Man's Search For Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl

MAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANINGCRITIQUE OF PAN-DETERMINISMPsychoanalysis has often been blamed for its socalledpan-sexualism. I, for one, doubt whether thisreproach has ever been legitimate. However, there issomething which seems to me to be an even moreerroneous and dangerous assumption, namely, thatwhich I call "pan-determinism." By that I mean theview of man which disregards his capacity to take astand toward any conditions whatsoever. Man is notfully conditioned and determined but rather determineshimself whether he gives in to conditions orstands up to them. In other words, man is ultimatelyself-determining. Man does not simply exist but alwaysdecides what his existence will be, what he willbecome in the next moment.By the same token, every human being has thefreedom to change at any instant. Therefore, we canpredict his future only within the large framework of astatistical survey referring to a whole group; the individualpersonality, however, remains essentially unpredictable.The basis for any predictions would berepresented by biological, psychological or sociologicalconditions. Yet one of the main features of humanexistence is the capacity to rise above such conditions,to grow beyond them. Man is capable of changing theworld for the better if possible, and of changing himselffor the better if necessary.Let me cite the case of Dr. J. He was the only man Iever encountered in my whole life whom I would dareto call a Mephistophelean being, a satanic figure. Atthat time he was generally called "the mass murdererof Steinhof" (the large mental hospital in Vienna).154