Originality and Value in “Man’s Search of Meaning”

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Introduction

The previous century, especially the first half, was a turning point for many aspects of human civilization. The massive concentration of theoretical knowledge and technical inventions developed in the 19th century led to significant cultural and technological changes and shifts in approaches to foreign and domestic politics, economics, and social structure. Xin notes that “in the first few years of the beginning of the twentieth century, all ancient concepts on the physical world were overwhelmed by the tide of scientific revolution” (20). However, things and ideas that could lead to the global prosperity of humanity have been corrupted and used for mass destruction, the extermination of entire populations, and religious, gender, ethnic, and economic discrimination. Two devastating world wars and the depressive interwar period could not but lead to a subversion of expectations and a subsequent reaction both in intellectual circles and society, especially in the Western one. Hope for the humane aspect of humanity was shattered, the modernist worldview was rejected, and a new one, postmodernism, arose.

People began to turn to postmodern concepts and personal experiences to find new truths, the meaning of life, and understand the causes of things. Viktor Frankl was one of them; he was a man who did not turn his back on the horrific side of civilization but met it face to face, found a new meaning, and won (“Viktor Frankl Interview – 1979”). Nowadays, he is considered one of the first thinkers of the postmodern movement and a pioneer in the practical application of its concepts in psychiatry. Man’s Search of Meaning, his most well-known writing, is not only a book about his experience of survival in the inhuman conditions of a concentration camp and unique psychiatric therapy methods. It also represents how the previous century changed the global civilizational worldview. This work will explore Frankl’s book’s ideas, namely aspects such as originality and value, and their relationship with the concepts of other thinkers and philosophers of postmodern and other movements.

Main body

One can safely say that Frankl’s magnum opus is a very original work because of not only the philosophical and psychological ideas and concepts that it carries but simply by itself. It is because Frankl was one of the few Jewish thinkers who survived the genocidal Nazi regime. It is worth mentioning the figure of Elie Wiesel; he also was a Jewish writer who took a more direct approach in revealing the hardships of the Jewish nation in Europe (“Elie Wiesel”). The experience of Frankl’s tough survival in an extermination camp, his perspective and perceptions of those apocalyptic events, as well as his inferences developed in those nightmarish conditions that are recorded in Man’s Search of Meaning are of significant and unique value. The events and imagery that he documented and described in his book and the people he mentioned there are crucial for understanding not only his original psychiatric approach but also the civilizational phenomenon of postmodernism and its philosophical movements.

Another thing that contributes to the originality of Frankl’s fundamental work is his well-known and unique psychiatric concept of logotherapy. According to the writer, “logotherapy focuses rather on the future, that is to say, on the meanings to be fulɹlled by the patient in his future” (Frankl 87). It also “defocuses all the vicious-circle formations and feedback mechanisms which play such a great role in the development of neuroses” (Frankl 87). Logotherapy provides the therapist and their patient with the mental tools for avoiding and destroying the neuroses of the latter and thereby encourages patients to build and develop their own meaning in life (Frankl 87). As one can see, Frankl used two fundamental elements of postmodernism, which are lack of objectivity and relativism, in developing his psychiatric therapeutic strategy (Duignan). Therefore, it can be said that logotherapy is a manifestation of existentialism in psychology and psychiatry. The combination of the philosophical foundation of logotherapy supplemented by personal survival experience and its mental essence are those things that make this Frankl’s idea both unique and valuable in disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, history, and sociology.

Nietzsche and His Philosophical Legacy in Frankl’s World View and Psychiatric Methodology

Frankl often quotes Nietzsche in his work and utilizes many of his concepts to explain his survival tactics in the Nazi camp and his psychological ideas to the audience. As one can see, the reasoning of the controversial German philosopher was one of those things that kept the writer’s spirit alive and helped him overcome the deadly conditions of the extermination camp (Frankl 71). It also supported Frankl in building and formulating his therapeutic strategy (Frankl 71). According to Hortsmann and Norman, Nietzsche was a German thinker and linguist of Prussian descent whose research and criticism focused on the past and present history and state of European culture, religion, history, and society (Nietzsche ix). Experts also note that “he speaks of perspectivism, the will to power, of human nobility (Vornehmheit) and of the conditions of a life liberated from the constraints of oppressive tradition” (Nietzsche vii). In his philosophical writings, Nietzsche analyzed and commented not only on events, processes, and persons of the past and modernity but also made predictions about the future of the Western hemisphere.

One of the most interesting of his philosophical discussions is reflections on the topic of eternal and cyclical civilizational processes and their connection with mental motivational drivers of a person and universal laws. He stated that “the noble caste always started out as the barbarian caste” and that “their supremacy was in psychic, not physical strength, – they were more complete people” (Nietzsche 151-152). Therefore, one can conclude that Nietzsche considered those people who constantly yearn to achieve, overcome and succeed as more worthy. The field in which they do it does not matter; only the factor of desire to achieve something is important. Nietzsche respected ancient pre-Christian humanity and treated his generation with disrespect (xvi). He also believed that a person with superior and ideal morality would emerge in the future, whose will to live and power would be perfect. As one may have noticed, even though Nietzsche’s ideas bring a new perspective on the history of humanity, they sound a little contradictory and sometimes even absurd.

There are also much more contentious of his assertions and hypotheses. For example, Nietzsche argues that human progress is the achievement of only the highest and aristocratic strata of society. He also says that “enhancement of the type “man” is only possible under conditions of social inequality, strict social hierarchy, and slavery (Nietzsche 151). However, it is necessary to clarify that by the term slavery, Nietzsche meant its antique, ancient Greek meaning. The slavery he mentioned is societal and not racial, although that does not justify his claims. One can easily misunderstand or misinterpret the philosophical thoughts of Nietzsche, and this is precisely what the fascists and Nazis deliberately did to impose and propagate their ideas on European society. Frankl understood the true meaning of Nietzsche’s thoughts, ideas, and aphorisms which helped him build his own will to live and find it for those with mental problems and trauma.

As noted above, the writer often resorted to citing the ideas of the German thinker. His book mainly includes those that are associated with the motivational drivers of the individual and the survival aspects of human nature. He does this for explanatory purposes to show the development of his unique ideas of the will to the meaning of life and the will to have hope (Frankl 6). These concepts of Frankl are a natural continuation of the inferences of Nietzsche in the postmodern setting. Nietzsche saw good only in the distant future and believed that he was living in a spiritually dead society since he considered Christianity to be an antihuman and unnatural religion (50). Frankl was forcibly placed in the most antihuman and deadly place where the only fate that awaited him was death, and this triggered his most robust sense of meaning (“Finding meaning in difficult times (Interview with Dr. Viktor Frankl)”). His will for the meaning of life and the hope he gained from the works of Nietzsche motivated him to want to live on and survive.

Existentialism and the Will to Meaning Frankl in Man’s Search of Meaning

In one of the previous paragraphs, it was argued that Frankl’s book is a manifested existentialism in psychiatry. It is true because the writer used the conceptual foundations of this philosophical theory in formulating his methodology of mental therapy. These include the relativity of meaning, existence’s absurdity, and objective standards’ absence (“Existentialism”). Frankl’s reasoning shows that he fully embraced an existentialist worldview when developing logotherapy (86). When treating a patient, he tried to create in them the will to search for the meaning of life and for life itself (Frankl 87). Consequently, he aroused passion in patients for something that seemed to them meaningless. Frankl used this absurd mechanic to develop the most genuine feelings and thoughts in people with mental health problems.

As one can see, Frankl did copy the philosophical foundations of existentialism. The theoretical basis of his psychiatric therapeutic methodology has many similarities to those described by Camus in his The Myth of Sisyphus (6). However, this fact does not undermine the previously put forward assertion that his concept of logotherapy is original. Frankl lived in an existentialist world as his worldview was formed mainly during his survival in a concentration camp. Existentialism is how he naturally perceived the world. The originality of these philosophical ideas belongs to him and other pioneers of this movement equally.

Nowadays, logotherapy is a relatively old concept since its practice dates back over 60 years. However, it is still a very effective method for relieving symptoms of psychological illnesses and treating mental disorders, even in very severe cases. A recent study by Bahar et al. found that “death anxiety and depression of diabetic patients with depression were reduced by following logotherapy training, and their hope was increased” (1). The long history of the psychotherapeutic approach Frankl founded proves that logotherapy will remain relevant for a long time and may even be practiced after another shift in the cultural paradigm.

Traces of Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory in Frankl’s Psychotherapy

Frankl was one of the second generations of psychiatric professionals. The influence of the major ideas and critical concepts of the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, is well seen in the writer’s therapeutic approach. Some of these are Freud’s concepts of the unconscious and the subconscious, which adherents of some psychological schools use today, are also present in logotherapy. (Snowden 3). During a logotherapy session, the patient has to listen to both pleasant and disagreeable things (Frankl 86). It is done to reach the areas of the person’s personality mentioned above to find triggers and drivers of the will to meaning and activate them.

There are other Freudian concepts that Frankl incorporated into his psychiatric methodology. Freud believed that the primary motivational driver of human endeavors and actions is the desire for pleasure (“3. Foundations: Freud”). In logotherapy, the mental health professional tries to bind the will to meaning to a sense of satisfaction in the perception of their patient. Simply put, the psychiatrist tries to explain and convince the patient that they will begin to enjoy again when they find the meaning of life.

One may also find an element of Freud’s personal worldview in Frankl’s logotherapy. Moreover, it is also related to an existentialist perspective on the world. This element is Freud’s atheistic view of the nature and origin of the universe (“3. Foundations: Freud”). In existentialism, the absence of God implies the lack of objectivity of things, views, and statements and the freedom of the individual in all aspects of their life. Frankl used the absolute subjectivity that existentialism brings to find and build a will to meaning in patients.

Conclusion

This essay is both an inquiry and an assessment of Man’s Search of Meaning, the magnum opus of Victor Frankl. He was a European thinker of Jewish origin, psychiatrist and writer, Holocaust survivor, and logotherapy founder. It was found that he developed this unique psychotherapeutic methodology using his own knowledge and experience of survival in one of the most deadly extermination camps of Nazi Germany. The theoretical basis of logotherapy was found to have roots in the philosophies of Nietzsche and Camus and Freud’s psychoanalysis. However, Frankl’s ideas are still original as his existentialist worldview was developed naturally, mainly due to the brutal conditions in which he was forcibly placed.

This paper also assessed the value of theoretical inferences and Frankl’s logotherapy. Interestingly, logotherapy is actively practiced today and is an effective psychiatric technique even in complicated cases where mental disorders are aggravated by drugs or physical illness. It is very unusual for psychological techniques with more than half a century of history. For example, modern psychological professionals do not use the practical part of Freud’s psychoanalysis simply because many of his ideas have been revised or rejected. It can be safely argued that Frankl’s legacy continues to exist in several scientific disciplines and does it successfully. The value that Man’s Search of Meaning carries will be relevant and undeniable for a very long time.

Works Cited

“3. Foundations: Freud.” YouTube, uploaded by YaleCourses, 2008, Web.

Bahar, Adele, et al. “Effectiveness of Logotherapy on Death Anxiety, Hope, Depression, and Proper Use of Glucose Control Drugs In Diabetic Patients with Depression.” International Journal of Preventive Medicine, vol. 12, no. 6, 2021, Web.

Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus. Penguin Books Limited, 2013.

Duignan, Brian. “Postmodernism.”Encyclopedia Britannica, Web.

“Elie Wiesel.”NobelPrize.org, Web.

“Existentialism.”YouTube, uploaded by Daniel Bonevac, 2013, Web.

“Finding meaning in difficult times (Interview with Dr. Viktor Frankl).”YouTube, 2011, Web.

Frankl, Victor. Man’s Search of Meaning. Beacon Press, 2006.

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil. Edited by Hortsmann, Rolf-Peter and Judith Norman, Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Snowden, Ruth. Freud: The Key Ideas: Psychoanalysis, dreams, the unconscious and more. Hachette UK, 2017.

“Viktor Frankl Interview – 1979.”YouTube, uploaded by Shiro, 2019, Web.

Xin, Qi. A Brief History of Human Culture in the 20th Century. Springer Singapore, 2019.

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