Čovjekovo traganje za smislom

The masterpiece Man's Search for Meaning by Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl is one of the most influential psychological and philosophical works of the 20th century. The book is divided into two parts: the first presents the author's personal and harrowing account of surviving Nazi concentration camps, while the second outlines the fundamentals of logotherapy—the "Third Viennese School" of psychotherapy founded by Frankl. In the first part, the author does not focus solely on the horrors and torture; instead, he analyzes the psychological states of the prisoners in detail, noting that those who survived the harsh conditions were usually the ones who possessed a strong inner motive, a goal, or love for someone that kept them alive. The book's central thesis is that a person can be stripped of everything except the last of the human freedoms: the freedom to choose one's own attitude toward the circumstances in which one finds oneself. Frankl goes on to explain logotherapy (derived from the Greek word logos—meaning), an approach that highlights the human "will to meaning" as the primary motivational force within the individual. The work offers profound inspiration, reminding the reader that suffering loses its destructive power the moment we imbue it with meaning, and that each of us bears the responsibility of finding our own life's purpose.