Doctors of Philosophy: Frankl, Jaspers, Jung and the Modern Crisis of Meaning

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Viktor Frankl, Karl Jaspers and Carl Jung are, on the surface, very different thinkers: they come from different countries,follow different faiths, and are of different political persuasions. In reality, however, there is a common bond betweenthem - they are all trained psychiatrists, and each develops his own philosophy of life to find meaning throughout thecrises of 20th century German-speaking Europe. My project is an endeavour in intellectual history which falls under thebroad umbrella of German studies. It seeks to answer three key questions: (1) Why might this trend of doctorphilosophers have emerged in 20th century German-speaking Europe? (2) What is the relationship between philosophyand psychiatry in the works of Frankl, Jaspers and Jung? (3) How successful are these thinkers in developingphilosophies of meaning in response to the crises of their time? Though numerous studies by scholars such as MatthewBell, Sonu Shamdasani, and Lubica Ucnik have covered aspects of the history of psychology, medicine, andexistentialism in German-speaking Europe, none have focused specifically on the phenomenon of the doctorphilosophers or brought their works into a comparative analysis. This is a clear gap in scholarship that my project seeksto fill.