The Axiological Concept of the Meaning of Life in Henryk Elzenberg's Philosophy

Abstract

The aim of this text is to reconstruct the concept of the meaning of life as presented by Polish philosopher Henryk Elzenberg. To this task, the reconstruction method, source text analysis, conceptual analysis, and linguistic analysis were used. Great emphasis was placed on the reconstruction method and analysis of source texts, as Elzenberg's most important writings on the meaning of life were found in writings not published during the philosopher's lifetime. The Polish philosopher developed an axiology based on the notion of perfect values, absolute in essence, which are inherent in objects that are as they should be. According to Elzenberg, the meaning of life flows from values, because meaningfulness consists in being justified by values. The research results of this text include, among other things, a comprehensive study of why, according to the author of The Trouble with Existence, the meaning of life should be defined through its relationship to values, and not as something teleologically justified. The research hypothesis that everything that can be judged to be meaningful falls under the category of the existence of something valuable has been established. Furthermore, in the conclusion, it was pointed out that, according to Elzenberg's philosophy, the realization of the meaning of life requires the ascetic overcoming of one's own nature.