The pleasure principle assumes that human striving is for pleasure. One can argue that not everyone seeks meaning in life, that maybe some people only seek pleasure.
Frankl would probably reply that those people are simply out of touch with their deepest striving.
Some people only come to seek meaning when, because they’ve been pushed to the brink of suffering they experience a sense of meaninglessness. Alternatively, a hedonistic lifestyle can push a person to feel life is boring and meaningless. If you eat enough chocolate cake, you’ll eventually want to throw up.
It seems, however that whether you’ve been a meaning-seeker from day one or you have come to think about life because of life challenges, when you finally discover meaning, it feels good. When you do something meaningful that changes someone’s life for the better, it feels good.
“Only when the emotions work in terms of values can the individual feel pure ‘joy.’ This is the explanation of why joy can never be an end in itself; it itself, as joy, cannot be purposed as a goal.” (p. 40)
“Values” are not a simple replacement for “pleasure” as a human goal. You have to believe that intangible values exist, and you have to be open to seeing them.
Frankl brings the analogy of a lamp. Just as a lamp is lit whether I open my eyes and see it or I shut my eyes and don’t see, values exist independently of my perception of them.
A particular receptivity is required to make the values visible, but they are still objectively there.
Furthermore, you can only reach for these hidden values through concrete tasks, by doing something that makes them real. (The Doctor and the Soul, p. 40-42)
You have to see, but not with your physical eyes…