Meaning, existence and psychological needs

Abstract

The concept of meaning is among the concepts from psychology and philosophy
that most people know of but still have difficulties explaining if asked
what it means. The article will uncover the cognitive, conative, and emotive
components of the concept of meaning, relate these to the importance of
existential meaning and argue that meaning is a basic psychological need (on
the same terms as, for example, the need for autonomy, relatedness, and
competence). Man’s search for meaning is a fundamental existential condition
that corresponds with the need for meaning. It is argued that a distinction
between meaning with a capital M and meaning with a small m can help
maintain the difference between meaning as an anthropologically constant
(M) and meaning as experiential phenomenology (m). With the inclusion of
Vitalising Psychology, it is shown how the need for meaning can be integrated
into a holistic model that helps to understand the importance of basic
psychological needs in human existence.