Man's Search for Meaning

Viktor Frankl writes in Man's Search for Meaning that there are three ways in which one can find meaning in life. The first is to do work that is meaningful in itself or creates something...

One of the most important differences between Frankl's logotherapy and Freud's psychoanalytic method is Frankl's rejection of the pleasure principle as a major motivating force. Freud thought that...

In Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl cautions against taking an abstract approach to meaning in life. He does not think that it is possible to find a general, universally applicable meaning...

Viktor Frankl observes that most people think a good life is one devoid of suffering. After all, most people do all they can to avoid discomfort, distress, uncertainty, and pain. Some even go as...

As a psychologist and concentration camp survivor, Frankl writes his book to try to answer this question: How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average...

In Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl argues that the one freedom all people have at any time is the liberty to choose how to respond to a situation, no matter how dire that situation may be....

In Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl says that people should not keep asking what the meaning of their life is or what the meaning of life is more generally. Instead, they should act as...

Frankl is very clear that survival in the camps was based primarily on luck. Most people who entered the camps died. There was little rhyme or reason in the camps, which meant that anybody, no...

While influenced in part by Freudian psychoanalysis, Viktor Frankl's logotherapy is quite distinct from it as well. Firstly, Frankl claims that psychoanalysis focuses on the past, while logotherapy...

Frankl speaks introspectively and at length about the human limitations of life in concentration camps. He learned that limits came both from the constrained world of the camps and, paradoxically,...

Suffering for Frankl is a kind of spiritual challenge. He quotes Dostoevsky to this effect, who said the following: "There is only one thing I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings." With him,...

The whole time he was imprisoned in concentration camps, Frankl thought about his beloved wife. He writes that nothing could touch the strength of my love, my thoughts, and the image of my...

In Man's Search for Meaning, Frankl makes several claims about happiness. The most significant is that happiness is secondary to meaning. He writes that, in American culture, one is constantly...

In the second section of Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl argues that people cannot be satisfied with a "tensionless state." They must be striving for something in their daily lives. Such...

Logotherapy is a psychotherapeutic method rooted in existentialist thought. It is a system grounded in the idea that people want to assign meaning to their lives and that a great deal of suffering...

Frankl says the meaning of life lies in finding the "right answer" to the problems of life. Since everyone has different problems, the actual "meaning" is different for everyone, but the common...