Man's Search for Himself

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The book intends to answer the question "How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?" Part One constitutes Frankl's analysis of his experiences in the concentration camps, while Part Two introduces his ideas of meaning and his theory called logotherapy.

The central idea behind Man's Search to Meaning, as described throughout Part I of the book and extending to an academic discussion in Part II, titled "Logotherapy" is the idea of "Man's Will to Meaning" being the central and overarching goal of each person's life. People must work with feelings of anxiety, alongside an environment that pressures them to conform or rebel, while moving toward inner freedom. Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager ("A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp"). The body is the first element to break out of this stage, responding by big appetites of eating and wanting more sleeping. Only after the partial replenishing of the body is the mind finally able to respond, as "feeling suddenly broke through the strange fetters which had restrained it" (p. 111). In a 1991 survey conducted for the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club, Man's Search for Meaning was named one of the 10 most influential books in the US. [7] At the time of Frankl's death in 1997, the book had sold over 10 million copies and had been translated into 24 languages. As of 2022 the book has sold 16 million copies and been printed in 52 languages. [8]

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Man's Search for Himself is a book that has been mentioned over and over again in many of the other books on philosophy I've read, so I decided

He draws his insights from occasional tidbits with Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Kafka, whom he considers to have been influential on his thought with regards to the condition of man. He also integrated key psychodynamic concepts which are essential in the practice of therapy, case analyses, and so on. Life Is Beautiful (1997), film on how a positive attitude can be maintained in the worst of circumstances, including a concentration camp May opens the book by describing the existential crisis that modern mankind faces. He describes the concept of "hollow men." He also mentions man's social-seeking tendencies; and talks at length about loneliness. To love, one must be sensitive to feelings and thoughts, to the connection of body and mind, to nature and community, to all sense and intuition, passing from dawn to dusk, over and again. What arises from such emptiness is the need for authority, for someone or something to take control of, and then make better, what is neglected within.This begins the second stage, in which there is a danger of deformation. As the intense pressure on the mind is released, mental health can be endangered. Frankl uses the analogy of a diver suddenly released from his pressure chamber. He recounts the story of a friend who became immediately obsessed with dispensing the same violence in judgment of his abusers that they had inflicted on him. Through his power to survey his life, man can transcend the immediate events which determine him. Whether he has tuberculosis or is a slave like the Roman philosopher Epictetus or a prisoner condemned to death, he can still in his freedom choose how he will relate to these facts.” To create oneself is to transcend the fit of old masks, to move beyond those dependencies of childhood, to seek unfamiliar places that haven’t yet been explored. Freedom comes when people mold themselves and take care of others. Freedom comes first through self-awareness, expanding forever out. Somehow this book manages to be both great and completely average at the same time. Below, I will attempt to explain.

And did not Spinoza's refusing to flee from excommunication by his church and community mean the same inner battle of integrity, the same struggle for the power not to be afraid of aloneness, without which the noble Ethics, certainly one of the great works of all time, could not have been written?May was born in Ada, Ohio in 1909. He experienced a difficult childhood, with his parents divorcing and his sister becoming schizophrenic. His educational career took him to Michigan State College majoring in English and Oberlin College for a bachelor's degree, teaching for a time in Greece, to Union Theological Seminary for a BD during 1938, and finally to Teachers College, Columbia University for a PhD in clinical psychology during 1949. May was a founder and faculty member of Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center in San Francisco.[1] i59263246 |b441092000008999 |dccbk |g- |m |h2 |x0 |t0 |i0 |j18 |k101118 |n02-23-2017 05:04 |o- |aBF 67 M39

Man, furthermore, must make his choices as an individual, for individuality is one side of one’s consciousness of one’s self. We can see this point clearly when we realize that consciousness of one’s self is always a unique act—I can never know exactly how you see yourself and you never can know exactly how I relate to myself. This is the inner sanctum where each man must stand alone. This fact makes for much of the tragedy and inescapable isolation in human life, but it also indicates again that we must find the strength in ourselves to stand in our own inner sanctum as individuals.i18569274 |b1130001441809 |dpc |g- |m |h21 |x0 |t1 |i3 |j2 |k010630 |n11-15-2023 23:35 |o- |a150.13 |rM467 Those who live with existential anxiety lose themselves. Overwhelmed, confused by what is out there. They cannot clearly identify what they want out of life. They succumb to what is external instead of tending to what is sacredly internal. However, aspects of the book have garnered criticism. One of Frankl's main ideas in the book is that a positive attitude made one better equipped for surviving the camps. Richard Middleton-Kaplan has said that this implies, whether intentionally or unintentionally, that those who died had given up and that this paved the way for the idea of the Jews going like sheep to the slaughter. [12] Holocaust analyst Lawrence L. Langer criticises Frankl's promotion of logotherapy and says the book has a problematic subtext. He also accuses Frankl of having a tone of self-aggrandizement and a general inhumane sense of studying-detachment towards victims of the Holocaust. [13] [14] Those who don’t conform usually rebel. Their rebellion is a mistaken attempt at individuality, a failure of responsibility in reaction to what is external. Kitapla ilgili iki de eleştirim olacaktı; birincisi 3.bölümde yer alan Yaratıcı Bilinç başlığının çok soyut ve havada kalan bir bölüm olması. Okumakta ve anlamakta oldukça zorlandım. İkincisi ise eleştiriden ziyade kitabın yazıldığı tarihle alakalı. Yazıldığı döneme (ilk yayınlanma tarihi olarak 1953 gösteriliyor yani ikinci dünya savaşından sonraki soğuk savaş dönemi) günümüzde olduğundan daha fazla uyması şaşırtıcı değil ve evet; hala günümüze ışık tutuyor fakat ara ara yapılan yazıldığı döneme ilişkin çıkarımlar bana olmasa da olurmuş dedirtti. Belki kitabın bir “remaster” versiyonu olsa fena olmazmış. Benzer şekilde yazarın “ülkemiz” diyerek Amerikan halkından bahsettiği yerler var. Dediğim gibi; bir yazarın bulunduğu zaman ve mekandan bahsetmesi abes değil tabiki de fakat konu varoluşçu psikoloji olduğundan insan biraz daha genel bir anlatım bekleyebiliyor.