"He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how", 1 Dec 2005

By	M. Alcat "bel_78" (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - See all my reviews

The above quoted phrase is from Nietzsche, but don't jump to conclusions: Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) certainly does not share his philosophical ideas. Frankl merely chose one of Nietzsche's phrases as a way to crystallize his own ideas: that is, that the most important force in a person's life is his will to meaning. In a way, this book shows how Frankl reached that conclusion.

The first part of "Man's search for meaning" deals with the author's experiences in a concentration camp, and the lessons he draw from that torturous experience. Frankl said that those that survived had one thing in common, a purpose, and that "everything can be taken from man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way no matter the circumstance".

In the second part of this book, Frankl explains logotheraphy, the theory of psychotherapy he developed. According to the author, logotherapy focuses on the meaning of human existence as well as on a person's search for such meaning, and the consequent purpose. Frankl says that "The meaning of life always changes, but... it never ceases to be", and that we really find ourselves when we find it, or at least our own personal version of it. Furthermore, he also says that "the meaning of our existence is not invented by ourselves, but rather detected," and that logos, or "meaning", is not only merely something emerging from existence itself but rather something confronting said existence. The author also points out that logotherapy gives great importance to responsibility, due to the fact that "each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible."

It is pertinent to highlight the fact that logotheraphy differs strongly from other two well-known schools of psychoteraphy, Freudian psychoanalysis (that centers on the will to pleasure), and Adlerian psychology (that focuses on the will to power). From my point of view, Frankl perspective makes for a much better explanation...

All in all, I highly recommend this book. I like the central place that Frankl gives to responsibility, and the idea that man "does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment". In my opinion, "Man's search for meaning" is interesting, but specially and most importantly, it makes sense...

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Thought-provoking and inspiring, 7 Oct 2005

By	C. MCCALLISTER "da_dolphin_boy" (The waters of the Great Lakes) - See all my reviews

The second part of the book describes the philosophy of life and the existential theory of psychology that Dr. Frankl derived from his experiences. I am a practicing clinical psychologist and, while Dr. Frankl probably would not label my brand of psychotherapy as his logotherapy, I credit this book as providing me with a framework that had been missing in my work. Through my education, I learned many techniques that were useful to me, and I read about many theories of psychology and psychotherapy that were interesting, but I ended up with a set of tools but no toolbox to put them in. "Man's Search for Meaning" gave me the toolbox, or the framework that tied everything else together. Read it; it will challenge you and probably change you.

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Absurdity redeemed, 28 Mar 2006

The first half is harrowing. The account of his time in Auschwitz and Dachau. The second half is about logotherapy. On a few pages he tells a few stories that you will remember for your whole life. By a simple change in perspective he shows how the most brutal and dehumanising experiences can be reinterpreted.

The humour comes in the statement of the theory of 'paradoxical intention'. He tells the story of a man who had a terrible stutter. Never in his life had this young man been free from the problem of stuttering, except on one occasion. This was when he jumped on a bus without buying a ticket. He resolved that the only way to escape was to enlist the sympathy of the conductor by demonstrating that he was a poor stuttering boy. At the moment, when he tried to stutter, he was unable to do so. Without meaning to, he had practised paradoxical intention.

This is an amazing book. I feel it has clarified in my mind ideas I have been yearning to understand for many years.