At the visitors center on Mr. Blanc, I was outside when the fog rushed in. If I had waited 30 more seconds, I wouldn’t have been able to find my way back into the building. I wouldn’t have know which way to go. Sometimes searching for yourself feels like that. Existentialism is about find the essence of who you are.
May
Frankl
Mind Map
Notes
Viktor Frankl (1905-1997)
- Pre-War
Studied Schopenhauer
Corresponded with Freud; met Freud in 1925
Preferred Adler’s theory
Organized free counseling centers for teen - Prisoner of War
Arrested in Vienna; Sept. 1942
119104 (stamped on his arm)
Father died of starvation at Theresienstadt in Bohemia
Mother & brother killed at Auschwitz
Wife died at Bergen-Belsen
Transferred to Auschwitz
“The Doctor & The Soul” (life’s work)
Believed people with vision of future (important task; loved ones) more likely to survive
Man’s Search For Meaning
“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.”
“He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how. ” — Friedrich Nietzsche
Meaning must be found, not given
Meaning must be discovered, not invented
- Logotherapy
a will to meaning
against reductionism (the view that everything comes down to physiology) - Conscience
not Freud’s instinctual unconscious
source of your personal integrity; wisdom of the heart; core of your being
“Being human is being responsible — existentially responsible, responsible for one’s own existence.”
- How Find Meaning
Experiential values (experiencing something you value)
esthetic experience; peak experience
Creative values
becoming involved in a project; your life as a project
Attitudinal values; compassion, bravery, humor or suffering
Supra-meaning or transcendence
ultimate meaning in life
not dependent on others
not dependent on projects
not dependent on dignity
spirituality - Therapy
Paradoxical intention (used to break vicious cycles); try to sweat
Dereflection = tend to overemphasize ourselves; shift emphasis to someone - Terms
Noögenic Neurosis = existential neurosis; existential vacuum
Anticipatory anxiety = so afraid of getting symptoms get symptoms
Hyperintention = try so hard it prevents you from succeeding (insomnia)
Hyperreflection = thinking too hard about self
Rollo May (1909-1994)
- Brought Heidegger’s existentialism to America
Emphasized the need for love
Emphasized man’s capacity to “will”
Importance of facing loneliness and anxiety - 2 kinds of anxiety
Normal anxiety; can help you grow
Neurotic anxiety - Man’s capacity to “will”; actively choose the best of possibilities
We must choose to love
Love is composed of:
Sex
Eros (the need to unite with others)
Phila (brotherly love)
Agape (love for all mankind) - Existential Attitude
Existentialism = stand out or to emerge
Not essence but being
No truth or reality except as we participate in it
Knowledge is act of doing, not thinking
Spectator or player in game of life
Existence precedes essence
Emphasis on choice and responsibility
Worthwhile life is one that is authentic, honest and genuine - We face a predicament:
- 1. Powerlessness: inner feeling of emptiness
- 2. Anxiety: he likes anxiety better than the word stress
Inevitable characteristic of being human
Anxiety is apprehension cued from threat to some value
value that individual holds essential to his or her existence - 3. loss of traditional values
Ability to stand outside of self permits us to create values that help shape our lives
The answer to our dilemma is to discover and affirm a new set of values
Can’t reaffirm the traditional values
No reaffirmation of our essence can occur because we have no essence, only existence
- Rediscovering selfhood
Comes at risk of anxiety & inward crisis
Not automatic: born in a social context; grows in interpersonal relations - Ontological Assumptions
1. all living organisms are potentially centered in themselves; seek preserve that center
2. have need to go out from their centeredness, participate with other people
3. sickness is a method used to preserve his being, a strategy for survival
4. participate in self-consciousness that permits them to transcend immediate situation - 4 states of consciousness of self
1. stage of innocence (infant)
2. stage of rebellion (toddler and adolescent)
3. ordinary consciousness of self
4. creative consciousness of self (ability to see outside one’s usual limited viewpoint) - Summary
Psychological concepts need to be oriented within an ontological framework
Rediscovering feelings
Most have to start again & rediscover their feelings
Meaning is experienced by a person who is:
feels the power of his will to choose
able to live by his highest values
knows his own intentions
centered in himself
and is able to love
Love is the supreme value
Will is the power to make love active in the world
Self-awareness and care are necessary to choose values
WILL is necessary in order to actualize them
Need know self and develop will, attain inner strength, fulfillment, love
Terms
Viktor Frankl
- a will to meaning
- anticipatory anxiety
- conscience
- creative values
- dereflection
- esthetic experience
- existential vacuum
- experiential values
- hyperintention
- hyperreflection
- logotherapy
- Man’s Search For Meaning
- meaning
- noögenic neurosis
- paradoxical intention
- suffering
- supra-meaning or transcendence
- The Doctor & The Soul
Rollo May
- agape
- anxiety
- authentic
- centered
- consciousness of self
- creative consciousness
- eros
- existence precedes essence
- existential attitude
- Heidegger’s existentialism
- innocence
- loss of traditional values
- love
- neurotic anxiety
- normal anxiety
- ontological assumptions
- ordinary consciousness
- phila
- powerlessness
- rebellion
- rediscovering feelings
- rediscovering selfhood
- will
Quiz
Which means “to stand out or emerge:”
- a. reconstructivism
- b. existentialism
- c. daimonic
- d. agape
2. According to May, people must:
- a. increase their levels of positive regard
- b. generate testable hypotheses
- c. reveal their inner innocence
- d. rediscover selfhood
3. Who wrote Man’s Search For Meaning:
- a. Heidegger
- b. Maslow
- c. Frankl
- d. May
4. In an existentialist game of life, you must be a player or:
- a. spectator
- b. scalper
- c. referee
- d. coach
5. May reminds us of the importance of our:
- a. constructive alternativism
- b. ontological assumptions
- c. genetic predisposition
- d. ego
1. Which means “to stand out or emerge:”
- a. reconstructivism
- b. existentialism
- c. daimonic
- d. agape
2. According to May, people must:
- a. increase their levels of positive regard
- b. generate testable hypotheses
- c. reveal their inner innocence
- d. rediscover selfhood
3. Who wrote Man’s Search For Meaning:
- a. Heidegger
- b. Maslow
- c. Frankl
- d. May
4. In an existentialist game of life, you must be a player or:
- a. spectator
- b. scalper
- c. referee
- d. coach
5. May reminds us of the importance of our:
- a. constructive alternativism
- b. ontological assumptions
- c. genetic predisposition
- d. ego
