Few years ago, the Philippines was put at the center stage of
the world, with all the lights of mockery and criticisms. The bungled rescue of
Chinese tourists taken hostage by a dissatisfied former policeman, and the unpleasant
answer by Miss Philippines during the question and answer portion of the Miss
Universe contest caused the country to be in that infamous spot.
Daniel Wagner[1] thought these phenomena are
manifestations of the failure of Filipino people to demand enough of
themselves, or of their government. He said “Political apathy and a willingness
to accept a low common denominator of performance have taken their toll on the
psyche of the Philippine people.[2]”
On the one hand, these phenomena may mean as Wagner
described them to be, as failures. On the other hand, they may mean as catalyst
for progress. That would be the case if the Filipino people decide to mean them
as such, as opportunities to improve themselves.
A human person exists neither in a void nor in an empty
space. He/She exists in the world and consequently experiences human
situations.[3] A
human situation is exemplified by two characteristics: facticity, and
transcendence or possibility. Facticity refers to the things, events, etc.,
which a person can do nothing about, fixed and are predetermined. Transcendence refers to
those which a person can do change and are determinable. A human situation is
composed, therefore, of objective and subjective components. It is not
constituted by the subjective component alone.[4]
Human situation is one of the themes of existentialism.
Existentialism is a reaction to the neglect of human person’s individuality.
Taking into consideration the historical context wherein it flourished, a human
person was seen as one among the members of the herd, incapable of living an
authentic existence, since a person’s individuality was not recognized.[5]
The solution to this problem of the person’s inauthentic existence is
existentialism; to give emphasis on the person, empowering him/her to live
his/her own life by his/her own self.[6]
The human person, who was set aside into the background by systems of thoughts
and technology, is now placed at the center stage. Stumpf argues,
Existentialism
was bound to happen. The individual had over the centuries been pushed into the
background by systems of thought, historical events, and technological forces.
The major systems of philosophy had rarely paid attention to the uniquely
personal concerns of the individuals.[7]
In the course of the development of Existential, too much
emphasis has been given to the subject, along with its capacity to conceive the
meaning of the phenomena in his/her life. [8]
This is a mark of the existentialism. Quito states,
Existentialism
calls for a redefinition of man. I said, redefinition, though Existentialists
are averse to definitions. And rightly so, for a definition arrests, congeals,
and puts a finish to the question at hand. But the essence of man, to the mind
of the Existentialists, is precisely hostile to definition. Man is never a
captive, cramped being who is doomed to ruminate within the shackles of a
definition. Man is a free being, to begin with…Existentialism removed the
barriers, so to speak, and released man.[9]
Existentialism took the Cartesian first person standpoint
but, unlike its mother school Phenomenology, it shifted its attention from the
grassroots of human knowledge to the foundation of human existence and action;
from knowing the facts of life to the very reason of the person’s existence. They
are concerned with the existential underpinning of man’s life. More than the
question ‘What can I know?’ they
engage themselves with the inquiry of ‘What
is to exist?’ and ‘What is to be?[10]’
But nevertheless they do not totally abandon phenomenological method. They
utilize it as their means to grasp the meaning of life.
It is suggested that existentialism is like a fad, a
cultural movement rather than a philosophical position, one fades as its
precursors do.[11] But
on the contrary, existentialisim’s main tenets on the existence of man do
answer sorts of philosophical questions concerning different fields of human
interest, even after the death of Heidegger, Sartre, Camus, Marcel and the
other earlier existentialists. Existentialism proves its significance through
its impact to distinctive cluster of late twentieth and early twenty-first
century philosophical queries such as in the field of theology (through Rudolf
Bultmann, Paul Tillich, Karl Barth and others) and psychology (from Ludwig
Binswanger and Medard Boss to Otto Rank, R.D. Laing and Viktor Frankl).[12]
Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) belonged to the existential
movement in the field of psychology.[13]
He laid down the foundations for a new and original approach to human
situation. He conceptualized and
established logotherapy, which is, consequently, classified as psychotherapy
under the school of Existentialism.[14]
Logotherapy is a school of psychotherapy based on the assumption that man’s
primary motivational force is to find meaning in his life.[15]
It focused on the meaning of human existence and man’s search for such meaning.
The Third
Viennese School of Psychotherapy focuses on the meaning of human existence as
well as on man’s search for such meaning. This striving to find a meaning in
one’s life is the primary motivational force in man. Man’s search for meaning
is the primary motivation in his life and not a “secondary rationalization” of
instinctual drives. This meaning is unique and specific in that it must and can
be fulfilled by him alone; only then does it achieve a significance which will
satisfy his own will to meaning.[16]
Logotherapy is derived from the Greek word ‘logos’ which can be defined as meaning.
The term ‘therapy’ deals with treatment for disorders and maladjustment. It is
literally translated as ‘healing through meaning.[17]
It places man, as an individual, to the center of its interests. It has an
emphasis on the capacity of the subject in making choices and decisions, as he
is confronted by the realities of human situation.[18]
It asserts that the subject is a being naturally directed towards meaning,[19]
contrary to Sigmund Freud’s will to pleasure[20]
and Alfred Adler’s will to power.[21]
Such meaning is achieved through the subject’s exercise of his/her will to
meaning. This makes the meaning of life neither universal nor collective, but
rather personal, through the role being played by the person in achieving the
meaning of his/her own life.[22]
And like Kierkegaard
and the other existentialists, Frankl too concerned himself with the meaning of
life. The existentialists themes permeated Frankl’s logotherapy. These themes
evoke man’s freedom and responsibility, his uniqueness, life’s transitoriness,
death, committing to values and goals and finding meaning in life.[23]
He employed phenomenological method, also, as his means to realize such a
meaning of life.
In spite
of the fact that in its history, phenomenology has been described primarily as
a research orientation (Spiegelberg, 1972), it is also true that a number of
existential psychotherapists (Boss, 1979; Corlis and Rabe, 1969; Frankl, 1955,
1959, 1978; May, 1983; Van de Berg, 1955) have utilized phenomenological
methods of inquiry as an important part of treatment process. Viktor Frankl’s
(1955, 1959, 1967, 1969, 1975, 1978, 1997A, 1997B) existential psychotherapy is
such treatment approach. The central treatment factor in Frankl’s existential
approach is the use of the treatment relationship to facilitate a client’s
phenomenological struggle to gain awareness of meanings and meaning potentials.
[24]
Frankl’s logotherapy gives emphasis on
the subject and subjectivity, too.[25]
This accent on subjectivity is balanced by giving prominence on objectivity. Frankl
did not ignore the other aspect of the subject’s existence. That is the
objective part of life. He tried to
strike the equilibrium between subjectivity and objectivity.
Thus, we
can see that when speaking of man’s “being in the world” we should not deny
that there is also a “meaning in the world.” Only when we have taken this
meaning into full account have we supplemented the subjective aspect of human
existence with its objective correlate. Not before then have we become aware of
existence as being expanded in a polar tension between the self and the
world…We have to take into account the objectivity of the world which alone
presents a real challenge to the subject.[26]
In
an abridgement of a paper read before the American Conference on Existential
Psychotherapy, and in a chapter of his book Will
to Meaning, Frankl stated the concept of objectivity on the person’s search
for meaning; on logotherapy.
Preserving the ‘otherness,’
the objectiveness, of the object means preserving that tension which is
established between object and subject. This tension is the same as the tension
between the ‘I am’ and the ‘I ought,’ between reality and ideal, between being
and meaning. And if this tension is to be preserved, meaning has to be
prevented from coinciding with being. I should say that it is the meaning of
meaning to set the pace of being.[27]
Human
existence is viewed as being expanded in a polar field of tension between the
person and the world, between the subjective aspect and objective dimension. As
the person pursues for an authentic existence, he/she should not deny the
meanings inherent in the human situation where he/she is in. To exist
authentically is not the fulfillment of self-projected meanings. It is the
uncovering of meaning potentials inherent in every human experience and the
actualization of the chosen meaning potential, by the person himself.
Subjectivity comes along with
objectivity, in Frankl’s logotherapy. Facts and factors from the world are
nothing but the raw material for self-constructing acts, and a human life is an
unbroken chain of such acts. They present the tools, the means, to an end set
by man himself.[28]
[1] Daniel Wagner is Managing
Director of Country Risk Solutions, a political risk consultancy based in
Connecticut.
[2] Daniel Wagner. “The
Philippine Bus and Miss Universe,” Retrieved September 5, 2010 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-wagner/the-philippine-bus-and-mi_b_694544.html?ref=fb&src=sp
[3] Being
human profoundly means being engaged and entangled in a situation, and
confronted with a world whose objectivity and reality is in no way detracted from
by the subjectivity of that “being” who is “in the world.” [Viktor E. Frankl, The Will to Meaning (United Sates: New
American Library Inc., 1969), 51.]
[4] Steven Crowell, “Existentialism.”
Retrieved December 3, 2009 from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism
[5] Existentialism flourished
during the advent of industrial and technological advances in 19th
century, though it has its seminal thoughts in earlier philosophies such as in
Ancient and Medieval philosophies.
[6] Samuel Enoch Stumpf, Philosophy: History and Problem (United States: McGraw-Hill, Inc.,
1994), 482.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Frankl, The Will to Meaning (United Sates: New
American Library Inc., 1969), 50.
[9] Emerita S. Quito, The Meaning of Existentialism, ed,
Florentino H. Hornedo, (Manila: University of Santo Tomas Publishing House,
2003).
[10] Dr. Jovi Jim Aguas, “Existentialism,”
(lecture delivered at Philippine Dominican Center of Institutional Studies on
July 2, 2010)
[12] Crowell, “Existentialism.”
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15]What is Logotherapy and Existential Analysis? Retrieved
July 27, 2010 from http://logotherapy.univie.ac.at/e/institute_wwE.html
[16]
Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning (United States. Simon and Schuster
Publishing, 1984) 104-105.
[17] Reinhard
Zaiser, “Working on the noetic dimension of man: Philosophical practice,
logotherapy, and existential analysis,” Philosophical
Practice: Journal of American Philosophical Practitioners Association Vol.
1 Issue no. 2 (2005): 83-88.
[18] Jim Lantz, “Depression. Existential Family therapy,
and Viktor Frankl’s Dimensional Ontology,”
Contemporary Family Therapy, Vol. 23 Issue 1, (2001): 19-32.
[19] Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning, 104-105.
[20] Freudian Psychoanalysis
views man as a being driven by drives.
[21] Adlerian Individual
Psychology views man as a being directed to goals.
[22]Marciana Agnes, G. Ponsaran, “Uncovering Meaning in Viktor Frankl,” Colloquia Manilana
Volume 15 (2007): 188.
[23] See Gordon W. Allport, Introduction to Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning (United States:
Simon and Schuster Publishing), 1984.
[24] Lantz, Phenomenological Reflection, 220.
[25] Frankl, The Will to Meaning, 50.
[26] Frankl, Psychotherapy and Existentialism (United
Sates: Simon and Schuster, 1967), 55.
[28] Ibid., 61.
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