The Art of Problem-Solving as Human Vocation: A Transdisciplinary Framework Integrating Stoicism, Logotherapy, and Positive Psychology

Contemporary culture perpetuates a deeply entrenched myth: that the accumulation of wealth will eventually dissolve life’s fundamental difficulties. This paper dismantles that myth through a transdisciplinary theoretical synthesis drawing on Stoic philosophy, Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory, and modern positive psychology. We advance four interconnected theses. First, problems are not pathological exceptions to human existence but its constitutive substance, persisting independently of socioeconomic condition. Second, meaningful living consists not in the elimination of challenges but in the informed selection of which burdens to carry—a process we term deliberate burden-choice. Third, the false equation of wealth with problem-resolution generates a predictable cognitive collapse—designated here as the Wealth-Resolution Fallacy—that precipitates depressive episodes upon financial achievement. Fourth, purposeful engagement with self-chosen challenges functions as the primary engine of psychological well-being and is constitutive of what it means to be human. Practical implications for individuals, therapists, and organizational designers conclude the paper.