Viktor Emil Frankl M.D., Ph.D. (1905–1997) was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor. He was the founder of logotherapy, a form of Existential Analysis, and author of Man’s Search for Meaning, which has sold over 12 million copies. Continue reading Frankl: Tragic Optimism →

Truth, holding a mirror and a serpent (1896). Olin Levi Warner, Library of Congress

The sleep of reason produces monsters. ~ Francisco Goya

In a previous post, I discussed Princeton emeritus professor Harry Frankfurt’s distinction between lies and bullshit. I suggested that the difference between truth and falsity is even more important. Continue reading Does Truth Matter? →

Emeritus professor of philosophy at Princeton Harry Frankfurt‘s book, On Bullshit, was a surprise bestseller a few years ago. Given the public musings about our President, I thought it time to revisit the main idea of the book. Continue reading Lying vs. Bullshit →

Death causes many to doubt life’s meaning. It isn’t surprising that the connection between death and meaninglessness pervades the pages of Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, or that death figures prominently in much the world’s literature about the meaning of life. Continue reading Death and Meaning in Life →

The Denial of Death is a work by Ernest Becker which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1974, shortly after his death. (In the scene above Woody Allen buys the book for Diane Keaton in the Academy Award-winning movie “Annie Hall.”)

The book’s basic premise is that human civilization is a defense mechanism against the knowledge that we will die. Continue reading Ernest Becker’s, The Denial of Death →