It
seems that Viktor Frankl did not write an extensive opus discussing objectivity
in logotherapy. A window to this component was provided in two brief
discussions on objectivity; one is through an abridgement of a paper read
before the American Conference on Existential Psychotherapy,[1] and the other is a chapter on the same topic
in his book Will to Meaning.[2]
There are morsels of thoughts on objectivity in Frankl’s works but no mass of
ideas can widely elucidate the notion of objectivity. These bits of ideas,
seemingly, do not provide a clear and accurate view of Frankl’s concept of
objectivity on logotherapy. This detail gives the researcher a reason to pursue
an explanatory interpretation on the objective dimension of Frankl’s
logotherapy.
The present
study aims to facilitate comprehension of the objective dimension of Frankl’s
logotherapy, to remove, overcome, or to explain obscurities, ambiguities,
conflicts, and other obstacles for a better understanding of this particular
dimension of Frankl’s logotherapy. With this, the present study poses the
following questions in order to realize this philosophical endeavor: How
does an objective dimension bear upon Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy? What is Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy? How does “objective dimension” operate in the Existentialist
Tradition?
Logotherapy
is healing through meaning. It describes man as a being directed towards
meaning. The discussion on the objectivity of logotherapy will contribute to
the deeper understanding of this established school of psychoanalysis in
connection with the philosophical school of existential phenomenology. It
endeavors to analyze the relationship of man with the phenomena around him en
route to a meaningful and authentic existence. It seeks to arrive at a balance
tension between objectivity and subjectivity in man’s existence.
This
philosophical endeavor aims to analyze the objective dimension of logotherapy.
In order to attain such, the researcher will discuss how the objective
dimension bear upon logotherapy, according to the existentialists’ tradition.
Such analysis of the aforementioned aspect of the objective dimension of
logotherapy, may shed light on the understanding of the concept of objectivity
on logotherapy.
The
works of Frankl were translated in twenty-seven languages. However, only those
available materials that were published in English will be dealt with,
particularly pertinent books on the objective dimension of logotherapy, namely The Man’s Search for Meaning and The Will to Meaning. Furthermore, the
researcher will employ the works of some existential philosophers relevant to
Frankl, such as Husserl’s The Crisis of
European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology, Scheler’s Formalism
in Ethics and Non-Formal Ethics of Values and Heidegger’s Being and Time. The present study will
be enriched by online authoritative philosophical references and articles from
different refereed publications discussing related ideas and issues to the
present study.
As a school of thought, existentialism
veers away from doctrinal thoughts and set of norms which tend to define the
person and his/her experience. These doctrinal thoughts and norms prevent the
person to be who he/she wants to be. Furthermore, they curtail the person to
have an encounter with the genuine source of knowledge and meaning of his/her
own life, which is his/her very own experience of a phenomenon.
Existentialism espouses human
freedom in dealing with phenomena en route to the realization and fulfillment
of the meaning of a person’s existence.[3]It
depicts a person as one capable of exercising his/her freedom. The person is a
being-for-itself (pour soi). He/She is in a state of self-awareness and
control. He/She is enabled, by his/her freedom, to make decisions, and become
responsible for his/her own life. Freedom is a necessary component in creating
an essence, and therefore in existence, for to exist is to create one’s
essence.[4]
It is through freedom that one can become whoever he/she wants to be, and
whatever his/her life will mean in the world.
Human existence and meanings are
viewed as tension between an objective dimension and a subjective dimension.[5]
They can be attributed neither to the objective dimension alone nor to the
subjective. Luijpen states,
As existing subjectivity, man is the
affirmation of the real world. The reality of the world, however, must be
conceived neither subjectivistically nor objectivistically. Conceived
subjectivistically, the world would be delivered to the arbitrariness of the
subject and consequently, cease to be objectively real. If, on the other hand,
the world is understood in the objectivistic sense, the subject would be
annihilated as existing affirmation of the world and thus would cease to be a
real subject…All being is essentially “sense;” outside the “sense” no reality
can be affirmed, and without affirmation of reality words have no meaning.[6]
Logotherapy
gives premium on the capacity of the person to choose the meaning of his/her
life, through his/her own freedom.[7]This
induced therapy[8]makes
the person aware of the meaningfulness of human existence which is achieved
through the choices and decisions he/she makes. It intends to bring the person
to an awareness of the meaning potentials intrinsic in every phenomenon he/she
experiences.[9]In
this discipline meanings are discovered rather than created by the person.[10]
They are a matter of personal discovery,[11]not
self-projection. Neither is the meaning of one’s life is not to be created by
the person, as well. It is to be chosen out of the discovered meaning
potentials inherent in every phenomenon.
Frankl’s theory of
logotherapy states that the primary motivational force of man is to find
meaning to his life. It allows the
person to be confronted with and reoriented towards the meaning of a phenomenon
in his life, which makes healing from neurosis possible, leading to the meaning
of his/her life.
It has the following
process and components. A phenomenon, in the world, is impinged upon the
person. A phenomenon has both a subjective dimension, where the person can
exercise his freedom, and an objective dimension, where the phenomenon is free
from biases and prejudices of the person. The person, by engaging with the
phenomenon through learned phenomenological method, is made aware of the
existence of meaning potentials.[12]
These meaning potentials are real and inherent in the phenomenon.[13]
Although they exist outside the person, they depend upon the person for their
actualization. Confronted with the meaning potentials (as his/her choices), the
person is able to make free choice of the meaning of the phenomenon.[14]The
chosen meaning can bring forth healing to the person, through its
actualization. This healing allows the person to find the meaning of his/her
own life.
The logotherapy has two correlative dimensions, namely the
subjective dimension and the objective dimension. The subjective dimension is an aspect of
logotherapy where the person can exercise his/her will, and where healing is
possible. The objective dimension is where the objects of person’s will;
meaning potentials exist. Meaning potentials are not projected by the person
towards the phenomenon. They are uncovered in the phenomenon beyond the
subjective dimension. Therefore they are latent or inherent in the phenomenon.
The objective dimension of a
phenomenon is its aspect independent from the person for what meaning
potentials it contains. The person is able to discover this dimension through
his/her capacity to detach himself/herself from himself/herself;
self-transcendence.[15]By
virtue of his capacity of self-transcendence, the person is capable of studying
events or objects dispassionately, without any prejudice or bias, and reach-out
for the meaning inherent in the phenomenon, free from the his/her pre-conceived
notions. The person, then, makes a subjective choice from objective choices.[16]
There
have been a considerable number of studies written discussing objectivity and
elaborating logotherapy but the researcher has not found any that expounds the
topic of objectivity in logotherapy. Some of these studies, however, have
notable chapters or parts which can be helpful to the researcher in explaining
the objective dimension in logotherapy. Below are literature and studies chosen
based on their relevancy to the study at hand.
Objectivity seems to be impossible
to gain in the presence of a person’s subjectivity. However, a considerable
number of studies conducted sustain the possibility of objectivity intertwined
with subjectivity. Atkins, in his article entitled ‘Ricoeur on Objectivity,’
examined the ways in which Ricoeur has articulated his particular form of
phenomenology and its notion of objectivity.[18]
Ricoeur’s notion of objectivity is expressed in various arguments concerning
understanding and explanation, extra-linguistic reality, cosmological time,
historical causality and most recently, the neuronal basis of mental life. The
discussion on the neuronal basis of mental life expounds the idea of objectivity
in the functions of a human brain. The framework of reality that can be deduced
from the argumentations made by Atkins presents the inter-play of
subject-object relation in reality. Such provides a basis for the possibility
of the existence of an objective dimension intertwined with subjectivity.
In Castillo’s article, objectivity has
subjectivity as its starting point.[19]
Though knowledge is traditionally considered as objective as much as it
corresponds to the phenomenon it expressed, it also takes into consideration
the discoveries and findings of a community of subjects, a scientific community
for example. That makes objectivity as a sum-total of processed subjectivities
of scientific activities. Castillo emphasized the correlative relationship
between the objectivity and subjectivity in every scientific endeavor. One way
of maintaining such relationship is by employing an analysis of
autobiographical texts written by scientists. Such method may clarify what is
objective and subjective in the result of a scientist’s experimentation. The prominence given by Castillo on the
correlative relationship between objectivity and subjectivity strengthens the
possibility of their coexistence within a single area.
Crowe
discusses objectivity in his article entitled ‘Objectivity versus Projection in
Lonergan,’ to highlight Lonergan’s concept of Projection.[20]
He considered the three levels of attaining knowledge. They are (1) experience,
(2) understanding, and (3) judgment. These levels culminate in the attainment
of an objective knowledge of the phenomenon being examined. It is by means of
experimentations positing not probabilities but rather certainties about the
phenomenon. This experimentation is sustained further by a process of
withdrawal from the relativity of the agent. Crowe’s finding about the process
of attaining knowledge is characterized by objectivity; consequently even its
result is objective. The possibility of the attainment of knowledge objectively,
untainted by subjectivity, paves the way for the establishment of an objective
dimension in a subjective existence.
In the
course of the development of philosophy, Husserl’s phenomenology had been
employed by some sciences as means to gain objectivity. Husserl gave emphasis
on the givenness of a phenomenon side by side with the priority of the self, on
the real and on the ideal. Leask explained how Husserl was able to use the
emphasis on the givenness as a means to affirm the existence of a transcendental
ego.[21]
As the subject is conscious of the givenness of a phenomenon, it is not simply
conscious of the object. It exercises its being as well. In being conscious, it
becomes transcendental ego. Leask further explored these Husserlian themes by
elucidating the subject and object relation as necessary-contingent
relationship. Husserl influenced in many ways the proponents of the
existentialism movement, particularly Scheler and Heidegger. Leask provides the
fact that Husserl, an advocate of objectivity through personal experience,
through his influence on the existentialist’s tradition, established
objectivity in such tradition.
In his
desire to maintain objectivity, Frankl employed Husserl’s phenomenology. Ryan
discusses Frankl’s logotherapy as a philosophy founded on the phenomenological
notion of intentionality.[22]
Frankl employed phenomenological method to establish certain principles for his
existential analysis, e.g. the essential structure of a human being is
intentionality, an orientation to or correlation with a transcendent reality.
He thought of two aspects of intentionality, viz. first, the orientation
of the subject towards transcendent realities other than itself, and second,
such orientation is confirmed through various intentional acts proper to
various transcendent realities.
Ryan further explains Frankl’s
notion of intentionality by illustrating the influences of three philosophers
to Frankl. They are Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, and Max Scheler.
In a detailed manner, Ponsaran
traced back the philosophical foundation of Frankl. She presented and justified
the influence of Heidegger and Scheler in Frankl’s logotherapy.[23]
Existential phenomenology discusses the rationale and a methodology that is
anchored on how the person does things and the way he thinks. To understand the
human experience, Frankl employed phenomenological method, a method parallel
with that of Heidegger and Scheler. In using this methodology, he arrived at
the various data on the nature of man.
Heidegger and Frankl share a common
notion of man as a being always involved in the world. The former calls this
‘projecting.’ The latter thought it is not simply projection, rather it is a
projection towards something, or more preferably, towards someone. “Being human
is always directed to something or someone other than itself, to a meaning to
fulfill or to another human being to encounter.”
Scheler and Frankl presuppose that
where a man’s heart is attached, is found the core of the essence of things.
They thought of first empowering the notic (or noetic) dimension of the subject,
for it to discover that in it is the truth. It is a bearer of values. However
both philosophers differ in their notion of the role of the subject. Scheler
considered the subject as one being filled with values by others. It is in a
passive mode. Frankl considered that it is the opposite.
Ponsaran’s exposition of the
influences of Heidegger and Scheler in Frankl’s logotherapy will be vital in
the attempt of the researcher to expose the objectivity in such a psychotherapy
and the bearing of objectivity in it. The relation of the subject with those
other than itself, as for example with values, is pivotal in establishing the
correlative existence of objectivity with subjectivity. Such relation
complements one another, rather than alienating each other.
In his
article ‘Phenomenological Reflection and Time in Viktor Frankl’s Existential
Psychotherapy,’ Lantz described Frankl as someone associated with phenomenology, though his
philosophy is accentuated by existentialism.[24]
His logotherapy employs the phenomenological reflection of noticing,
actualizing, and honoring with his notion of time as future, present, and past.
Lantz
exemplifies two things in such article. First, the influence of Husserl on
Frankl, as far as phenomenological reflection is concerned. Second, Frankl’s
notion of time, and types of meaning potentials, describe the function of man
in the world as seen through logotherapy, viz. to notice, to actualize, and to
honor. Such enumerated functions can help the researcher to fish-out ideas from
Frankl’s works for him to be able to expose Frankl’s notion of a subject, the
patient, in relation with his object, meanings and meaning potentials.
[1] PAE, 53-58.
[3] Aguas, 5.
[4] Quito, 25.
[5] Ibid.
[6] William A . Luipen, OSA. Existential
Phenomenology, ‘Duquesne Studies Philosophical Series’
(United States: Ad Press, LTD., 1960) 29-30.
[7] MSM,
104.
[8] A person does not naturally know the process of
logotherapy. The logotherapist needs to show to the person that there is a
meaning and that life not only holds a meaning, a unique meaning, for each and
every man, but also never ceases to hold such a meaning. Though it remains a
fact that the logotherapist cannot show to the patient the meaning of a given
situation, such task is for the person to do (UG,124.).
[9] Viktor Frankl, The Unconscious God (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975),
131. This will henceforth be called UG.
[10] WTM,,
62.
[11] Viktor Frankl, The Unheard Cry for Meaning (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978), 38.
This will henceforth be called UCFM.
[12] WTM,
57.
[13] UG,
125.
[15] Ibid., 48.
[16] PAE,
55.
[17] Emmanuel Batoon,
A Guide to Thesis Writing in
Philosophy. Part I. Proposal Writing (Sampaloc, Manila: REJN Publishing,
2005), 61.
[18] Kim Atkins, “Ricoeur on Objectivity: Between
Phenomenology and the natural Sciences.” Philosophy
Today, Vol. 46 Winter (2002): 384-393.
[19] Norberto Castillo, OP, “Rereading of Scientific
Objectivity. Scientific Truth as Subjectivity.” Philippiana Sacra, Vol. XXXI, No. 93 (1996): 457-479.
[20] Frederick E. Crowe, “Objectivity versus Projection
in Lonergan.” International Philosophical
Quarterly, Vol. XL, No.3 Issue No. 159 (2000):327-338.
[21] Ian Leask, “Husserl, Givenness and the Priority of the Self.” International
Journal of Philosophical Studies, Vol. 11, No.2 (2003): 141-156.
[22] W.F.J. Ryan S.J, “Viktor Frankl’s
Notion of Intentionality.” Essays in
Honor of Bernard Lonergan, eds., Timothy F. Fallon SJ and Philip Boo Riley.
United States: State University of New York Press, 1987. pp 79-93.
[23] Marciana Agnes G. Ponsaran, “The
Philosophical Foundations of Viktor Frankl’s Logotherapy.” Philippiniana Sacra, Vol. XLII No. 125 (2007): 339-354.
[24] Jim Lantz, “Phenomenological Reflection and Time in
Viktor Frankl’s Existential Psychotherapy,”
Journal of Phenomenological
Psychology, Vol. 31, No. 2 (2000): 220-231
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