"The Case for a Tragic Optimism" (through page 179) Summary and Analysis

This chapter is written as an addendum to Frankl's original manuscript. Building upon the conclusion of part two of the book, this section focuses attention on the method of finding meaning through suffering. Tragic optimism is the concept that a person is genuinely optimistic even in the face of extremely negative circumstances. In logotherapy, this is represented with the "tragic triad" which consists of pain; guilt and death. Each element of the tragic triad provides a stimulus that can produce immense grief. However, logotherapy does not regard humans as simply animals prone to a given stimulus-response mentality. When confronted with the worst of human conditions, Frankl contends that keeping an optimistic mindset allows people the opportunity to turn suffering into achievement, improve oneself, and act...