Your In-Class Quiz
Your in-class quiz will ask you to interpret Death in Teheran section about a Persan servant who encounters Death. The servant borrows his master's horse and rushes toward his own Death.
What does this parable mean in light of Frankl's actions in the book? You will be asked to write a thesis and support it with 3 paragraphs.
Here is some decent commentary.
Man’s Search for Meaning Essay Assignment (Expanded)
Viktor Frankl argues in Man’s Search for Meaning that in the face of suffering (the dominant feature of existence), we must use our free will to choose the appropriate attitude toward that suffering. We can either see suffering as cause to be angry animals, looking at life as little more than a place of senseless futility that justifies an attitude of nihilism so that our life is little more than unleashing our beastly, hedonistic passions and live a life of alienated selfishness. Or in the face of suffering we can elevate our humanity by adopting an attitude that says we must find courage, conviction, and moral righteousness through a Higher Purpose or Meaning.
Viktor Frankl witnessed both attitudes in the concentration camps. He observed people either descended into moral dissolution, becoming dehumanized animals who lived a day-to-day existence without purpose, or they found a purpose that preserved and even elevated their humanity. His mission in Man’s Search for Meaning is to persuade us to become Destiny Seekers, people who becoming morally righteous by finding meaning.
However, there is a camp of thinking that is skeptical of the idea of meaning for four reasons.
The first reason that meaning is so subjective, varying from person to person, that to discuss it as an essential life force therefore is absurd.
Secondly, the skeptic will argue that people don’t have any objective meaning. Rather, they pursue some illusion or other that gives them a sense of purpose—perhaps a false one—that gives them motivation. In other words, people motivate themselves by making up all sorts of incentives, but these incentives could be less about “meaning” and more about chimeras.
A third point of skepticism is that there are people who find meaning in very disturbing ways, most notably by being brainwashed and manipulated such as a person who converts to a religious cult or perhaps to some extremist ideology.
The skeptic’s fourth point of contention is that she will argue that we cannot choose meaning because we are not agents of free will; rather, we are agents beholden to forces we cannot control, namely, determinism, the philosophy that states our biology and environment affect our behavior and that “choices” are just an illusion. We say we “chose” to do something after the fact, but in truth, we were hard-wired to act in such a way.
Addressing the skeptic’s points above, support, refute, or complicate Frankl’s argument that we are responsible to be Destiny Seekers and find our own meaning in order that we make the appropriate response to a life of suffering and that failure to find meaning will doom us to the hell of the “existential vacuum.”
Suggested Structure:
Introduction: Frame the debate or write a compelling anecdote that transitions to your thesis.
Thesis
Paragraphs Address Each of the Skeptic’s Points
One or two paragraphs address the idea that meaning is too individual and subjective.
One or two paragraphs that address the idea that meaning is an illusion we use to motivate ourselves.
One or two paragraphs that address the idea that “meaning” or a found purpose can be the result of brainwashing and manipulation.
One or two paragraphs that address the idea that we don’t choose meaning; some of us may have a sense of meaning, but only because we are hard-wired to. In contrast, some of us are hardwired to NOT have a sense of meaning and be okay with that.
Two counterargument-refutation paragraphs that address your opponents’ views.
Important Note
If you're refuting the skeptics point by point, the counterargument section is not necessary because your WHOLE essay is a refutation.
Conclusion
Conclusion is a more emotional (pathos) restatement of your thesis.
Critique Examples
D.G. Meyers, author of the above essay, writes about how he feels about his terminal cancer in the context of meaning.
Meyers makes the following assertions:
1. There is not always a "why" except on Frankl's misreading of Nietzsche.
2. The Holocaust represents a new order of reality that defies meaning and this is affirmed by other survivors who don't have a "meaning agenda."
3. Frankl does not "plumb the depths of evil" in the Holocaust because to do so would not support his thesis that meaning can be found in all circumstances.
4. Being worthy or not of one's suffering is an irrelevant point when one is being sent to the gas chamber.
5. The Holocaust is too extreme and too unusual to make Frankl's message applicable to the common reader.
Let us look at "do-gooders" to see if they have found meaning or something else.
Read "Why Do-Gooders Make the Rest of Us Uncomfortable."
Writing a Thesis for Your Essay
Qualities of an Effective Thesis
One. One sentence that declares or asserts a position that can be demonstrated with examples.
Two. The examples can be expressed in mapping statements or mapping components.
Three. Avoids being self-evident or obvious but creates new insights.
Four. A good thesis is visceral, from the gut, meaning you have an immediate emotional connection to it. The intellect comes later.
Five. A good thesis has a dependent clause that is the concession clause addressing the opposing condition. Examples:
While there is much to admire in Writer X's principle of the Noble Slacker, his argument fails when we consider ___________, ____________, ______________, and _____________.
While I can appreciate many of the fine and brilliant points Author X makes in her critique of Viktor Frankl, her overall thesis fails to be persuasive because _____________, ____________, _______________, and ________________.
There is much to be admired in Writer X's support of the Utilitarian Argument, but his supports fail to convince in light of ___________, _____________, ______________, and ___________________.
While Frankl’s arguments for meaning are convincing, they fail to consider . . .
While Frankl’s supports make convincing arguments, they must also consider . . .
These arguments, rather than being convincing, instead prove . . .
While these authors agree with Frankl on point X, in my opinion . . .
Although it is often true that . . .
While I concede that my opponents make a compelling case for point X, their main argument collapses underneath a barrage of . . .
While I see many good points in my opponent’s essay, I am underwhelmed by his . . .
While my opponent makes some cogent points regarding A, B, and C, his overall argument fails to convince when we consider X, Y, and Z.
My opponent makes many provocative and intriguing points. However, his arguments must be dismissed as fallacious when we take into account W, X, Y, and Z.
While the author’s points first appear glib and fatuous, a closer look at his polemic reveals a convincing argument that . . .
Successful Thesis
A good thesis is a complete sentence that defines your argument.
A good thesis addresses your opponents’ views in a concession clause.
A good thesis often has mapping components or mapping statements that outline your body paragraphs. These mapping components are written in correct parallel structure.
A good thesis avoids the obvious and instead struggles to grapple with difficult and complex ideas. As a result, a good thesis feels fresh and insightful to the point that the writer actually WANTS to write the essay. When your thesis feels stale, you don't want to write your essay; rather, you merely SLOG through it like a dreadful chore.
A good thesis embraces complexity and sophistication but is expressed with clarity.
Class Exercise
In groups of 2, work on a thesis with a concession clause
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