Meaning is Meaning in Itself
A Reflection of Man’s Search for Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning is an amalgam of literary genres: part philosophy, part history, part science, and part memoir. I would even go so far as to say that the book contains some self-help elements in the last third or so. I picked up the book after reading in a Reddit thread that it had changed people’s lives, or at least how they thought about the world. After working my way through some familiar territory and Frankl’s descriptions of concentration camps, I was pleased to find what must have made the book so appealing to readers: the philosophy.
My favorite aspects of Frankl’s philosophy are twofold:
1. People do have some semblance of control over their own destiny.
It is well-documented that I believe in the capacity of human beings to change. I may not use concentration camps as an example for this externally spurred change, but my examples of the military or the Peace Corps more or less follow the same logic. As I’ll get into momentarily, Frankl basically states that humans change (or should change) to find meaning in their lives, relative to the circumstances in which they find themselves, which can include circumstances of suffering. However he also states that people can change if they want to, and that they shouldn’t slip into the nihilistic fatalism that we have no choice of the direction in which our lives are flowing.
2. There is no sweeping, one-size fits all meaning to life.
I very much dislike universal theories. In economics, they say that a certain phenomenon will be observed “ceteris paribus,” or “all things equal.” One thing you learn as an economics student, however, is that all things are never equal. Therefore, I’m inclined to roll my eyes when I hear about a universal development theory to explain the common thread of advanced economies or when I read about universal fat loss plans advertized to the masses. Systems inherently contain too much nuance, and for this I like Frankl’s analysis (even if I’m not sure that I buy it). Essentially, meaning is what you make of it. If something matters to me, then it is inherently meaningful. Moreover, one can find meaning in anything — even suffering — and, through this change of perspective, gather some semblance of hope or perseverance.
The most important aspect of Frankl’s book is that his meaning is a sort of meaning of last resort for those struggling to find it elsewhere. However, its functioning is predicated on the the ability of the individual to accept it.
