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The Will to Meaning: Finding Purpose in Life
'Even the tragic and negative aspects of life, such as unavoidable suffering, can be turned into a human achievement by the attitude which a man adopts toward his predicament... to transform despair into triumph.'
Holocaust survivor Viktor E. Frankl is known as the founder of logotherapy, a mode of psychotherapy based on our desire to search for meaning in our lives.
The Will to Meaning offers an introduction to Frankl's pioneering system of thought, and outlines the psychological tools needed to find hope in the face of adversity.
Holocaust survivor Viktor E. Frankl is known as the founder of logotherapy, a mode of psychotherapy based on our desire to search for meaning in our lives.
The Will to Meaning offers an introduction to Frankl's pioneering system of thought, and outlines the psychological tools needed to find hope in the face of adversity.
197 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 6, 2025
About the author
Viktor E. Frankl
193 books8,379 followersViktor Emil Frankl was an Austrian neurologist, psychologist, philosopher, and Holocaust survivor, who founded logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy that describes a search for a life's meaning as the central human motivational force. Logotherapy is part of existential and humanistic psychology theories.
Logotherapy was promoted as the third school of Viennese Psychotherapy, after those established by Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler.
Frankl published 39 books. The autobiographical Man's Search for Meaning, a best-selling book, is based on his experiences in various Nazi concentration camps.
Logotherapy was promoted as the third school of Viennese Psychotherapy, after those established by Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler.
Frankl published 39 books. The autobiographical Man's Search for Meaning, a best-selling book, is based on his experiences in various Nazi concentration camps.
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October 14, 2025
AN EXCELLENT SUMMATION OF THE PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS OF LOGOTHERAPY
Viktor Emil Frankl (1905-1997) was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist and a Holocaust survivor, as well as the founder of logotherapy, a form of existential psychotherapy. He wrote in the Preface of this 1969 book, “This book is the outcome of a series of lectures I was invited to give during [1966]… [I was asked] to explain the system that characterizes logotherapy. While it has often been pointed out that logotherapy, in contrast to the other schools of existential psychiatry, has developed a proper therapeutic technique, it has scarcely been noticed that it also is the last psychotherapy that is conceptualized in a systematic way…
“[L]ogotherapy is based on the following three concepts: (1) the freedom of the will; (2) the will to meaning; and (3) the meaning of life… The freedom of will involves the issue of determinism versus pan-determinism… the will to meaning is … distinct from the concepts of the will to power and the will to pleasure… The meaning of life relates to the issue of relativism versus subjectivism.
“The APPLICATIONS of logotherapy… are threefold. First of all, logotherapy is applicable as a treatment of noogenic neuroses; second, logotherapy is a treatment of psychogenic neuroses, i.e., neuroses in the conventional sense of the word; and third, logotherapy is a treatment of somatogenic neuroses or, for that matter, somatogenic diseases in general.” (Pg. vii-viii)
He continues, “What I term the existential vacuum constitutes a challenge to psychiatry today. Ever more patients complain of a feeling of emptiness and meaninglessness, which seems to me to derive from two facts. Unlike an animal, man is not told by instincts what he MUST do. And … he is no longer told by traditions what he SHOULD do. Often he does not even know what he basically wishes to do. Instead, either he wishes to do what other people do (conformism), or he does what other people wish him to do (totalitarianism).” (Pg. ix)
He adds, “In contrast to most of the existentialist schools of thought, logotherapy is in no way pessimistic; but it is realistic in that it faces the tragic triad of human existence: pain, death and guilt. Logotherapy may just be called optimistic, because it shows the patient how to transform despair into triumph. In an age such as ours… psychiatry must see its principal assignment in equipping man with the ability to find meaning.” (Pg.. ix-x)
In the Introduction, he observes, “Approaching human beings merely in terms of techniques necessarily involves manipulating them, and approaching them merely in terms of dynamics implies reifying them, making human beings into mere things. And these human beings immediately feel and notice the manipulative quality of our approach and our tendency to reify them. I would say, reification has become the original sin of psychotherapy. But a human being is no thing. This non-thingness, rather than nothingness, is the lesson to learned from existentialism.” (Pg. 6)
He states, “[Man] is capable of choosing his attitude toward himself… a person is free to shape his own character, and man is responsible for what he may have made out of himself. What matters is not the features of our character or the drives and instincts per se, but rather the stand we take toward them. And the capacity to take such a stand is what makes us human beings.” (Pg. 17)
Later, he notes, “it is not the function of logotherapy to give answers. Its actual function is rather that of a catalyst.” (Pg. 45)
He asserts, “To be sure, man is free to answer the questions he is asked by life. But this freedom must not be confounded with arbitrariness. It must be interpreted in terms of responsibleness. Man is responsible for giving the RIGHT answer to a question, for finding the TRUE meaning of a situation. And meaning is something to be found rather than to be given, discovered rather than invented.” (Pg. 62) He acknowledges, “Itis true that we logotherapists are convinced, and if need be, persuade our patients, that THERE IS a meaning to fulfill. But we do not pretend to know WHAT the meaning is.” (Pg. 68)
He points out, “But philosophy has been disdained by Sigmund Freud and dismissed by him as nothing but one of the most recent forms of the sublimation of repressed sexuality. I personally believe that philosophy is not a mere sublimation of sex but rather that sex often serves as a cheap escape from precisely those philosophical and existential problems which beset man.” (Pg. 84)
He explains, “The existential vacuum is no neurosis; or, if it is a neurosis at all, it is a sociogenic neurosis, or even an iatrogenic neurosis---that is to say, a neurosis which is caused by the doctor who pretends to cure it. How often does a doctor explain away the patient’s concern about an ultimate meaning of life in the face of death, by conceiving of ‘ultimate concern’ as castration fear. To the patient it means a relief to know that he need not worry about the question of whether or not life is worth living, but may instead just face the fact that his Oedipal complex is not yet settled. To be sure, such an interpretation would constitute a rationalization of existential despair.” (Pg. 88)
He told a patient, “Immanuel Kant had no children; but would anyone venture to doubt the extraordinary meaningfulness of his life? If children were the only meaning of life---life would become meaningless because to procreate something which in itself is meaningless would certainly be the most meaningless thing.” (Pg. 122)
He observes, “a neurotic is religious or irreligious irrespective of being a neurotic. The neurotic may be religious either despite or because of being neurotic. This fact reflects the independence and authenticity of religion. To all appearances religion is indestructible and indelible. Even psychosis cannot destroy it.” (Pg. 137-138)
Later, he adds, “Logotherapy does not cross the boundary between psychotherapy and religion. But it leaves the door to religion open and it leaves it to the patient whether or not to pass the door. It is the patient who has to decide whether he interprets responsibleness in terms of being responsible to humanity, society, conscience, or God. It is up to him to decide to what, to whom, and for what he is responsible.” (Pg. 143)
He argues, “But what about the issue at hand, is God dead? I would say that God is not dead but silent. Silent, however, he has been all along. The ‘living’ God has been a ‘hidden’ God all along. You must not expect him to answer your call…The fact that no answer comes back to you is proof that your call has reached the addressee, the infinite.” (Pg. 154)
This is an excellent introduction and summary of Logotherapy.
Viktor Emil Frankl (1905-1997) was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist and a Holocaust survivor, as well as the founder of logotherapy, a form of existential psychotherapy. He wrote in the Preface of this 1969 book, “This book is the outcome of a series of lectures I was invited to give during [1966]… [I was asked] to explain the system that characterizes logotherapy. While it has often been pointed out that logotherapy, in contrast to the other schools of existential psychiatry, has developed a proper therapeutic technique, it has scarcely been noticed that it also is the last psychotherapy that is conceptualized in a systematic way…
“[L]ogotherapy is based on the following three concepts: (1) the freedom of the will; (2) the will to meaning; and (3) the meaning of life… The freedom of will involves the issue of determinism versus pan-determinism… the will to meaning is … distinct from the concepts of the will to power and the will to pleasure… The meaning of life relates to the issue of relativism versus subjectivism.
“The APPLICATIONS of logotherapy… are threefold. First of all, logotherapy is applicable as a treatment of noogenic neuroses; second, logotherapy is a treatment of psychogenic neuroses, i.e., neuroses in the conventional sense of the word; and third, logotherapy is a treatment of somatogenic neuroses or, for that matter, somatogenic diseases in general.” (Pg. vii-viii)
He continues, “What I term the existential vacuum constitutes a challenge to psychiatry today. Ever more patients complain of a feeling of emptiness and meaninglessness, which seems to me to derive from two facts. Unlike an animal, man is not told by instincts what he MUST do. And … he is no longer told by traditions what he SHOULD do. Often he does not even know what he basically wishes to do. Instead, either he wishes to do what other people do (conformism), or he does what other people wish him to do (totalitarianism).” (Pg. ix)
He adds, “In contrast to most of the existentialist schools of thought, logotherapy is in no way pessimistic; but it is realistic in that it faces the tragic triad of human existence: pain, death and guilt. Logotherapy may just be called optimistic, because it shows the patient how to transform despair into triumph. In an age such as ours… psychiatry must see its principal assignment in equipping man with the ability to find meaning.” (Pg.. ix-x)
In the Introduction, he observes, “Approaching human beings merely in terms of techniques necessarily involves manipulating them, and approaching them merely in terms of dynamics implies reifying them, making human beings into mere things. And these human beings immediately feel and notice the manipulative quality of our approach and our tendency to reify them. I would say, reification has become the original sin of psychotherapy. But a human being is no thing. This non-thingness, rather than nothingness, is the lesson to learned from existentialism.” (Pg. 6)
He states, “[Man] is capable of choosing his attitude toward himself… a person is free to shape his own character, and man is responsible for what he may have made out of himself. What matters is not the features of our character or the drives and instincts per se, but rather the stand we take toward them. And the capacity to take such a stand is what makes us human beings.” (Pg. 17)
Later, he notes, “it is not the function of logotherapy to give answers. Its actual function is rather that of a catalyst.” (Pg. 45)
He asserts, “To be sure, man is free to answer the questions he is asked by life. But this freedom must not be confounded with arbitrariness. It must be interpreted in terms of responsibleness. Man is responsible for giving the RIGHT answer to a question, for finding the TRUE meaning of a situation. And meaning is something to be found rather than to be given, discovered rather than invented.” (Pg. 62) He acknowledges, “Itis true that we logotherapists are convinced, and if need be, persuade our patients, that THERE IS a meaning to fulfill. But we do not pretend to know WHAT the meaning is.” (Pg. 68)
He points out, “But philosophy has been disdained by Sigmund Freud and dismissed by him as nothing but one of the most recent forms of the sublimation of repressed sexuality. I personally believe that philosophy is not a mere sublimation of sex but rather that sex often serves as a cheap escape from precisely those philosophical and existential problems which beset man.” (Pg. 84)
He explains, “The existential vacuum is no neurosis; or, if it is a neurosis at all, it is a sociogenic neurosis, or even an iatrogenic neurosis---that is to say, a neurosis which is caused by the doctor who pretends to cure it. How often does a doctor explain away the patient’s concern about an ultimate meaning of life in the face of death, by conceiving of ‘ultimate concern’ as castration fear. To the patient it means a relief to know that he need not worry about the question of whether or not life is worth living, but may instead just face the fact that his Oedipal complex is not yet settled. To be sure, such an interpretation would constitute a rationalization of existential despair.” (Pg. 88)
He told a patient, “Immanuel Kant had no children; but would anyone venture to doubt the extraordinary meaningfulness of his life? If children were the only meaning of life---life would become meaningless because to procreate something which in itself is meaningless would certainly be the most meaningless thing.” (Pg. 122)
He observes, “a neurotic is religious or irreligious irrespective of being a neurotic. The neurotic may be religious either despite or because of being neurotic. This fact reflects the independence and authenticity of religion. To all appearances religion is indestructible and indelible. Even psychosis cannot destroy it.” (Pg. 137-138)
Later, he adds, “Logotherapy does not cross the boundary between psychotherapy and religion. But it leaves the door to religion open and it leaves it to the patient whether or not to pass the door. It is the patient who has to decide whether he interprets responsibleness in terms of being responsible to humanity, society, conscience, or God. It is up to him to decide to what, to whom, and for what he is responsible.” (Pg. 143)
He argues, “But what about the issue at hand, is God dead? I would say that God is not dead but silent. Silent, however, he has been all along. The ‘living’ God has been a ‘hidden’ God all along. You must not expect him to answer your call…The fact that no answer comes back to you is proof that your call has reached the addressee, the infinite.” (Pg. 154)
This is an excellent introduction and summary of Logotherapy.
January 22, 2026
Frankl describes more than convincingly that through the understanding of the concept of multiple dimensions of meaning, we can come to understand that while the shape meaning projects into our lives may seem at times impossible, inscrutable and unidentifiable as one form or another, the true shape of this meaning does not change, and remains eternally regardless of personal success.
His field of Logotherapy as a framework for practicing psychology is unifying and inspired, and while I do not agree with the final argument that because the ultimate meaning cannot be known by virtue of its shape being only a projection into the lower dimensions of our own understanding, that we must instead invest in the meaning through the intermediary of an Ultimate Being who is capable of understanding the meaning for us, I have no doubt that the tools provided by his framework are some of the most valuable in the world we live in today, more than perhaps even Viktor ever knew.
His field of Logotherapy as a framework for practicing psychology is unifying and inspired, and while I do not agree with the final argument that because the ultimate meaning cannot be known by virtue of its shape being only a projection into the lower dimensions of our own understanding, that we must instead invest in the meaning through the intermediary of an Ultimate Being who is capable of understanding the meaning for us, I have no doubt that the tools provided by his framework are some of the most valuable in the world we live in today, more than perhaps even Viktor ever knew.
December 11, 2025
Food for thought and considering how we find purpose and what that means really.
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