Logotherapy and Victor Frankl

Group 16 started off with their skit on group therapy that was used to introduce the idea of the way that people go through their lives. One person was just going through the motions, another was just following what others said but was happy with the way things were going, and the last had a major conflict in his life that he overcame by himself. The funny thing and I even asked this is class, “Why would the last person be in a therapy session?” The last person had the ideal life and yet he was in therapy? There must be something else wrong with him.

The author of this section Victor E. Frankl came up with Logotherapy which helps with the existential ideas by helping a person find their meaning in life. Frankl was a holocaust surviver which caused him to have a hard time developing a sense of freedom. By the way, it seems like most existentialist go through some serious traumatic experiences. Anyway, Logotherapy seemed like an interesting way to seek help for depression.

The main thing that I want to discuss is the idea of the existential vacuum that people experience. The existential vacuum is the lack of instinct for what to do, no traditional way tells that person what to do, and sometimes this causes them not do anything. From this, people enter existential boredom where they think life is meaningless. Many people are afraid of the idea of living forever because of this existential boredom. People like to give excuses like family and friends will eventual die, and I will eventually lose all will to live… Those things happen regardless of how long a person lives. Professional athletes can have their life dreams taken away from injuries and many family members and friends will die in our lifetimes, but that does mean that you can not find meaning in life. Even if the whole world appears to be falling apart and nothing seems to matter, that doesn’t mean you should just give up. Just get back on your feet and search for a new calling in life, and I’m sure you’ll find it.

Tragic Sense of Life

Group 15 up to bat, discussing Miguel de Unamuno’s idea on the Tragic Sense of Life. The main idea being that it is possible to live with contradictions; the biggest one being that we have this great sense of living even though knowing that you will eventually die. 

Unamuno believed that Passion and Commitment is more important than reason and rationality. Unamuno is all about action. Passion and commitment sounds more worthwhile, many people spend their entire lives looking for something to be passionate about, and probably many more people would use reason and use rationality to convince themselves that the things they are passionate about aren’t worth doing. My dad used to be one of the best bowlers in New Jersey and even has some tournament rings to prove it. He ended up getting a job instead of pursing the bowling career because his parents wanted him to get an actual job. Having said that, reason and rationality keeps us safe, but passion and commitment gives us happiness.Thad redirected the class several times saying that Unamuno believes the ethical person goes with his heart. The desires that you want are the right choices.

A quick remark on the lecture, the presentation was very nicely executed; a lot of polish on the little things. Most of Group 15 dressed in nice collared shirts with ties, and I believe is the first group to do a skit with no script. That alone showed that they put a lot time into preparing a good presentation. Thad had to redirect the class discussion a few times to the real meaning which I feel we never really hit on. The class got off topic towards the end as people were using confusing metaphors that weren’t connecting with the material. In closing, I feel like the group was very prepared to teach but it was on the wrong subject.

Dostoevsky - Underground Man

Group 13 presented on Dostoevsky, and the idea of the underground man. I just have say, they have done by far the best skit out of all the groups. The presentation was excellent, and the skit took the main idea and made it easy for everyone in the class to follow. It was a long skit lasting around eight minutes, and it really set the stage for the rest of the class.

The main idea presented by Dostoevsky was the idea of the Underground man. A person who has the free will to choose a completely random choice free of reason. Group 13 presented the idea, “Desire completely and stubbornly opposes reason”. Thad later gave the hypothetical situation; a choice between a blue button that grants wealth and a yellow button that has the person’s eyes poked with needles. He said the underground man could chose to pick the yellow button with no reason for choosing. I disagreed with the situation and Thad said, “You’re a scientist”. A scientist from the skit meant that you believed that every choice could be connected to a reason. We don’t do things without reason. You might say that you had no reason to do something, but there is always a reason.

This reminded me of the time we were talking about “wants”. I know with different authors you get different views of Existentialism, but the idea sounded very logical to me. Thad gave the situation of taking out the garbage, and even though he didn't want to do it he did it anyway to make his wife happy. Even if there are more favorable options you can choose a different choice but must want to do it. I know some people tried to say some situations in which they felt the choice was unwanted such as touching a hot plate that they knew was hot. Maybe they felt curious and wanted to see if they could touch it, maybe they were in a hurry to do something else, whatever the reason. They wanted to do it.