The title sketches something more than a theme: it contains a definition or, at least, an interpretation of man. Of man as a being who ultimately seeks meaning. Man is always oriented and ordered to something that he is not himself; whether it is a meaning he has to fulfill or another human being he encounters. In one way or another, the fact of being a man always points beyond oneself, and this transcendence constitutes the essence of human existence.
Is it not true that man aspires himself radically to be happy? Didn't Kant already recognize this, adding only that man should aspire also to become worthy of happiness? I would say that what the human being really wants is not happiness in itself, but a foundation for being happy. Once this foundation has been laid, happiness or pleasure arise spontaneously...
Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) was one of the most paradigmatic psychotherapists of the 20th century. After Freud's psychoanalysis and Adler's individual psychology, the logotherapy developed by Frankl became the "third Viennese school of psychotherapy". Frankl himself witnessed the same expression of human pain during the Second World War, with his captivity in a concentration camp and the loss of practically all his relatives. After 1945 it became world-renowned as a model for overcoming injustice and suffering. Viktor Frankl's work is considered "one of the most extraordinary contributions of psychological thought in the second half of the 20th century.
Is it not true that man aspires himself radically to be happy? Didn't Kant already recognize this, adding only that man should aspire also to become worthy of happiness? I would say that what the human being really wants is not happiness in itself, but a foundation for being happy. Once this foundation has been laid, happiness or pleasure arise spontaneously...
Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) was one of the most paradigmatic psychotherapists of the 20th century. After Freud's psychoanalysis and Adler's individual psychology, the logotherapy developed by Frankl became the "third Viennese school of psychotherapy". Frankl himself witnessed the same expression of human pain during the Second World War, with his captivity in a concentration camp and the loss of practically all his relatives. After 1945 it became world-renowned as a model for overcoming injustice and suffering. Viktor Frankl's work is considered "one of the most extraordinary contributions of psychological thought in the second half of the 20th century.
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