Kazimierz Dabrowski's (1902-1980) five-level theory of personality development, the Theory of Positive Disintegration, is one in which the experience of all emotions is essential for the process of individual growth toward the personality ideal. In this article, we introduce the phenomenological and existential influences on Dabrowski, including…

Although many colleges profess interest in character development, faculty often feel ill equipped to address questions of vocation and purpose in their classes. Life writing--biography and autobiography--is a popular genre outside of the university, but is largely neglected within the academy. The study of life writing provides a natural way to…