Viktor Emil Frankl (1905-1997), Austrian psychiatrist and psychologist. One of the leading representatives of the humanistic trend in psychology.
The author of the concept of logotherapy, according to which the driving force behind human behavior is the desire to find and realize the meaning of life existing in the outside world. A person does not ask this question, but answers it with his real actions. The role of meaning is played by values - semantic universals that generalize the experience of mankind. Frankl describes three classes of values that make a person’s life meaningful:
- values of creativity (primarily labor);
- values of experience (in particular, love);
- attitude values (a consciously developed position in critical life circumstances that cannot be changed).
By realizing meaning, a person thereby realizes himself; self-actualization is only a by-product of the realization of meaning. Conscience is an organ that helps a person determine which of the potential meanings inherent in a situation is true for him.
Frankl singled out three ontological dimensions (levels of existence) of a person:
- biological
- psychological
- poetic or spiritual
It is in the latter that the meanings and values are localized, which play a decisive role in relation to the underlying levels in the determination of behavior. The embodiment of a person’s self-determination is the ability: to self-transcendence, orientation outside oneself; to self-detachment; to take a position in relation to external situations and to oneself. Free will in the understanding of Frankl is inextricably linked with responsibility for the choices made, without which it degenerates into arbitrariness. Logotheration is based on the patient’s awareness of responsibility for finding and realizing the meaning of his life in any, even critical, life circumstances.
Publications
- «Man’s Search for Meaning» 1979