Wörterbuch der Logotherapie und Existenzanalyse

The dictionary has two objectives: For one, it wants to facilitate the reading of Frankls work and to help understand it correctly and in appropriate depth. Secondly, it aims to present Frankls logotherapy as authentically as possible, so that the various differentiations of logotherapy can be appreciated in their closeness on their distance to Frankl. The realization of these two main intentions requires the presentation firstly of logotherapeutic terms, secondly of linguistic figures like metaphors and analogies, and thirdly of foreign words. A part of the book is dedicated to each of these categories. The first part contains a selection of the relevant terms of logotherapy. It presents them in highly compact text blocks that have been chosen from the German writings of Frankl. The presentation of terms has the following structure: (1.) Each term is introcuced by remarks that present (a) the general understanding, (b) specific knowledge related to the respective discipline, and (c) the relationship with logotherapy; (2.) this is being followed by a concise title that captures the main idea of the respective quotation and (3.) the selected quotation with exact reference. In this first part those wide dispersed passages have been assembled that contain the multi-faceted thoughts paraphrasing the respective term that Frankl put down in different times and in different writings. The second part contains linguistic figures, particularly metaphors and analogies that Frankl uses for aesthecti and methodological-didactic reasons in a very careful manner. The treatment of the linguistic figures proceeds along the following steps: (1.) Each of the selected pictorial linguistic forms was given a title, like for example "stable as metaphor for the past"; (2.) each is presented in a quotation; (3.) each closes with a commentary, which contains the explanations, amplifications, and connections to other themes that are necessary for a more profound understanding, as well as remarks on conditions and limits of validity. This part shows on the one hand the metaphoric richness of Frankls diction and documents on the other hand the hermeneutic relevance of analogies in logotherapy. The third part comprises those words the meaning of which is likely not be obvious to everyone. This is why it contains numerous foreign words in the traditional sense as well as outmoded words that are no longer in use, and also dialect expressions. The explanation of the foreign words contains almost always the fundamental meaning of the elements of the respective words, mostly Latin or Greek. The sentences that Frankl quotes in the original language have been translated into German. This ist where the extensive vocabulary, the creative fantasy and the ornamental style become readily apparent. The tri-partite dictionary of logotherapy presents Frankl above all as a knowledgeable physician, neurologist and psychiatrist with religious-philosophical background, as well as an aesthete of language who left us expressions that are profound, memorable, and to the point.