Paul Diel
Encyclopedia
Paul Diel was a French
psychologist of Austria
n origin who developed the method of introspective analysis and the psychology of motivation.
, Austria
, on July 11, 1893, to a teacher of German
origin and an unknown man. He was orphan
ed at the age of 13 after spending 8 years in a religious orphanage, but was able to obtain his baccalauréat
with the support of a benefactor. Diel did not pursue formal higher education, but instead became an actor, novelist, and poet before teaching himself
philosophy
. Inspired by the philosophers Plato
, Kant
and Spinoza
, and also by the psychologists Freud
, Adler
and Jung
, he delved into his own psychological research and established the basis of the introspective analysis method that helped him develop his theories of the psychology of motivation.
Diel practiced psychotherapy at the central hospital of Vienna
, and in 1935 he sent his work on introspective analysis to Albert Einstein
. Einstein greatly appreciated Diel's work and they established a correspondence that did not end until Einstein's death in 1955.
In 1938, after the Nazi German Anschluss
of Austria
, Diel escaped to France
and worked at Saint Anne
's psychiatric hospital in Paris
. Unfortunately, because he was a foreign national, he became imprisoned in the Gurs internment camp
in southern France during World War II
. After his release, he was able to join CNRS
in 1945 with the backing of Einstein and Irène Joliot-Curie
. At CNRS he worked as a children's psychotherapist in Henri Wallon
's laboratory.
Diel continued working as a researcher and psychotherapist and had trained a group of students and published books on various subjects like education
, symbol
ism and evolution
when he died of cancer
in Paris on January 5, 1972.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
psychologist of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n origin who developed the method of introspective analysis and the psychology of motivation.
Life
Diel was born in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, on July 11, 1893, to a teacher of German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
origin and an unknown man. He was orphan
Orphan
An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan...
ed at the age of 13 after spending 8 years in a religious orphanage, but was able to obtain his baccalauréat
Baccalauréat
The baccalauréat , often known in France colloquially as le bac, is an academic qualification which French and international students take at the end of the lycée . It was introduced by Napoleon I in 1808. It is the main diploma required to pursue university studies...
with the support of a benefactor. Diel did not pursue formal higher education, but instead became an actor, novelist, and poet before teaching himself
Autodidacticism
Autodidacticism is self-education or self-directed learning. In a sense, autodidacticism is "learning on your own" or "by yourself", and an autodidact is a person who teaches him or herself something. The term has its roots in the Ancient Greek words αὐτός and διδακτικός...
philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. Inspired by the philosophers Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
, Kant
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
and Spinoza
Baruch Spinoza
Baruch de Spinoza and later Benedict de Spinoza was a Dutch Jewish philosopher. Revealing considerable scientific aptitude, the breadth and importance of Spinoza's work was not fully realized until years after his death...
, and also by the psychologists Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
, Adler
Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. In collaboration with Sigmund Freud and a small group of Freud's colleagues, Adler was among the co-founders of the psychoanalytic movement as a core member of the Vienna...
and Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
, he delved into his own psychological research and established the basis of the introspective analysis method that helped him develop his theories of the psychology of motivation.
Diel practiced psychotherapy at the central hospital of Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, and in 1935 he sent his work on introspective analysis to Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
. Einstein greatly appreciated Diel's work and they established a correspondence that did not end until Einstein's death in 1955.
In 1938, after the Nazi German Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Diel escaped to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and worked at Saint Anne
Saint Anne
Saint Hanna of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ according to Christian and Islamic tradition. English Anne is derived from Greek rendering of her Hebrew name Hannah...
's psychiatric hospital in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Unfortunately, because he was a foreign national, he became imprisoned in the Gurs internment camp
Camp Gurs
Camp Gurs was an internment and refugee camp constructed by the French government in 1939. The camp was originally set up in southwestern France after the fall of Catalonia at the end of the Spanish Civil War to control those who fled Spain out of fear of retaliation from Francisco Franco's regime...
in southern France during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After his release, he was able to join CNRS
Centre national de la recherche scientifique
The National Center of Scientific Research is the largest governmental research organization in France and the largest fundamental science agency in Europe....
in 1945 with the backing of Einstein and Irène Joliot-Curie
Irène Joliot-Curie
Irène Joliot-Curie was a French scientist, the daughter of Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie and the wife of Frédéric Joliot-Curie. Jointly with her husband, Joliot-Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1935 for their discovery of artificial radioactivity. This made the Curies...
. At CNRS he worked as a children's psychotherapist in Henri Wallon
Henri Wallon (psychologist)
Henri Paul Hyacinthe Wallon was a French philosopher, psychologist , neuropsychiatrist, teacher, and politician...
's laboratory.
Diel continued working as a researcher and psychotherapist and had trained a group of students and published books on various subjects like education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
ism and evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
when he died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in Paris on January 5, 1972.
Works
- Diel, P. (1989). Fear and Anxiety: Primary Triggers of Survival and Evolution (B. Donvez, Trans.). Claremont, CA: Hunter House. ISBN 0-89793-051-7.
- Diel, P. (1986). The God-Symbol: Its History and its Significance (N. Marans, Trans.). San Francisco: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-254805-0.
- Diel, P. (1987). Journal of a Psychoanalysis (R. Gravel, Trans.). Boston: Shambhala. ISBN 0-87773-370-8.
- Diel, P. (1991). The Psychology of Motivation (Paul Diel Society, Trans.). Claremont, CA: Hunter House. ISBN 0-89793-057-6.
- Diel, P. (1987). The Psychology of Re-education (R. Rosenthal, Trans.). Boston/New York: Shambhala/Random House. ISBN 0-87773-367-8.
- Diel, P. (1992). Psychology, Psychoanalysis, and Medicine (K. McKinley, Trans.). Alameda, CA: Hunter House. ISBN 0-89793-058-4.
- Diel, P. (1980). Symbolism in Greek Mythology: Human Desire and its Transformations (V. Stuart, M. Stuart & R. Folkman, Trans.). Boulder/New York: Shambhala/Random House. ISBN 0-87773-178-0 & ISBN 0-394-51083-6.
- Diel, P. (1986). Symbolism in the Bible: The Universality of Symbolic Language and its Psychological Significance (N. Marans, Trans.). San Francisco: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-86683-475-3.
Co-authored works
- Diel, P, & Solotareff, J. (1988). Symbolism in the Gospel of John (N. Marans, Trans.). San Francisco: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-86683-509-1.
Related works
- Solotareff, J. (1991). L'aventure interieure: La methode introspective de Paul Diel. Paris: Editions Payot. ISBN 2-228-88398-0.
- Solotareff, J. (1994). Le symbolisme dans les rêves: La méthode de traduction de Paul Diel. Paris: Editions Payot. ISBN 2-228-88813-3.
- Solotareff, J. (2004). Une lecture symbolique des Évangiles: Selon la méthode introspective de Paul Diel. Paris: Editions du Cerf. ISBN 2-204-07301-6.