こころの病と健康 : 「絶望」は病か

概要

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S. Kierkegaard pointed out that "despair" is a spiritual sickness, defining the human being-which is a synthesis of soul and body-as spirit in "Sickness unto Death". He said the possibility of this sickness is the human advantage over animal, and yet it is a drawback. V.E. Frankl, who was influenced in his thoughts and work by Kierkegaard, said that sickness is only in the sphere of psychophysical organization, not in the spiritual-personal sphere. Even neurosis is not a spiritual desease nor sickness in human spirituality. He also said that despair is human, and is not morbid. Frankl's "disease" has doubtlessly a narrower meaning than Kierkegaard's. However, can we acknowledge that "despair" is normal or sound in the human state ? As a matter of fact, there is a correspondence between some of Frankl's statements about "collective neurosis" and Kierkegaard's descriptions of forms of despair. So, we can expect that Kierkegaard's thought is useful to understanding Frankl's "logotherapy" or "existential analysis". Looking at it the other way around, it means that we can interpret Kierkegaard's ideas through knowledge of modern psychopathology. From this point of view, I would like to inquire into the essence of mental illness and to seak the key to recuperation from it.
日本医学哲学・倫理学会の論文
1995-10-01