Victor Frankl and Logotherapy

Victor Frankl's Logotherapy

• Victor Frankl, a psychiatrist, was imprisoned in a concentration camp for three years during World War II.
• He wrote "Man's Search for Meaning", a book that provides a scientific and philosophical analysis of how people survive in the face of atrocities and horrors.

Principles of Logotherapy

• Logotherapy is based on the principle that the primary motivational force of every individual is to find meaning in life.
• Three basic principles of Logotherapy: • Life has meaning under all circumstances, even the most miserable ones. • The impetus to live is one's will to discover meaning in life. • Humans are free to discover meaning in everything they do, in what they experience, or at least in the decision they make when faced with immutable suffering.

Three Ways to Discover Meaning in Life

• Discovering meaning in life by creating a work or doing a deed: • Finding value in who we are through our actions creates meaning in our lives. • Examples: a scientist discovering a cure for cancer, a book vendor spreading learning, a father taking care of his son.
• Discovering meaning in life by experiencing something or encountering someone: • Finding meaning in life through positive experiences, such as encountering goodness, truth, beauty, and especially being loved.
• Discovering meaning in life by suffering: • Not mentioned in the provided text, but implied as the third way to discover meaning in life based on the context of Logotherapy.