In This Penetrating Study of the concept of meaning, Gerhard Sauter shows that -- contrary to popular belief -- the human quest for meaning is a relatively recent development, arising only after the deconstruction of metaphysics at the end of the nineteenth century. Since then, people have continually sought after the meaning of history, the meaning of their labors, their sufferings, their lives. In an attempt to construct new areas of orientation, meaning has become a dominant term in hermeneutics, in philosophy of language, in psychology, in sociology, in social theory, and in all domains influenced by them, including politics.