An Introduction to Logotheraphy
Mass Market Paperback, 226 pages
English language
Published July 6, 1971 by Pocket Books.
Dr. Viktor E. Frankl is professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Vienna, head of the Department of Neurology at the Poliklinik Hospital in Vienna, and president of the Austrian Medical Society for Psychotherapy. He is the leader and originator of the school of logotherapy or existential analysis.
After three grim y ears at Auschwitz and other Nazi prisons, Dr. Frankl gained freedom only to learn that almost his entire family had been wiped out. But during, and indeed partly because of, the incredible suffering and degradation of those harrowing years, he developed his theory of logotherapy.
In his own words, "logotherapy...makes the concept of man into a whole...and focuses its attention upon mankind's groping for a higher meaning in life." (back cover)
Dr. Viktor E. Frankl is professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Vienna, head of the Department of Neurology at the Poliklinik Hospital in Vienna, and president of the Austrian Medical Society for Psychotherapy. He is the leader and originator of the school of logotherapy or existential analysis.
After three grim y ears at Auschwitz and other Nazi prisons, Dr. Frankl gained freedom only to learn that almost his entire family had been wiped out. But during, and indeed partly because of, the incredible suffering and degradation of those harrowing years, he developed his theory of logotherapy.
In his own words, "logotherapy...makes the concept of man into a whole...and focuses its attention upon mankind's groping for a higher meaning in life." (back cover)
The meaning of life in relation to all one went through during the holocaust, and how only the meaning in life kept one going. A book explaining the psychology of the oppression and its affects after it ended, as well as a general overview of logotherapy.
The last book I read during this year (2015) and the one with the most impact on me. A long time since a book made me think, feel and reflect so deeply on life. Truly a a masterpiece and a gem of a book!
The last book I read during this year (2015) and the one with the most impact on me. A long time since a book made me think, feel and reflect so deeply on life. Truly a a masterpiece and a gem of a book!
A great and very interesting book about the author story about surviving Auschwitz and his search for meaning. Just reading about what he has experienced in the concentration camps & how he dealt with his mental health, it's very fascinating and insightful.
(I've read the story, but I not fully read the afterwords, the language after the "main" part is complicated to understand)
Nonethenless it's a great book!
A great and very interesting book about the author story about surviving Auschwitz and his search for meaning. Just reading about what he has experienced in the concentration camps & how he dealt with his mental health, it's very fascinating and insightful.
(I've read the story, but I not fully read the afterwords, the language after the "main" part is complicated to understand)
Nonethenless it's a great book!
The first part reminded me of the book "Night" (1960) by Elie Wiesel. Both are very important books to understand the intentisty and brutalism of concentration camps.
The second part explains the basis of Logotherapy, whose basis is the human´s will to meaning. In that sense it remined me of the book "Punished by rewards".
The first part reminded me of the book "Night" (1960) by Elie Wiesel. Both are very important books to understand the intentisty and brutalism of concentration camps.
The second part explains the basis of Logotherapy, whose basis is the human´s will to meaning. In that sense it remined me of the book "Punished by rewards".
"Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, 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.... Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!"
"Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, 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.... Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!"
There isn't much I can add about the effects of reading this book/essay. As I digested the horrors of the holocaust through the eyes of Viktor Frankl, a man determined to understand why humans strive for life despite enduring an enormous amount of suffering, I was struck by several thoughts.
The first, was how rhetorically effective his essay used a seamless integration of personal anecdote and thesis statement. I hardly knew I was reading an argument in support of logotherapy until the book was complete. I had never heard of Frankl's will to meaning psychology and I found it, well, meaningful.
The second thought that occurred to me was how I even came to read this book in the first place. It was honestly pretty random. It had been on my list of books to read, something formulated many years ago - so long I have no idea what inspired …
There isn't much I can add about the effects of reading this book/essay. As I digested the horrors of the holocaust through the eyes of Viktor Frankl, a man determined to understand why humans strive for life despite enduring an enormous amount of suffering, I was struck by several thoughts.
The first, was how rhetorically effective his essay used a seamless integration of personal anecdote and thesis statement. I hardly knew I was reading an argument in support of logotherapy until the book was complete. I had never heard of Frankl's will to meaning psychology and I found it, well, meaningful.
The second thought that occurred to me was how I even came to read this book in the first place. It was honestly pretty random. It had been on my list of books to read, something formulated many years ago - so long I have no idea what inspired its inclusion - and I decided to pick it up because it seemed the right length for my mood. Well it turns out my subconscious has been assembling a fantastic little seminar on the literature of epiphany. My recent sequence of books all constellate around epiphanic moment (or their notable lack): Three Pillars of Zen, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Charles Baxter's essay Against Epiphanies in Burning Down the House, and now this, a book that sets out to formalize the mechanics of epiphany into a system of psychology that starts with the assertion that humans are foremost driven by a search for meaning.
I'll need to write something more significant to synthesize the interactions between these books but it's all there. I seem to be in the midst of profound study and I'm only just now aware of it. Perhaps this is my epiphany.
A must read for all those struggling with life and a unique case study of life in concentration camps.
it's more important than ever to read this book. finding meaning in suffering and living for a purpose instead of pleasure is sage advice. also there are only two types of people - decent and indecent.
it's more important than ever to read this book. finding meaning in suffering and living for a purpose instead of pleasure is sage advice. also there are only two types of people - decent and indecent.
“Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!"
“Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!"
Surprisingly inspirational and thought-provoking.
Very book.
This book actually helps us get closer to the meaning of life.
Most important thing to live a happy life? - Attitude.
Victor Frankl's idea is not a new one, but his life experiences and his explanation of his logotherapy are moving and helpful. I don't know if he provides a completely satisfactory counter-argument to someone like Camus, whom I also admire greatly, and I suppose one's personal philosophy of life has a piece added to it every time another great philosopher is encountered.
It would be presumptuous of me to attempt to summarize Dr. Frankl's life study and many publications in any simple way, but isn't that what the internet is for (besides pornography)? So here it is. Add the following three quotations, song lyric and Jewish myth together for an approximation of Frankl's philosophy.
1."A high station in life is earned by the gallantry with which appalling experiences are survived with grace." Tennessee Williams
2. "It is never by chance that one takes the dishonorable way." Albert Camus.
3. "The …
Victor Frankl's idea is not a new one, but his life experiences and his explanation of his logotherapy are moving and helpful. I don't know if he provides a completely satisfactory counter-argument to someone like Camus, whom I also admire greatly, and I suppose one's personal philosophy of life has a piece added to it every time another great philosopher is encountered.
It would be presumptuous of me to attempt to summarize Dr. Frankl's life study and many publications in any simple way, but isn't that what the internet is for (besides pornography)? So here it is. Add the following three quotations, song lyric and Jewish myth together for an approximation of Frankl's philosophy.
1."A high station in life is earned by the gallantry with which appalling experiences are survived with grace." Tennessee Williams
2. "It is never by chance that one takes the dishonorable way." Albert Camus.
3. "The fact that life has no meaning is a reason to live - moreover, the only one." Emil Cioran
4. The lyrics to The Impossible Dream from the Man of La Mancha
5. The Kabbalistic idea of tikkun olam.
While the 1st half of the book was very interesting, the second half, where he explains his theories was just too dry for me.
Humbling. Powerful. I wonder who I'd be if I'd read this thirty years ago? This feels like the sort of book that has a small window of opportunity for affecting a life: read it too young, and it won't really make sense. Too old, and by then you've found your own answers (if you're lucky) or still not get it and never will.
I recommend erring on the read-it-young side. It seems like a useful part of one's growing-up toolkit.
Humbling. Powerful. I wonder who I'd be if I'd read this thirty years ago? This feels like the sort of book that has a small window of opportunity for affecting a life: read it too young, and it won't really make sense. Too old, and by then you've found your own answers (if you're lucky) or still not get it and never will.
I recommend erring on the read-it-young side. It seems like a useful part of one's growing-up toolkit.
