextual principle of awareness of recognition as a fundamental principle of justice and the understanding that the brutal, unjust destruction of the "living world" of a person and the state is synonymous with their physical destruction. The thesis of Francis Fukuyama about the relationship between the desire for recognition and human dignity inherent in human nature has acquired an important theoretical and methodological meaning. Originality. The article investigates the modern philosophical discourse of the problem of recognition in the socio-anthropological measurements, in the context of the relationship between recognition, the "living world" and justice, non-recognition, humiliation of human dignity, and injustice. And it was also found that the image of recognition represented by modern philosophical thought, as a horizon and condition of human existence, is based on the following components: justice, solidarity, dignity, and care. Exactly addressing the problem of recognition made it possible to answer the question about the anthropological-ontological, existential meaning of the desire of individuals, nations, and states for recognition and outline the ways of transforming recognition as a variant of "communicative utopia" into a real socio-cultural project. Conclusions. In contrast to justice, the theory of recognition comes from asymmetrical human relations, which, in the struggle for recognition, must become symmetrical. Although justice takes precedence over ethics of care and recognition, they are not actually in competition with each other, but belong to different but complementary dimensions of human existence. The perspective of philosophical understanding of the problem of recognition itself requires the deepening of its analysis with an existential-anthropological understanding rooted in a new, tragic life experience. Only under such conditions, it is possible to overcome the gap between often abstract philosophical reflections and real personal and social practices.

Outgrowing representationalism: Semantic remarks on Tracy Llanera's Richard Rorty: Outgrowing modern nihilism

AbstractThis article provides a semantic reading of Tracy Llanera's brilliant book Richard Rorty: Outgrowing Modern Nihilism. Llanera is reframing the debate of how to react to the malaise of modern nihilism by proposing a change of metaphor: instead of trying to “overcome” nihilism, we should try to “outgrow” nihilism. This article invites Llanera to shed more light on her project with respect to the semantic categories of realism and representationalism, and with respect to the growing field of conceptual engineering. Can Llanera's project be fruitfully understood as engineering the concepts of “transcendence” and “redemption”? How much of the project hangs on the idea that language does not represent but is rather a tool that helps us fulfill our varying needs? How neat is the entanglement of semantic and existential meaning?

To the ontology of war: why warfare but not peaceful negotiations

The article is aimed at a philosophical study of the foundations/causes of war. Its background is a definition of the Russian-Ukrainian full-scale warfare as an irreconcilable existential conflict of the "Russian world" between the "Russian world" and the national world of Ukraine. Methodological specific of the article is reliance on the everydayness of a boundary situation of war to define the cultural world, as well as cultural identity as concepts that get existential meaning. Philosophy potential is used to clarify the key question for today's war discourse about why the parties to the conflict are determined to take military actions, but not to resolve the conflict through peace negotiations. The answer is sought by comparing two ontologies of the world that there are in Habermas' communicative theory of action and Heidegger's fundamental ontology. Each of them provides an alternative concept of understanding and, accordingly, different foundations for its truth theory. This also provides a perspective, firstly, to distinguish two alternative positions of participants in the discourse of war – "internal" one as "being in a culture at war" and another of an "external" observer. Secondly, this distinction helps to explain why war as a conflict of cultural worlds could be considered from different philosophical points of view, namely from the position of the philosophy of communicative action, as well as in the context of existential analysis of being. Examination of the explanatory potential of both approaches is carried out on the basis of a comparison of different concepts of the world, fundamental to each of philosophers. It is done by clarifications of basics of two ontologies of understanding and, accordingly, of their theories of truth. The article indicates that the theory of truth in communicative philosophy is based on the regulative idea of the unity of the objective world. Instead, with reference to examples from Charles Taylor and Jean-Luc Nancy, the author claims that the fundamental ontology can be reinterpreted in terms of the plurality of being-in-common of people in sovereign cultural worlds. Accordingly, the interaction of representatives of different cultural identities under certain political conditions, i.e., official propaganda can turn into a radical disagreement of different existential understandings of the meaning of being, into a war of cultural worlds that cannot be overcome by just negotiations at the level of competent communication. The article ends with an open question about searching for ways to unify the mentioned ontological approaches.

Challenges for the Mental Health of Refugee Artists: Perspectives of the ADAPT Model.

This study aimed to address the mental health challenges faced by refugee artists who are grantees of ICORN-the International Cities of Refuge Network-from the perspective of the extended conceptual ADAPT model. The study employed exploratory qualitative research, and data were collected through semi-structured interviews with ICORN artists in Poland, Norway, and Sweden. For data analysis, Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used, whereas for the presentation of the results, the framework of the ADAPT model was applied. The results showed that the super-ordinate themes that emerged from the IPA analysis related directly to the ADAPT model and could mostly be assigned to its basic pillars: (1) Security; (2) Bonds and Networks; (3) Justice; (4) Roles and Identities; and (5) Existential Meaning. However, the model was insufficient for capturing the full diversity of experiences described by the respondents. Therefore, an extension of the model in the form of two additional pillars, Art and Body and Mind, was proposed. The findings confirm that the ADAPT model is adequate for systematizing and depicting in detail the experiences of migrants/refugees. However, further modifications of the model are necessary, particularly the additional pillar Body and Mind, which has the potential to become a separate category in other migrants'/refugees' assessment frameworks. Moreover, Art itself could be seen as a universal bridging factor between the refugee and the host population, contributing to the refugees' adaptation to the host society.

Ethiek en logica in de Tractatus. Verkenning van een analogie

Ethics and Logic in the Tractatus. Exploring an Analogy I explore an analogy between logic and ethics, as Wittgenstein understands them in the Tractatus. In the first section, I argue that Wittgenstein regards logic as a condition of the possibility of meaning, in the sense that logic makes meaningful language and thought possible. In section two, I ask why Wittgenstein calls both logic and ethics ‘transcendental’. I suggest that, while logic is a condition of the possibility of semantic meaning, ethics is a condition of the possibility of existential meaning. Without ethics, life could not be meaningful. In section three, I show that harmony and agreement play a crucial role in Wittgenstein’s accounts of logic and ethics. A meaningful proposition can be true or false, a meaningful life can be happy or unhappy, and both truth and happiness consist in some kind of harmony or agreement with reality.

Stress Responses Among Individuals with Spiritual Struggles in Hungary: An Experimental Study.

Individuals with aReligious or Spiritual Problem (RSP), as defined in the DSM-5, experience distress associated with faith-related moral dilemmas, existential meaning, and transpersonal attitudes toward other people. It is unclear whether aRSP reflects a generally heightened stress reactivity or whether the stress response is confined to religious and spiritual contexts. To elucidate this issue, we measured behavioral and physiological responses during social-evaluative stress (public speaking-Trier Social Stress Test) and in religious/spiritual contexts (Bible reading and listening to sacred music) in 35 individuals with RSP and 35 matched participants. We found no stress reduction in the religious/spiritual context in RSP, as indicated by increased heart rate, saliva cortisol, and relatively higher left than right frontal activity. Religious stimuli evoked physiological stress responses in RSP. Contrary to the physiological parameters, participants with RSP reported less anxiety in the religious/spiritual context. Religious individuals with and without RSP showed similar stress responses during public speaking. Religious individuals without RSP displayed reduced stress responses in the religious/spiritual context. These results indicate that specific physiological distress in religious/spiritual contexts should be considered in the psychological care of RSP.

The formation of sensory life discourse in the conditions of “Other” sociocultural experience

The article discusses the study of discourse related to sensual life within the context of a different sociocultural experience. The formation of this discourse is said to be influenced by legitimizing the horizontal principle in social relations, which is mainly constituted by research and developmental epistemic and discur-sive influences on the social, political, and cultural situation in society. The author employs a methodological procedure to differentiate between sensory perception and sensory understanding at the level of emotional intellect, highlighting the indi-vidual contributions of each in shaping the discourse on sensual life. It is conclud-ed що the request for the constitution of the existential meanings of the organization of life is growing under the influence of the growth of the degree of individual freedom of human beings and the formation of an open communicative space of life. They are formed in the field of voluntary horizontal actions, prompting the person to self-activation and sense finding. Sense is associated with human sensation, sensitivity and perception “at the level of the senses” and physicality "at the level of intelligence”. Meaning at the “sense level” is manifested by “common sense” and the right direction in life, and “at the intellectual level,” meaning is determined by reflective thinking, relevant discursive ethical practices and worldviews as well as cognitive orientations.

"Out of This World": Norwegian Women's Experiences of Medical Abortion Pain.

Medical abortion has rapidly become the dominant abortion method in western countries. Pain is a known adverse effect; however, few studies have explored women's subjective experience of medical abortion pain. To explore Norwegian women's experiences of pain when performing a medical abortion at home. We recruited 24 women through an advertisement on Facebook and conducted semi-structured, face-to-face interviews. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and the data were analyzed using a phenomenological hermeneutical method. Our findings consisted of two main themes: 1) Being in pain or becoming pain, and 2) Being caught off guard and struggling to cope. Participants described undergoing severe pain, comparable to giving birth, during the medical abortion. Unprepared for the type and intensity of the pain, they felt anxious and insecure. Pain is physical, but it also has important psychological, social, and existential dimensions. Our culture (in)forms our thoughts and feelings about our pain, affecting our ability to endure suffering. The participants' experiences of abortion pain prompt timely questions concerning gendered socio-cultural and existential meanings connected to pain, specifically in relation to female reproductive functions. Women need realistic information about the type and intensity of abortion pain, as well as evidence-based pain medication. Psychological factors may affect the experience of abortion pain and should therefore be taken into account in abortion care.

Meaning in life through work: A cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST) perspective

This article explores existential meaning-making from work using the cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST). To start with, we use the tenets of CEST to elaborate on how the cues from archetype work environments—a realization facilitating work environment (RfWE) and justification facilitating work environment (JfWE)—are interpreted by information-processing systems to imbue meaning in life (MiL) as internal or external manifestations of coherence, purpose, and significance. Next, we explain how individual differences in work centrality and proactive meaning-crafting ability moderate the impact of JfWE, but not of RfWE, on MiL. Finally, we create a nomological network of existential meaning states emerging from the simultaneous presence or absence of RfWE and JfWE. In summary, by applying the information-processing lens of CEST, we develop an integrated model that explains how work drives MiL, elucidates the resultant existential states, and assesses the role of individual differences in meaning-making.