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A Reaction Paper On Man's Search For Meaning

Viktor Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning details his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps and the development of his theory of Logotherapy. Logotherapy asserts that finding meaning is the primary motivator for humans. Frankl found that prisoners who had reasons for hope and meaning, like completing work or reuniting with family, were able to endure greater hardships. The essay recommends Frankl's book for those seeking to understand life's purpose and meaning.

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Pearl Hazel Neri Camargo
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14 views2 pages

A Reaction Paper On Man's Search For Meaning

Viktor Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning details his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps and the development of his theory of Logotherapy. Logotherapy asserts that finding meaning is the primary motivator for humans. Frankl found that prisoners who had reasons for hope and meaning, like completing work or reuniting with family, were able to endure greater hardships. The essay recommends Frankl's book for those seeking to understand life's purpose and meaning.

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Pearl Hazel Neri Camargo
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A Reaction Paper on Man's Search for Meaning

Dr. Viktor Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning (New York: Washington Square Press, 1966) is
both an autobiographical account of his years as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps and a
presentation of his ideas about the meaning of life. The three years of deprivation and suffering he
spent at Auschwitz and other Nazi camps led to the development of his theory of Logotherapy,
which, very briefly, states that the primary force in human beings is "a striving to find a meaning in
one's life" (154). Without a meaning in life, Frankl feels, we experience emptiness and loneliness
that lead to apathy and despair. This need for meaning was demonstrated to Frankl time and again
with both himself and other prisoners who were faced with the horrors of camp existence. Frankl
was able to sustain himself partly through the love he felt for his wife. In a moment of spiritual insight,
he realized that his love was stronger and more meaningful than death, and would be a real and
sustaining force within him even if he knew his wife was dead. Frankl's comrades also had reasons
to live that gave them strength. One had a child waiting for him; another was a scientist who was
working on a series of books that needed to be finished. Finally, Frankl and his friends found
meaning through their decision to accept and bear their fate with courage. He says that the words
of Dostoevsky came frequently to mind: "There is one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my
suffering." When Frankl's prison experience was over and he returned to his profession of
psychiatry, he found that his theory of meaning held true not only for the prisoners but for all people.
He has since had great success in working with patients by helping them locate in their own lives
meanings of love, work, and suffering.
One of my reactions to the book was the relationship I saw between the “Capos” and ideas
about anxiety, standards, and aggression discussed in our psychology class. The Capos were
prisoners who acted as trustees, and Frankl says they acted more cruelly toward the prisoners than
the guards or the SS men. Several psychological factors help explain this cruelty. The Capos must
have been suppressing intense anxiety about “selling themselves out” to the Nazis in return for small
favors. Frankl and other prisoners must have been a constant reminder to the Capos of the
courage and integrity they themselves lacked. When our behaviors and values are threatened by
someone else acting in a different way, one way we may react is with anger and aggression. The
Capos are an extreme example of how, if the situation is right, we may be capable of great cruelty
to those whose actions threaten our standards.
I think that Frankl’s idea that meaning is the most important force in human beings helps
explain some of the disorder and discontent in the world today. Many people are unhappy because
they are caught in jobs where they have no responsibility and creativity; their work lacks meaning.
Many are also unhappy because our culture seems to stress sexual technique in social relationships
rather than human caring. People buy popular books that may help them become better partners in
bed, but that may not make them more sensitive to each other’s human needs. Where there is no
real care, there is no meaning. To hide the inner emptiness that results from impersonal work and
sex, people busy themselves with the accumulation of material things. With television sets, stereos,
cars, expensive clothes, and the like, they try to forget that their lives lack true meaning instead of
working or going to school to get a meaningful job, or trying to be decent human beings.
I have also found that Frankl’s idea that suffering can have meaning helps me understand
the behavior of people I know. I have a friend named Jim who was always poor and did not have
much of a family—only a stepmother who never cared for him as much as for her own children.
What Jim did have, though, was determination. He worked two jobs to save money to go to school,
and then worked and went to school at the same time. The fact that his life was hard seemed to
make him bear down all the more. On the other hand, I can think of a man in my neighborhood who
for all the years I've known him has done nothing with his life. He spends whole days smoking and
looking at cars going by. He is a burned-out case. Somewhere in the past his problems must have
become too much for him, and he gave up. He could have found meaning in his life by deciding to
fight his troubles like Jim, but he didn't, and now he is a sad shadow of a man. Without determination
and the desire to face his hardships, he lost his chance to make his life meaningful.
In conclusion, I would strongly recommend Frankl’s book to persons who care about why
they are alive, and who want to truly think about the purpose and meaning of their lives.

Personal Reaction Paper Man's Search for Meaning. Anti Essays. Retrieved September 18, 2017, from the World Wide
Web: http://www.antiessays.com/free-essays/Personal-Reaction-Paper-Man-s-Search-For-476837.html

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