Finding Something to Live and Die For | The Philosophy of Viktor Frankl

What keeps a human being going? The purest answer to this question is perhaps to be found in the worst of places. Austrian psychiatrist, philosopher, and author Viktor Frankl spent three years in four different concentration camps. He was at the mercy of sadistic SS guards and the so-called “Capos:” prisoners with special privileges who willingly collaborated with the Nazis and were even more ruthless than their masters.

The camp inmates were constantly exposed to famine, sickness, slave labor, and the possibility of punishment or execution. There was no freedom. The prisoners moved around like a defenseless flock of sheep, kicked and beaten by their shepherds, stripped of all human dignity.

What’s left to live for in such a horrible place like a concentration camp? When they’ve taken all your liberties and possessions, and when death at short notice is almost inevitable, is there any reason not to give up on life? Viktor Frankl concluded that there’s always a reason to live even in the worst conditions: there’s always meaning in suffering. And if we can grasp this meaning - this star in the sky - we can overcome even the most painful circumstances.

According to Viktor Frankl, it’s not pleasure nor success and power that essentially drives people; it’s finding something - a purpose, a meaning - to live and even die for (Finding Something to Live and Die For | The Philosophy of Viktor Frankl).

The quotes in this video are from Viktor Frankl's book 'Man's Search for Meaning'.

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00:00 - Intro
01:46 - The great divide
07:29 - Why meaning
10:38 - Finding meaning