Man's Search For Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl

LOGOTHERAPY IN A NUTSHELLLet me explain why I have employed the term"logotherapy" as the name for my theory. Logos is aGreek word which denotes "meaning." Logotherapy,or, as it has been called by some authors, "The ThirdViennese School of Psychotherapy," focuses on themeaning of human existence as well as on man'ssearch for such a meaning. According to logotherapy,this striving to find a meaning in one's life is theprimary motivational force in man. That is why Ispeak of a will to meaning in contrast to the pleasureprinciple (or, as we could also term it, the will topleasure) on which Freudian psychoanalysis is centered,as well as in contrast to the will to power onwhich Adlerian psychology, using the term "strivingfor superiority," is focused.THE WILL TO MEANINGMan's search for meaning is the primary motivationin his life and not a "secondary rationalization" ofinstinctual drives. This meaning is unique and specificin that it must and can be fulfilled by him alone; onlythen does it achieve a significance which will satisfyhis own will to meaning. There are some authors whocontend that meanings and values are "nothing butdefense mechanisms, reaction formations and sublimations."But as for myself, I would not be willing tolive merely for the sake of my "defense mechanisms,"nor would I be ready to die merely for the sake of my"reaction formations." Man, however, is able to liveand even to die for the sake of his ideals and values!A public-opinion poll was conducted a few years agoin France. The results showed that 89 percent of the121