On science and religion .......

[H2O Man]

"Shall the lion lie down with the lamb? And make love even? The Garden of Eden." --Gary Snyder; Earth House Hold


In one of the threads discussing "science" versus "religion," I mentioned the works of Viktor Frankl. He was a survivor of the Nazi death camps, who became one of the preeminent psychotherapists of the 20th century. He wrote 31 books on philosophy, psychotherapy, and neurology. The two that I think are best known in the United States are "Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy," and "Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning."

Frankl held very different views than his Viennese colleagues. When we think of Freud, we think of the will to pleasure; with Adler, we think of the will to power. Frankl, in my opinion, is more in the manner of Erich Fromm, and I think his works are of value to our society today.

Frankl believes that in the best circumstances, human beings have a drive that he calls a will to meaning. In our culture, that tends to be suppressed. It often comes through in times of severe distress. It is not at all in conflict with science; in fact, it goes hand-in-hand quite well.

However, when we think of the horrors of the Nazis, it's important to keep in mind that it was a culture based on a sick interpretation of science. The horrible abuses of human rights often involved the scientific "experiments" that occured in the death camps. The result wasn't that Frankl thought the Nazis may an error in the scientific method. Rather, he had to embrace the will to find meaning in order to survive. It wasn't because of the death camps he found that meaning; it was despite them.

I think that his theories are often viewed as related to R. Eucken's "noology." While I would not expect everyone to embrace these concepts, they offer certain advantages to discussions on a forum like DU. It does away with the need to see science and religion as polar opposites. Sometimes, mixing different things .... like hydrogen and oxygen .... works out to everyone's advantage.