erich fromm

Erich Fromm

• Humanistic Psychoanalysis

• Studied psychology and sociology at the university of heidelberg, frankfurt and munich

The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts

this was authored by Karl Marx basis worth mentioning for it serves as a great influence to Fromm’s psychological thought

escape from freedom

a major thesis of this book is that as humans gained freedom they also felt more alone

beyond the chains of illusion

in this book, Fromm presented a comparison of the ideas of Freud and Marx

love and shared work

The Health Strategy for addressing this (feeling isolated and lonely) dilemma is to unite with other people in the spirit of —-

1. Authoritarianism

2. Destructiveness

3. Automaton Conformity

The Unhealthy Strategy is to Escape from Freedom through the following ways:

Authoritarianism

this is the tendency to give up your independence and fuse yourself with somebody or something outside of you in order to acquire the strength that you are lacking

1. masochistic submission

2. sadistic treatment

Authoritarianism is done through 1. —- to others and in 2. — of others to become powerful authorities

destructiveness

• is the tendency to destroy other people

• at the societal level, it is the escaping of powerlessness by destroying social agents and institutions that produce of helplessness and isolation

Automaton Conformity

this is the renouncing of selfhood by adopting a pseudo-self, based from the expectations of others, to escape a sense of aloneness

Escape from Freedom

Fromm expressed in this book that any form of society )feudalism, capitalism, fascism, socialism, communism) represents an attempt to resolve the basic contradiction of humans— the facts that she/he is both animal and a human being

1. need for relatedness

2. need for transcendence

3. need for rootedness

4. need for identity

5. need for frame of reference

6. need for excitation and stimulation

Needs of Human Existence

need for relatedness

• this is the drive for union with another person or other persons

• humans, with their power to reason and imagine, have lost their intimate interdependence with nature

• hence, they have to create their own relationships

productive love

• according to Fromm, the most satisfying relationship would be one that is based on —-

• one that is comprised of mutual care, responsibility respect and understanding

need for transcendence

• this is the need to rise above one’s animal nature, to become a creative person instead of a mere creature

• if the creative urges are prevented, the person becomes a destroyer

need for rootedness

• this is the need to be an integral part of the world, to feel that they belong

• as children, this needs starts by being rooted to their mothers

need for identity

• this is the need to be a unique individual

• individual creative effort of gaining of — by being someone

• identifying with another person or group or the gaining of —- by belonging to someone

need for frame of reference

• this is the need to have a staple and consistent way of perceiving and comprehending the world

• these are actually belief systems o a philosophy in life that helps provide logic and meaning

• it provided us with goals that direct our daily activities

simple stimuli

produce automatic response — drives

activating stimuli

entails striving for goals

1. submission or domination

2. love

negative and positive components of relatedness

1. destructiveness

2. creativeness

negative and positive components of transcendence

1. fixation

2. wholeness

negative and positive components of rootedness

1. excessive adjustment to a group

2. individuality

negative and positive components of sense of identity

1. irrational goals

2. rational goals

negative and positive components of frame of orientation/reference

receptive

• this stems from masochistic orientation on which wherein the person believes the source of all things is outside him/her

• it is characterized by passivity, lack of character, submissiveness, and cowardice

exploitative

• this is coming from sadistic behavior patterns wherein the person believes the source of all good things is outside, but does not expect to receive it, so it must be taken forcibly

• it is characterized by aggression, conceit, and arrogance

hoarding

• this is the strong tendency to hold on to the things that one has

• it is characterized by stinginess, possessiveness, stubbornness

marketing

• this is when one treats oneself as a mere commodity, obeying the laws of supply and demand

• it is characterized by a lack of principle, aimlessness, opportunism

productive

• this is the character type where one values himself/herself and others for what they are and experiences security and inner peace

• according to fromm, this is the only healthy character type

biophilous

in love with life

necrophilous

attracted to death

having orientation

• this is when the person has competitive concern with possessing and consuming resources

• this is fostered by technological societies

being orientation

the person focuses on what one is (not on what one has), and on sharing rather than competition

symbiotic relatedness

• this is when the person in a relationship fails to attain independence beyond the relationship

• this signifies immaturity and pseudo forms of love

withdrawal destructiveness

it is when a person demonstrates negative relatedness or distancing and indifference toward other people

1. care

2. responsibility

3. respect

4. knowledge

genuine productive love: entails the 4 essential elements of love

care

this is the concern for the life and growth of a loved one

responsibility

it is the ability and readiness to respond to the needs of the loved one

respect

• means the concern that the other person should grow and unfold as he is.

• implies the absence of exploitation

knowledge

it is the experience of the union with other person which full awareness of the total being of the loved one

humanistic communitarian socialism

Fromm envisioned an ideal society that he called —