Philipp Lersch

Satisfaction is a peace of the soul, free from tension and unfulfilled desires, while dissatisfaction acts like a thorn in the soul, people cannot rest.

Summary

Philipp Lersch (1898 - 1972) was a German philosopher and psychologist whose writings included many humanistic themes. He developed Kinesics (the interpretation of Body Language such as Facial Expression and Gesture) as part of the psychology of expression.

He proposed the concept of the Endotimic Base, which refers to bodily feelings, moods, and some emotional states, and it is important that these Vital Feelings are perceived as anchored in the body (see Vital Unconscious and Biocentric Principle).

Ideas

• Lersch saw emotion as a spontaneous, immediate and intimate response to situations that providing or prevent need fulfillment,
• Emotions are closely linked to cognitions and action impulses,
• Emotional responses to objects/ events are embedded in a more enduring states of mood that reflecting a person's feeling as a self-conscious individual striving for a meaningful human life.
• According to Philipp Lersch, three groups of drives characterise human development from infancy to adulthood:
  • Existence-related drives - stimulation and experience urges, the search for pleasure, the libido,
  • Individual self-related drives - self-preservation, self-worth and self-affirmation,
  • Self-transcending drives - striving for cooperative, creative, cognisant, loving, binding or religious association with others.