Table 1
Franklian framework for interpreting meaning claims in sport.
| Concept | Franklian claim | Sport-related manifestation | Characteristic distortion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Responsible response to concrete possibilities of value | Commitment to task, role, relation, or practice | Reducing meaning to mood, identity support, or status |
| Self-transcendence | Orientation beyond self-feeling towards tasks, persons, and values | Training for standards, team, craft, or care | Hyper-intention, self-absorption, reputation management |
| Value-realisation | Creative, experiential, and attitudinal pathways | Performance, encounter, and response to injury or loss | Treating participation as automatically meaningful |
| By-product structure | Fulfilment follows engagement; it cannot be willed directly | Confidence, enjoyment, and satisfaction as secondary outcomes | Chasing inner states as primary ends |
| Existential vacuum | Frustrated will to meaning expressed in boredom, cynicism, and compensation | Empty overtraining, drift after transition, status dependence | Confusing vacuum with ordinary disappointment or fatigue |
Source: Author’s contribution.