Man's Search for Meaning

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What do you know about the Holocaust? When and why did the Holocaust occur?

Teaching Suggestion: The Holocaust, the Nazis’ systematic genocide of European Jews (and other minority groups) between 1941 and 1945, is an extremely sensitive subject and should be treated as such. Though this is a historical event that many find disturbing, it is important to learn about it and to understand its causes and effects—how Hitler’s regime and propaganda demonized the Jews, the racist ideology of the “Aryans,” and how the idea for the “Final Solution” emerged from growing German demoralization during World War II. Understanding the Holocaust is important when approaching Frankl’s book, which centers around the author’s experiences in a concentration camp during the Holocaust.

• This article from the Holocaust Encyclopedia offers an introduction to the Holocaust.
• This educational page contains lessons on the concentration camp at Auschwitz, where Frankl was sent; the first lesson provides a helpful introduction to the site.

2. Think about what you know about the field of psychology in the 19th and 20th centuries. Who are some important psychologists or psychiatrists you know about? What do you see as the goal of psychology and/or psychiatry? What are some ideas you associate with the field of psychology?

Teaching Suggestion: Though people have been thinking and writing about psychological concepts for thousands of years, the origins of modern psychology are usually placed in the late 19th century, when German physicians and academics such as Wilhelm Wundt began to study human mental processes and behavior more rigorously. Since Frankl himself was a psychiatrist, make sure to discuss important figures in the history of psychology of the period, including Sigmund Freud, Karl Jung, and William James. Discussing major schools of psychology (psychotherapy, Gestalt, behavioral psychology, etc.) could also provide students with a helpful frame of reference in categorizing Frankl’s contributions to the field.

• This timeline from Annenberg Learner charts many of the major developments in modern psychology.
• This article from the Viktor E. Frankl Institute of America provides an overview of Frankl’s psychological theory of logotherapy.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

What is the meaning of life? Nearly everybody asks themselves this question at some point in their life. Have you ever asked yourself this question? What answer, if any, have you been able to come up with? Why is this question so important?

Teaching Suggestion: Obviously, there are no wrong answers here. Push students to think about the question deeply and tackle it from multiple angles, including psychology, biology, physics, and history. If students struggle to get started, you may prompt them with any of several ontological questions, such as:

• Why do I live the life I do?
• What does it mean to be a good person?
• Do the rewards of life make the pain worth it?
• Why do evil and pain have to exist?