Ernest Becker / Victor Frankl Term Paper

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document

Total Length: 710 words ( 2 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 2

Page 1 of 2

Becker had a much darker view of life than Frankl. His pessimism is reflected in the fact that, instead of focusing on the solution offered by therapy, Becker focused more upon the Denial of Death, or the cognitive fallacies and imaginative techniques human beings deploy to avoid death, such as idealizing another person, or trying to find something that they alone can uniquely excel at as a hero, even if this heroic ability is at something mundane. "The real world is simply too terrible to admit; it tells man that he is a small, trembling animal who will decay and die. Illusion changes all this, makes man seem important, vital to the universe, immortal in some way" (Becker 133).

Frankl believed that the meaning of life, for the individual could not be created, but must be authentic. Becker believed that human beings were sustained by false, invented purposes and meanings on a daily basis.

Stuck Writing Your "Ernest Becker / Victor Frankl" Term Paper?

View All Our Example Ernest Becker / Victor Frankl Term Paper

Have A Custom Example Essay Written

However, Becker also believed these false meanings could alleviate anxiety. But creating a purpose for life, Frankl wrote, was not a relief from anxiety. Creating a goal, heroic or otherwise, would not stem the fear of death, however, it would create a sense of fulfillment that would make the anxiety seem worthwhile. "What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him" (Frankl 127). For Becker, the distractions did provide a relief, however false, but for Frankl, the source of a good life was a positive rather than a negative sense of anxiety.

Works.....

Show More ⇣

     Open the full completed essay and source list


OR

     Order a one-of-a-kind custom essay on this topic


sample essay writing service

Cite This Resource:

Latest APA Format (6th edition)

Copy Reference
"Ernest Becker Victor Frankl" (2007, November 04) Retrieved July 5, 2025, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/ernest-becker-victor-frankl-34639

Latest MLA Format (8th edition)

Copy Reference
"Ernest Becker Victor Frankl" 04 November 2007. Web.5 July. 2025. <
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/ernest-becker-victor-frankl-34639>

Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

Copy Reference
"Ernest Becker Victor Frankl", 04 November 2007, Accessed.5 July. 2025,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/ernest-becker-victor-frankl-34639
   

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document
order custom essay example