Exploring the Lived Moral Meaning of Suffering and Ethical Awareness in Human Experience
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Abstract
Humanistic studies have long examined the moral and existential dimensions of suffering, emphasizing how individuals find meaning through pain, reflection, and ethical awareness. Within this broader field, phenomenological inquiry has become essential for understanding suffering not merely as a psychological event but as a lived moral experience that shapes ethical consciousness. However, previous studies remain largely descriptive and insufficiently articulate how suffering is interpreted as a process of moral awakening, thereby leaving a clear research gap concerning the mechanisms through which ethical awareness emerges from lived suffering. This study adopts a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, grounded in the philosophies of Heidegger and Ricoeur, to address this gap by systematically exploring how individuals morally interpret their suffering within concrete life contexts. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with eight participants who had undergone profound experiences of suffering and analyzed through iterative thematic interpretation. The analysis followed three structured stages—textual interpretation, thematic consolidation, and moral–existential synthesis—to ensure methodological transparency.
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