Ten Theses about the Person (Salzburg lecture of 1950, as later published; tr. Franz Vesely and David Nolland)

Their wordsThe counter-concept to utility value is dignity; dignity, however, belongs to the person alone and is, by its very nature, independent of all vital and social utility.

Their wordsOnly those who overlook or forget this can consider euthanasia to be justifiable. Anyone, on the other hand, who recognises the unconditional dignity of every single person will also have unconditional reverence for the human person—for the sick, for the incurable, and even for those with incurable "mental illnesses."

Their wordsIn truth, there are no "mental" illnesses in the sense of illnesses of the spirit. For the "spirit", the spiritual person itself, cannot become ill, and remains present behind the psychosis, even if hardly visible to the psychiatrist.

Their wordsBeing human is, as I myself repeatedly describe it, in the deepest and ultimate sense being responsible. This also means that it is more than merely being free: responsibility includes the what for of human freedom—what the human being is free for, what they decide for or against.

Their wordsThus, contrary to the psychoanalytic view, the person, as understood by the existential analysis I have attempted to outline, is not drive-determined but meaning-oriented; from the point of view of existential analysis, the person does not strive for pleasure but for value.

Their wordsIt follows that psychotherapy is ultimately concerned not with affect-dynamic and drive-energetic transformations, but with an existential reorientation.

Their wordsYet I am not driven to faith in God or to God himself; I must decide for or against him. Religiosity is ego-like, or it is nothing at all.

Their wordsWhether one wants to or not, whether one acknowledges it or not, the human being believes in meaning for as long as it breathes.