VFI

VIKTOR FRANKL ARCHIV WIEN

VIKTOR FRANKL CHAIR FOR PHILOSOPHY OF PSYCHOLOGY

COGNITIVE SCIENCE PROGRAM at VIENNA UNIVERSITY

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Freedom of Will

Image of Man Motivation Theory

Frankl: Nous vis-a-vis Freud:Libido

Adler:Self Esteem

Behav.:Learning history

The Two-Fold Revolution of LTEA

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Tracing history of ideas in Frankl‘s works

1. 1925-1942 Psychodynamics2. 1945-1955 + Collectivism(s) / Biologism3. 1955-1970 + Behaviorism 4. 1970-1985 + Transpersonalism5. 1985-1997 + Psychologism

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1. 1925-1942 Individual Past2. 1943-1955 + Biology /Collective Past 3. 1955-1970 + Environment 4. 1970-1985 + Feeling 5. 1985-1997 + The Self (cf: Vitz: The Cult of the Self)

= too many variables explaining too much

= the philosophical paradox of overdetermination

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Another Overdetermination Example:Nature vs Nurture and Human Intelligence

1. Genetic Studies: Pedigree and Twin Studies (Monocygotic Twins

Raised Apart)Molecular Genetics

2. Social Studies: Support Programs (Malleability of IQ), etc. Adoption Studies Cognitive Training

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Overdetermination

1. Genetic Studies: 72 %

2. Social Studies: 70 %

Total: 142 %

Zimbabwe

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Overdetermination: When too many causes hide the effect they should

explain

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1. 1925-1942 Individual Past2. 1943-1955 + Biology /Collective Past 3. 1955-1970 + Environment 4. 1970-1985 + Feeling 5. 1985-1997 + The Self (Vitz: The Cult of the Self)6. After 1997 Contemporary behavioural sciences: find the

big TOE

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Logotherapy as a discipline of dialogue

The Contemporary Challenge?

1. 1925-1942 Individual Past2. 1943-1955 + Biology /Collective Past 3. 1955-1970 + Environment 4. 1970-1986 + Feeling 5. 1986-1997 + The Self 6. 1997- = The Brain

Under-determinitation = Reductionism to the core

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The Contemporary Face of Reductionism

1. Individual Past2. Biology3. Environment

Neurophysiology 4. Feeling 5. The Self

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The Contemporary Face of Reductionism

1. Individual Past2. Biology3. Environment

Neurophysiology 4. Feeling 5. The Self 6. The Noetic Person Frontal Cortex

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You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behaviour of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules. […] You’re nothing but a pack of neurons.

Crick 1994:11

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For the first time in their approx. 150 years, the behavioural sciences not only tell us how we function (mechanics of the mind), but also who we are (architecture and substance of the

mind).

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Some contemporary views on the soul

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Think back to the time before matter had collapsed into the first stars. Since the universe at this time consisted of simple particles randomly scattered through vast reaches of spaces, it seems unlikely that there was experience anywhere to be found. If the universe in this condition was wholly experience-free, how can simply rearranging the same elementary particles have given birth to something fundamentally new and different: consciousness? How can the bringing to gether of non-experiential things ever produce an experience? Even the simplest experience seems to be something wholly other than a collection of physical atoms.

The materialist‘s problem

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A new EMPIRICAL challenge for logotherapy:

No longer motivation theory but image of man.

And no longer as a philosophical issue, but as an empirical problem.

Logotherapy as a continuing idealist revolution

against reductionism

?

Logotherapy as a continuing idealist revolution

against reductionism

Who will accept the new challenge?

Elisabeth Lukas: Not who, but when will you do it.

?

     y

f

y

f

y

f

n (nous)

Psycho-physicalOrganism

Noetic Person

OrganismNoeticPerson

expresses itself

i.e. affects

Experience & Behaviour

Measurable(Tests, Observation, etc.)

Batthyany & Guttmann (2006)620 peer-reviewed studies1975-2005

Batthyany (2012)Follow-up review article91 peer-reviewed studies2005-2012

OrganismNoeticPerson

expresses itself

i.e. affects

Experience & Behaviour

MeasurableReducible

OrganismNoeticPerson

expresses itself

i.e. affects

Experience & Behaviour

MeasurableReducible

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Frankl‘s Core Ideas on the Noetic Person (Soul) (1950)

1. Psychotherapeutic Credo

The belief in the ability of the soul within the human under all conditions and circumstances to pull back and separate itself from its psychophysical dimensions and to assume a productive distance from it.

2. Psychiatry Credo

The belief in the persistence of the noetic person (soul) even behind the foreground symptoms of psychotic or neurological illness.

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How do we test the Credos vis-a-vis mind-brain reductionism?

1. Seek Frontier Situations and Conditions which may loosen the closely knit structure of the human person

2. Enables us to do fine grained analysis of the ontological structure of the human person

3. Use interdisciplinary methodology

4. Test predictions of materialism vs dualism

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Perfect Case 1:

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, OCD

1. Kidnaps the will 2. Robs patients of freedom despite better knowledge

& intentions3. Affects all dimensions of the patient.

4. As disorder of the freedom of will, it is the paradigmatic case for our research project.

Neuronal Causes(Jeffrey M. Schwartz et al., Los Angeles) (Scott Rauch et al., Boston)

Brain Differences – persons with OCD use different brain circuitry in performing a cognitive task than people without

the disorder – (Rauch et al. J. of Neuropsychiatry, 1997)

Orbitofrontal Cortex- the error detectorFunctions of the self-control are implemented by OFC-amygdala circuitryEvolved to temper pursuit of pleasure (limbic system) with consideration of context and risk

Basal Ganglia Caudate: the “thought gear shift”

Anterior Cingulate - gut feelingsAppropriate response to internal and external stimuliProjects to autonomic, visceromotor and endocrine systems

Glucose Metabolism in the Orbitofrontal Cortex

OCD and the Predictions of the Psychotherap. Credo

1. Difference btw. symptom and person2. Soul/noetic core cannot fall ill and therefore3. can distance itself from psy-phy dimensions4. is free not from conditions, but free how to deal with them

5. Causal efficacy of the soul on brain?

Empirical test of Psychotherap. Credo (i.e. Soul Hypothesis):

Apply this to OCD = 4 Steps (J. Schwartz, UCLA)

(1)Relabel

(2)Reattribute

(3)Refocus

(4)Revalue

It’s not me, it’s OCD, a braindisorder.

I decide against my kidnapped will and do what is really meaningful.

It works. And the urge is getting lower in comparison to the result of my meaningful work.

I feel an urge against my will. It is not my will, but a mis-firing brain.

(J. Schwartz, UCLA)

For one month, when obsessions come, then:

(1)Relabel

(2)Reattribute

(3)Refocus

(4)Revalue

Self-distancing

Self-Transcendence

Insight

Self-Distancing

I. Soft Prediction:

Psychotherapeutic Credo should work, i.e. symptom reduction:

Therapeutic Results after one month (only!)

II. Strong Prediction of the Soul Efficacy Hypothesis:

Should affect brain mechanics, i.e. nous-matter interaction.

I. Weak/soft Prediction: Confirmed!

Therapeutic Results after one month (only!)

1. 87% patients are symptom-free2. this is even better than paradoxical intention (usually 75%)

Predictions of the Psychotherap. Credo

1. Difference btw. symptom and person2. Soul/noetic core cannot fall ill and therefore3. can distance itself from psy-phy dimensions4. is free not from conditions, but free how to deal with them

5. Causal efficacy of the soul on brain?

P

P P

Core Prediction of the Soul Hypothesis:

1. Difference btw. symptom and person2. Soul/noetic core cannot fall ill and therefore3. can distance itself from psy-phy dimensions4. Soul/noetic core is meaning-oriented

5.Causal efficacy of the soul on brain?

P P P

Core Prediction of the Soul Hypothesis:

1. Difference btw. symptom and person2. Soul/noetic core cannot fall ill and therefore3. can distance itself from psy-phy dimensions4. Soul/noetic core is meaning-oriented

5.Causal efficacy of the soul on brain?

P P P

5.Causal efficacy of the soul on brain?

y

f

y

f f

n

?

?

Glucose Metabolism in the Orbital Cortex:

Same patient, severe OCD for > 20 years before and after four weeks „treatment“

Credo becomes an empirical fact

There is one particularly key point, both clinically and philosophically, to comprehend about what occurs at the interface of

the conscious mind and brain activity in the course of treatment–those moments always involve an active process.

For at the moment when the man with OCD summons the mental strength to exert his will and physically actualize his new

understanding by adaptively changing his meaningful behaviour, he will be overcoming tremendous biological forces that are operating

in order to resist that change.

And the force represents the essence of what the words active and purposeful really mean. In brief, these findings seem to

tell us onething, and they do so very loudly: “You are not your brain”.

(Schwartz 1999, J Clin Neuropsychiatry)

Credo becomes an empirical fact

There is one particularly key point, both clinically and philosophically, to comprehend about what occurs at the interface of

the conscious mind and brain activity in the course of treatment–those moments always involve an active process.

For at the moment when the man with OCD summons the mental strength to exert his will and physically actualize his new

understanding by adaptively changing his meaningful behaviour, he will be overcoming tremendous biological forces that are operating

in order to resist that change.

And the force represents the essence of what the words active and purposeful really mean. In brief, these findings seem to

tell us onething, and they do so very loudly: “You are not your brain”.

(Schwartz 1999, J Clin Neuropsychiatry)

Credo becomes an empirical fact

There is one particularly key point, both clinically and philosophically, to comprehend about what occurs at the interface of

the conscious mind and brain activity in the course of treatment–those moments always involve an active process.

For at the moment when the man with OCD summons the mental strength to exert his will and physically actualize his new

understanding by adaptively changing his meaningful behaviour, he will be overcoming tremendous biological forces that are operating

in order to resist that change.

And the force represents the essence of what the words active and purposeful really mean. In brief, these findings seem to

tell us onething, and they do so very loudly: “You are not your brain”.

(Schwartz 1999, J Clin Neuropsychiatry)

Replications:

Pure O-Subtype OCD

Social PhobiaGeneralized Anxiety DisorderHistrionic Subtype Borderline

…

Keyword: Intentional Neuroplasticity

(similar to, but going beyond Pathoplastics)

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Frankl‘s Core Ideas on the Noetic Person (Soul) (1950)

1. Psychotherapeutic Credo

The belief in the ability of the soul within the human under all conditions and circumstances to pull back and separate itself from its psychophysical dimensions and to assume a productive distance from it.

2. Psychiatric Credo

The belief in the persistence of the noetic person (soul) even behind the foreground symptoms of psychotic or neurological illness.

P

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Challenge and Methods:

1. Seek Frontier Situations and Conditions which may loosen the closely knit structure of the human person

Psychosis, Dementia, Alzheimer Disease, and Death

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Psychosis, Dementia, Alzheimer Disease, etc.

1. The strongest form of the brain determinism

2. Patients forget who they are, what they are, bizzare behaviour,

disinhibition, violence, aggression, catatonia, etc.

Death: Depending on your view of the human person:3. Either: An even stronger form of brain determinism:

decides about your existence or non-existence

4. Or the strongest form of self-distancing from a diseased brain.

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A small chance, but still a chance

1. A Frontier Situation which may loosen the closely knit structure of the human being (mind, body, spirit)

Perhaps something happens, if only in the very small time window of the process of dying which is unexpected by materialism, yet predicted, or at least possible, from the viewpoint of personalism?

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Frankl‘s Core Ideas on the Noetic Person (Soul) (1950)

Psychiatric Credo

The belief in the persistence of the noetic person (soul) even behind the foreground symptoms of psychotic or neurological illness.

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London Replication (Sir Peter Fenwick, Royal Society of Medicine)& Vienna Replication (AB and group)

Survey Studies: nurses, helpers, caretakers

In the past year, did you ever observe unexptected return to clarity against medical odds in your patients?

Phenomenology, potential medical factors, etc. Age group and other demographic factors, etc.

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Fenwick et al: 22 nursing homes (UK: England, Scotland, Ireland)Batthyany et al: 30 nursing homes (German-speaking countries)

Results:

77% and 82% of respondents (ca. 150 staff members) reported oneor more such incidents in the past year.

No correlation with medical factors other than impending death

>84% of unexpectedly lucid dementia patients died within days.

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Numbers vs. Persons:

„Before this happened, I was fairly cynical about the human vegetables I cared for. Now I understand that I am caring for nurslings of immortality.

I actually see them growing up towards death.

I know I cannot prove this to you, but had you seen what I saw, you would understand that a brain disorder can affect the soul but it cannot destroy it. I only wish I would have known this earlier“

– A respondent (nurse)

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Numbers vs. Persons:

„Before this happened, I was fairly cynical about the human vegetables I cared for. Now I understand that I am caring for nurslings of immortality.

I actually see them growing up towards death.

I know I cannot prove this to you, but had you seen what I saw, you would understand that a brain disorder can affect the soul but it cannot destroy it. I only wish I would have known this earlier“

– A respondent (nurse)

Frankl: The noetic person is disturbable, but not destructable.

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Frankl‘s Core Ideas on the Noetic Person (Soul) (1950)

1. Psychotherapeutic Credo

The belief in the ability of the soul within the human under all conditions and circumstances to pull back and separate itself from its psychophysical dimensions and to assume a productive distance from it.

2. Psychiatry Credo

The belief in the persistence of the noetic person (soul) even behind the foreground symptoms of psychotic or neurological illness.

P

P

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Frankl‘s Core Ideas on the Noetic Person (Soul) (1950)

Psychotherapeutic Credo & Psychiatry Credo

Anti-thesis to person-to-brain reductionism both (a) on a causal level(b) on an ontological level.

Esse est efficere

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Logotherapy as a discipline of dialogue

The Contemporary Challenge has been met

1. 1925-1942 Individual Past2. 1943-1955 + Biology /Collective Past 3. 1955-1970 + Environment 4. 1970-1986 + Feeling 5. 1986-1997 + The Self 6. 1997- = The Brain

Each challenge brought logotherapy a step forward, so let‘s see where this will lead to …

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Perhaps we will never loose our selves.

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