Niloufar Mirhashemi
Stephanie Walsh
English 93
15 May 2017
Frankl's Meaning of Life
Viktor Emil Frankl, who was born and grew up in the Jewish family (Längle, "Frankl, Viktor Emil") on March 26, 1905 in Vienna Austria and died of heart failure (The, A. P, VIKTOR FRANKL, AUTHOR AND PSYCHOTHERAPIST) in 1997 (viktorfrankl.org), was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor (VIKTOR FRANKL, AUTHOR AND PSYCHOTHERAPIST). A talent high school student, Frankl was a member in Socialist youth organizations in 1921, which caused his interest to psychiatry. As a high school student, Frankl began writing to Freud and started communication with him (viktorfrankl.org). Frankl obtained his MD degree in 1930 and his Ph.D. degree
…show more content…
In 1985, Frankl could obtain Oskar Pfister Award from The American Psychiatric Association due to his important works for people and society. 39 books were published from Frankl (Längle, "Frankl, Viktor Emil") that Man's Search for Meaning, his very popular book, is his narration of his life when he was in Nazi camp. Frankl in this book explained that how could find the meaning of his life and discover his new theory which introduced it as logotherapy to the psychology world (Pytell, TIMOTHY E, "Viktor Frankl (1905-1999)"). Frankl's best-selling book "Man's Search for Meaning," chronicles a psychologist's experiences as an inmate in the concentration camp, which led him to discover the importance of finding meaning in all forms of existence (Pytell, TIMOTHY E, "Viktor Frankl (1905-1999)"). Viktor Frankl founded what he called the field of "Logotherapy." Logotherapy is related to Frankl own experiences in Nazi camp. In his life years, which spent in camp, the tensions caused to contemplate deeply about the meaning of life and human purpose of living ("Logotherapy"). He narrates about his problems and restriction, moreover, other men in Auschwitz, that how they …show more content…
His research and its results reminded me of a short but very sensitive period of my life when my mother had a breast cancer, almost 5 years ago. I can say in that time, I experienced all steps of Frankl's theory about finding a sense of meaning and purpose in life. I not only felt a fear of losing my mother at the highest level possible but also was a witness of how my mother suffered from her illness. Problems were not only my tasks to help the family or even take care of my mother, but also, I must give hope to family members. However, in each challenge, there is a point. Each problem in life teaches us a lesson that how to stand in front of it and solve it, not escape of that. For example, I have never had an attitude that I can manage a family in hard situations, but it seemed that I had it. I just did not have a correct attitude to myself, my
Viktor Frankl is a well known psychiatrist and neurologist. He is praised for his book, Man’s Search For Meaning, a story that depicts Frankl’s viewpoint during the Holocaust. The narrative illustrates Victor’s perspective and his coping techniques during this time. Frankl also mentions his theory of Logotherapy. A technique that he uses to help people find meaning with their life.
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl is filled to the brim with rhetorical devices from all three sections of the text. Particularly in his section about logotherapy, Frankl’s practice to find an individual’s meaning of life, he explores the three main meanings of life: accomplishment, love, and suffering. This area uses a plethora of comparison, such as parallelism and metaphor. Recurring themes are used to draw back to Frankl’s three life meanings, like word repetition and alliteration. Frankl’s use of rhetorical devices allows his audience to focus on their individual possibilities and incorporate his ideology into society.
Frankl describes how suffering gives man opportunity to expand his spirituality beyond himself, and how inward strength may rise against outward fate. He states that if a person does not struggle to save their self-respect, they will lose the feeling of being an individual: a being with a mind, personal value, and inner freedom (page 50.) In a way, man is always free because everyone has the choice to maintain their dignity by choosing their attitude during difficult circumstances; each person is free to choose how he will respond to a situation (page 66.) Man has a choice of action and can preserve his independence of mind and spiritual freedom even in times of physical and mental stress because he is free to choose how he will respond to a situation (page 65.) On page 82, Frankl supports the belief that "what does not kill me, makes me
Many books were published about Holocaust, but Frankl’s work is “One of the outstanding contribution to psychological thought . . .” (Carl Rogers. 1959). Frankl, a psychiatrist and neurologist, spent 3 years in Nazis concentration camps where he underwent
Viktor Frankl’s thesis found in Man’s Search for Meaning is repeated multiple times, in different ways throughout his book. On page 111 he states, “According to logotherapy, we can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing something or encountering someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering” (Frankl). This is not saying that all of those qualities have to be present to find one’s meaning though especially suffering. The only way to find the meaning of life is by answering your own call for life, not what others value as meaning. Each meaning
Essentially logotherapy is described to be, “a will to meaning” (99). He believed that, “striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man.” (99). His approach to this idea is based on three psychological and philosophical concepts: meaning of life, will to meaning and freedom of will. According to Frankl, "We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: by creating a work or doing a deed; by experiencing something or encountering someone; and by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering" and that "everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances". Logotherapy can be very useful not just in my life, but any person’s. Isn’t this what most people want to figure out anyways? Their meaning in life, their place and contribution that will give everlasting peace of accomplishment once one grows old. Growing up I was told, “Everything happens for a reason”, that different actions contribute into a larger outcome that us as mere mortals do not understand. But as weak minded people, we break when we begin to suffer. We lose all hope and will to live. We disagree on the idea that life has meaning and begin to feel like that it just an everlasting void with no point at the
The premise of Frankl’s book is that mankind’s desire for meaning is much stronger than its desire for power or pleasure and that if man can find meaning in life he can survive anything. Frankl introduces this idea [which he calls the theory of logotherapy] throughout his concentration camp experiences in the book’s first section and delves deeper into it in the second section. Referencing Nietzsche, Frankl tells us “Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'” (p. 80). The most important thing to be learned from this statement is that no matter what your circumstances are, you can be happy, or at least survive, if you find a meaning or purpose in life. While in the concentration camp Frankl tells us that in order to maintain his desire to have a meaningful life he focused on three main things: suffering, work, and love. Of sacrifice
Through Frankl's view of suicide you can discover his view of human person. Suicide is wrong in all cases, and should not be even considered an option. He believes that all people can find some meaning in life which would prevent them from giving up all hope and ending their lives. Every human life has meaning, and therefore every human life has value. While in a concentration camp serving as a doctor to those who were ill with typhus or other diseases, he encountered two individuals who had given up hope on life. He asked them both to think of something worth living for. One answered that he had a son waiting for him at home, and the other said he was writing a book and wanted to finish it. Frankl helped them find meaning in their lives to hold on to some hope. Just as they did, anyone can find a meaning to live for, whether it be another person or a goal or achievement.
After three years in concentration camps, Frankl returned to Vienna, where he developed and lectured about his approach to psychological healing. He wrote his world-famous Saying Yes to Life in Spite of Everything: A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp, or as it is titled in English, Man’s Search for Meaning. After his suffering in the concentration camps, Frankl made his hallmark conclusion that even under the most painful, dehumanizing circumstances, life has potential meaning and therefore suffering is also meaningful. This conclusion served as a basis for his logotherapy and existential analysis. In 1946, he was appointed to run the Vienna Polyclinic of Neurology. He remarried in 1947, and his resulting daughter went on to
An Introspective Look at Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning and Logotherapy There is an old adage that implies that “into every life, a little rain must fall,” which suggests that some amount of suffering, be it miniscule or great, is an unavoidable part of every human being’s existence. Undoubtedly, there are circumstances in one’s life that are beyond his or her control. Circumstances that will cause one to question his or her very existence and pose the question “Why me?” Viktor Frankl experienced such an event when he was imprisoned in several Jewish concentration camps during the Holocaust. Frankl’s novel, Man’s Search for Meaning (2006), gives an account of Frankl’s time spent in Jewish concentration camps. During this harrowing experience, Frankl used the daily occurrences that surrounded him to observe and analyze the impact that such suffering has on man. During his time in the camp, Frankl was stripped of his identity, his family, and all of his material
We are meant to become our truest selves by finding meaning in our lives, which, according to Frankl, can come from three places: work, love, and our attitude in the face of horrific suffering or difficulty. And at the center of this meaning is our responsibility and human right to choose. In Frankl’s theory, we all strive to fulfill a self-chosen goal, from which meaning has the potential to be found. And if no meaning is found, there is meaning yet to be found, or meaning to be drawn from the apparent lack of meaning. Whatever the case, Frankl viewed man’s lack of meaning as the greatest existential crisis, the stress of this meaninglessness giving life and shape to all of our neuroses.
Born into a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria, Viktor Frankl started showing interest in psychology at a young age. He studied medicine at the University of Vienna, specializing in neurology and psychiatry, with a deep focus on suicide and depression. When he first started to study these areas, Frankl’s influences came from two of the most well known psychologist’s Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler. Later, however, Frankl diverged from their teachings to study his own theories. When World War II began, Viktor Frankl was the director of therapy in a mental hospital in Vienna, and was also an organizer for youth guidance centers throughout the city. Like many others, Frankl and his family, as well as the families of other doctors,
Dr. Frankl also explains his theory on neurosis and how it is tied to the meaning of life. Frankl differs from the ideas of Freud. Freud believed that the basis of neurosis is in unconscious motives. Frankl believes that the basis for neurosis is man's search for his own meaning. Furthermore he explains that ones own meaning is constantly changing; therefor, the means for our suffering is constantly changing. Frankl explains, "What matters, therefor, is not the meaning of life in general, but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment." Frankl describes we discover our specific meaning at a given moment. "We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by doing a deed; (2) by
Frankl believes several things, and he shares these theories with his readers. First of all; the basic concept of Logotherapy is that if one finds a purpose or a meaning in their life they can endure anything. He supports this many times over with specific examples. He was forced to dig trenches in freezing cold weather without adequate clothing and shoes. The shoes might be too tight causing pain and blisters, he may have no socks, or the shoes might have holes in them, allowing the ice and snow to get against his skin. He states that he got through these long, painful days by thinking about the beauty of nature or thoughts of his wife. He focused on the unlikely fact that his wife might be alive, giving him the will to live. Other times, while at another camp where he worked as the only doctor caring for 52 sick and dying patients, he himself was on the brink of starvation and typhus and he did not give up. He felt that it was his duty to care for these people, keep them comfortable and give them the best that he could at the time with minimal resources. There might have
Frankl had compared himself to two other Viennese psychiatrists, Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler. In saying that Freud suggested a will to pleasure while Adler suggested a will to power. Logotherapy on the other hand is a will to meaning. This indicating that when a person cannot realize his or her “Will to Meaning” in their lives they