DOI: 10.17072/2078-7898/2018-3-327-336

Philosophical and anthropological notions of Viktor Frankl: experience of historical reconstruction

Vyacheslav A. Dolin
Ph.D. in Philosophy,
Associate Professor of the Departament of Humanitarian,
Social and Economic Sciences

Belgorod Law Institute of Ministry of the Internal
of the Russian Federation named after I.D. Putilin,
71, Gorky str., Belgorod, 308024, Russia;
e-mail: v.a.dolin@mail.ru
ORCID: 0000-0001-7106-0623

The article deals with historical reconstruction of philosophical and anthropological theories, which substantiate Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy system. Methodological foundations of the research are theoretical conceptions of philosophical anthropology in its broadest understanding and conceptual methods of platonism and aristotelianism. For the correct reconstruction of V. Frankl´s system of philosophical and anthropological ideas the author reviewed concepts of essence, existence, meaning of life and actual problems of human being. Description of the philosophical and anthropological ideas of V. Frankl in the discourse of platonic and aristotelic traditions unites human nature and human existence in ontological dyad, and the meaning of life and actual problems of human being in axiological dyad. V. Frankl´s perception of ontological dyad give reasons to perceive him as «savior of Platonism» in situation of empiricism and scientism dominance in philosophical anthropology (in the tradition of Descartes – Kant´s – Husserl´s). V. Frankl’s analysis of axiological dyad follows the idea M. Scheler’s axiological ontologism and foresees G. Deleuze´s immanent and event-related understanding of meaning. According to V. Frankl´s anthropology the orthogonal and holistic understanding of human nature and existence of human being form the basis for the intentional and spiritual way to the realization of actual problems and human destiny. Integral result of V. Frankl´s anthropology is an image of Homo noeticus as a human of secular spirituality. As a result, predominant concepts of aristotelianism in V. Frankl’s anthropology complemented with platonic spiritual dimension of human being . In general V. Frankl provides synthesis of scientific and philosophical understanding of human being which is potentially compatible with religious anthropology. V. Frankl´s synthesis of platonism and aristotelianism corresponds with «aristotelic turn» of non-classical philosophy and potentially may be efficient for understanding peculiarities of human existence realization in the world of convergent technologies.

Keywords: Viktor Frankl, platonism, aristotelianism, logotherapy, meaning, antireductionism, convergent technologies.

References

Aleinik, R.M. (2013). Naturalistskiy povorot v filosofskoy antropologii [Naturalistic’ Turn of Philosophical Anthropology]. Filosofskaya mysl [Philosophical thought]. No. 3, pp. 139–169.

Babalaeva, M.V. (2008). Viktor Frankl: filosofskoe istolkovanie smysla stradaniya: dis. … kand. filos. nauk [Viktor Frankl: philosophical interpretation of the suffering’s meaning: dissertation]. Moscow: Institute of Philosophy RAS, 197 p.

Deleuze G. (2011). Logika smysla [The Logic of Sense]. Moscow: Akademicheskii Proekt Publ., 472 p.

Goncharova, N.A. and Kostyleva, I.V. (2015). Aksiologicheskie osnovaniya nadezhnosti lichnosti sotrudnikov politsii [Axiological grounds for the personal reliability of a police officer]. Psikhopedagogika v pravookhranitelnykh organakh [Psychopedagogics in Law Enforcement]. No. 2 (61), pp. 7–11.

Grigoryan, B.T. (ed.) (1986). Burzhuaznaya filosofskaya antropologiya XX veka [The bourgeois philosophical anthropology of the twentieth century]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 295 p.

Frankl, V. (1990). Chelovek v poiskakh smysla: sb. [Man’s Search for Meaning: col.]. Moscow: Progress Publ., 368 p.

Frankl, V. (1997). Doktor i dusha [The Doctor and the Soul]. Saint Peterburg: Yuventa Publ., 287 p.

Frankl, V. (2017). Doktor i dusha: Logoterapiya i ekzistentsialnyy analiz [The Doctor and the Soul: Logotherapy and existential analysis]. Moscow: Alpina-non-fikshn Publ., 338 p.

Frankl, V. (2011). Stradaniya ot bessmyslennosti zhizni. Aktualnaya psikhoterapiya [The Unheard Cry for Meaning. Actual psychotherapy]. Novosibirsk: Siberian University Publ., 105 p.

Frankl, V. (2000). Volya k smyslu [The Will to Meaning]. Moscow: Aprel-press Publ., EKSMO-Press Publ., 368 p.

Längle, A. (2011). Viktor Frankl. Portret [Viktor Frankl. Portrait]. Moscow: Rossiyskaya politicheskaya entsiklopediya (ROSSPEN) Publ., 247 p.

Längle, A. (2005). Viktor Frankl — poverennyy chelovechnosti [Viktor Frankl — Advocate for Humanity]. Voprosy psikhologii. No. 3, pp. 107–112.

Maslow, A.H. (1966). Comments on Dr. Frankl’s Paper. Journal of Humanistic Psychology. No. 6, pp. 107–112.

Massey, R.F. (1988). A Critique of Logotherapy as a Personality Theory. International Forum for Logotherapy. Vol. 11 (1), pp. 42–52.

Scheler, M. (1993). Chelovek i istoriya [Man and History]. THESIS. No. 3, pp. 132–154.

Shea, J.J. (1975). On the Place of Religion in the Thought of Viktor Frankl. Journal of Psychology and Theology. Vol. 3, pp. 179–186.

Valverde, K. (2000). Filosofskaya antropologiya [Philosophical Anthropology]. Moscow: Khristianskaya Rossiya Publ., 411 p.

Zamalieva, S.A. (2012). Uchenie Viktora Frankla o cheloveke: filosofsko-antropologicheskiy analiz: avtoref. dis. … kand. filos. nauk [The doctrine of Victor Frankl about man: a philosophical-anthropological analysis: Abstract of Ph.D. dissertation]. Saint Petersburg: Saint Petersburg State Universiry, 19 p.

Received 27.03.2018

For citation:

Dolin V.A. Philosophical and anthropological notions of Viktor Frankl: experience of historical reconstruction // Perm University Herald. Series «Philosophy. Psychology. Sociology». 2018. Iss. 3. P. 327–336. DOI: 10.17072/2078-7898/2018-3-327-336