Abstract
This chapter uses the Part I Case Studies to explore Frankl’s existential psychology as a theory of motivation. Scholars with unusually personal connections to their work tend to be very passionate researchers. The ancient concept of the “wounded healer” and the etymological origins of the word “passion” to mean suffering are put forward as possible explanations for this enthusiasm. This chapter encourages readers to consider what makes their own scholarship meaningful, and offers suggestions for using personal uniqueness, responsibility, and Frankl’s formulation of creative, experiential, and attitudinal values to make it more meaningful. The search for happiness, success, and power in the academy is also discussed from a Franklian perspective. The chapter ends with a bulleted review and a list of existential questions for readers.
All of this suffering and all of this pain—I can give it purpose that way. Just because I’m hurting—I can do something good with it…It’s a powerful, painful thought. If I don’t share it, it will go to waste because it’s just in my head. [If] I write it down, I share it…it becomes alive and it’s real and it has a purpose .
—Gillian, Ph.D. Student/Bereavement Researcher, 2007
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Notes
- 1.
I worked a retail job for about a year when I was working on my Ph.D. At the time, I was also teaching two sections of an undergraduate course at the university. The differences in the ways people treated me in these two contexts really brought home the value of a Ph.D.—or even the potential for one—in having influence and being treated with respect. I was the same person with the apron and the name badge as I was in my professional attire walking around the university. However, the difference in how undergraduates perceived me, hence, treated me, in these two milieus was staggering. Make no mistake. Those three letters confer power .
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Esping, A. (2018). Franklian Psychology as a Theory of Motivation. In: Epistemology, Ethics, and Meaning in Unusually Personal Scholarship. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73718-8_9
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