Ansān dar justijū-yi ma'nā Persian 2022

Man’s Search for Meaning, written by Viktor Frankl (1946), is a highly influential work in psychology and the philosophy of life, based on the author’s experiences in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Frankl, a psychiatrist and the founder of logotherapy, demonstrates that even under the harshest and most inhumane conditions, human beings can survive and sustain hope by discovering meaning in life.

The book is divided into two main parts:

Experiences in the concentration camps, in which Frankl describes the major psychological stages prisoners went through—initial shock, emotional numbness, and the crisis following liberation—and emphasizes the role of meaning, love, and faith in psychological survival.

Logotherapy, or the will to meaning, where he explains his therapeutic theory, arguing that meaning is the primary motivating force in human life. According to Frankl, meaning can be found in three ways: through creative work and action, through experience and relationships, and through a dignified attitude toward unavoidable suffering.

Frankl stresses the inseparable link between freedom and responsibility, maintaining that human beings are always free to choose their attitude toward any situation. Despite some criticisms, the book has become one of the most inspiring and bestselling psychological works of the twentieth century and has had a profound global impact.