人生の意味への問いについての語りの分析

Abstract

This study examines the questions about the meaning of life. Two aspects of the meaning of life were assumed in this research: about the meaning of the word "meaning" in "What is the meaning of life?" and about the meaning of death for the participants. One college student and 4 graduate students participated in an individual semi-structured interview. Through a qualitative analysis using a narrative approach, three meaning patterns were extracted from these narratives: (1) Meaning is to be founded or to be given. (2) Meaning can be individually created. (3) There is no meaning or no value in life. Pattern (1) was coherent narrative about the meaning of life from the religious perspective, but patterns (2) and (3) showed skepticism and hesitation around their narrative, and there seemed to be no clear boundary between these two patterns. These narratives also showed visual metaphors about invisible concepts such as death, and comparative representations between life and death, which are incommensurable. It may be because the meaning of life is the topic "whereof one cannot speak."