Erich Fromm

Der große humanistische Denker nimmt die westliche Konsumgesellschaft in kritischem Augenschein. ?Glücklich sein heißt immer neuere und bessere Waren konsumieren, sich Musik, Filme, Vergnügen, Sex, Alkohol und Zigaretten einverleiben ... Jedermann ist >glücklich< - nur fühlt er nichts, kann er nicht mehr vernünftig denken und kann er nicht mehr lieben.? Diese ernüchternde Diagnose des ?Patienten? Gesellschaft aus der Mitte des vergangenen Jahrhunderts könnte zugleich Befund der heutigen Zeit sein. In seiner sozialpsychologischen Untersuchung unterzieht Erich Fromm die westliche Konsumgesellschaft einer kritischen Bestandsaufnahme und erkennt in der Entfremdung des Menschen von sich selbst und seinen Produkten die Wurzel für eine immer schlimmere seelische Erkrankung. Doch es führen auch Wege zur Genesung, die Fromm in seinen Vorschlägen für wirtschaftliche, politische und kulturelle Neugestaltung konkretisiert.

Erich Fromm fought long and hard for the rights and freedoms of the individual. He also recognized that fundamental to this pursuit is the promotion of self-knowledge. In encouraging people to analyze their own behavior, Fromm identified the crucial link between psychology and ethics that underpins all our actions. Moreover, he saw in this a way out of the meaningless impasse which he regarded as the plight of the modern human race. The task that Fromm sets himself, therefore, in Man for Himself is no less than to identify "what man is, how he ought to live, and how the tremendous energies within man can be released and used productively." The resulting book is ample witness to Fromm's success. It makes for exciting, illuminating, even life-changing reading.

Following the publication of the seminal Fear of Freedom, Erich Fromm applied his unique vision to a critique of contemporary capitalism in The Sane Society. Where the former dealt with man's historic inability to come to terms with his sense of isolation, and the dangers to which this can lead, The Sane Society took his theories one step further. In doing so it established Fromm as one of the most controversial political thinkers of his generation. Anaylsing how individuals conform to contemporary capitalist and patriarchal societies, the book was published to wide acclaim and even wider disapproval. It was a scathing indictment of modern capitalism and as such proved unwelcome to many. Unwelcome because much of what Fromm had to say was true. Today, as we settle into the challenges of the 21st century, Fromm's writings are just as relevant as when they were first written. Read it and decide for yourself - are you living in a sane society?

Erich Fromm sees right to the heart of our contradictory needs for community and for freedom like no other writer before or since. In Fear of Freedom, Fromm warns that the price of community is indeed high, and it is the individual who pays. Fascism and authoritarianism may seem like receding shadows for some, but are cruel realities for many. Erich Fromm leaves a valuable and original legacy to his readers - a vastly increased understanding of the human character in relation to society. At the beginning of the 21st century, it is more important than ever to be aware of his powerful message. Listen, and take heed.

Erich Fromm sees right to the heart of our contradictory needs for community and for freedom like no other writer before or since. In Fear of Freedom, Fromm warns that the price of community is indeed high, and it is the individual who pays. Fascism and authoritarianism may seem like receding shadows for some, but are cruel realities for many. Erich Fromm leaves a valuable and original legacy to his readers - a vastly increased understanding of the human character in relation to society. At the beginning of the 21st century, it is more important than ever to be aware of his powerful message. Listen, and take heed.

Why is it so difficult to break away from the kind of existence that is based on having - gluttonous, conspicuous consumption - versus a life that is truly englightened and satisfying? Many unconscious factors come into play when individuals, even a whole society, stray into a superficial and false way of life. As Erich Fromm puts it in this posthumous publication, ours is "a life between having and being." The alternative states of having and being, as basic orientations of our lives and character, were subjects Fromm confronted in "To Have or to Be?" and "The Art of Being". The present work complements these texts with unpublished lectures, interviews, and apercus to lift us out of a life of passivity into one of creative joy.

Although Erich Fromm intended to publish his work as a practising psychotherapist, these plans were never realized in his lifetime. This volume fulfils his wish. Not intended as a textbook about psychoanalytic therapy, these reflections provide new information about Fromm the therapist and the way he dealt with the psychological suffering of his patients. As Fromm envisioned, each chapter is structured to capture the informality and intimacy of his psychoanalytic work so that readers get a new and different sense of Fromm's humanism, honesty and insight. This collection of talks and seminars given by Fromm between 1964 and 1980 deal with the issues between analyst and analysand, which go to the heart of the psychoanalytic process. For Fromm, the analyst is his or her own next patient, as the patient becomes his or her analyst.

This is Volume VIII of thirty-eight of collection of works on General Psychology. Initially published in 1947, it offers an enquiry into the psychology of ethics and forms a continuation of the author's other work 'Escape from Freedom’ in which he attempted to analyse modern man's escape from himself and his freedom. This book discusses the problem of ethics, of norms and values leading to the realisation of man's self and of his potential.

Any attempt to identify the thread that runs through the late Erich Fromm's writings will soon uncover an unequivocally humanistic world view. From the 1930s on, this was Fromm's guiding principle. It signified Fromm's break with the Frankfurt School: Marcuse, Adorno and Horkheimer. This posthumous volume includes writings from one of Fromm's most fertile periods--the 1960s. These writings concentrate on humanistic science, socialism, religion, and psychoanalysis. They are from lectures, works written for specific occasions, and manuscripts intended as books. Of particular interest is an extended essay on two very different thinkers: Meister Eckhart and Karl Marx.

In a world in which violence in every form seems to be increasing, Erich Fromm has treated this problem with deep perception in the most original and far-reaching work of his brilliant career.

Konrad Lorenz erklärte die menschliche Aggression zum Naturgesetz, zum angeborenen Trieb, der vielleicht zu kanalisieren, aber nicht zu unterbinden sei. Ihm erteilt Erich Fromm, einer der bedeutendsten Sozialpsychologen unserer Zeit, eine radikale Absage. Er beschriebt detailliert - am eindringlichsten in den brillanten Studien zu Stalin, Himmler und Hitler -, aus welchen individuellen und sozialen Ursachen die Unfähigkeit, zu lieben und sich rational zu verhalten, erwächst und wie sie notwendig zu der Leidenschaft führt, Leben entweder absolut zu kontrollieren oder zu vernichten.

Erich Fromm, the renowned psychoanalyst, sees love as the ultimate need and desire of all human beings. In this book, he discusses various aspects of the subject: romantic love, the love of parents for children, brotherly love, erotic love, self-love and the love of God or the divine.

Though thought of as a social commentator, Erich Fromm was first and foremost a psychoanalyst of our time. These writings combine two aspects of his thinking, showing how he builds on Freudian theory and also modifies it with his own humanist point of view.

If humanity cannot live with the dangers and responsibilities inherent in freedom, it will probably turn to authoritarianism. This is the central idea of "Escape from Freedom, a landmark work by one of the most distinguished thinkers of our time, and a book that is as timely now as when first published in 1941. Few books have thrown such light upon the forces that shape modern society or penetrated so deeply into the causes of authoritarian systems. If the rise of democracy set some people free, at the same time it gave birth to a society in which the individual feels alienated and dehumanized. Using the insights of psychoanalysis as probing agents, Fromm's work analyzes the illness of contemporary civilization as witnessed by its willingness to submit to totalitarian rule.

A study of man's destructive nature that utilizes evidence from psychoanalysis, neurophysiology, animal psychology, paleontology, and anthropology and is documented with clinical examples

In "Man for Himself, Erich Fromm examines the confusion of modern women and men who, because they lack faith in any principle by which life ought to be guided, become the helpless prey forces both within and without. From the broad, interdisciplinary perspective that marks Fromm's distinguished oeuvre, he shows that psychology cannot divorce itself from the problems of philosophy and ethics, and that human nature cannot be understood without understanding the values and moral conflicts that confront us all. He shows that an ethical system can be based on human nature rather than on revelations or traditions. As Fromm asserts, "If man is to have confidence in values, he must know himself and the capacity of his nature for goodness and productiveness."

"The Sane Society is a continuation and extension of the brilliant psychiatric concepts Erich Fromm first formulated in "Escape from Freedom; it is also, in many ways, an answer to Freud's "Civilization and its Discontents. Fromm examines man's escape into overconformity and the danger of robotism in contemporary industrial society: modern humanity has, he maintains, been alienated from the world of their own creation. Here Fromm offers a complete and systematic exploration of his "humanistic psychoanalysis." In so doing, he counters the profound pessimism for our future that Freud expressed and sets forth the goals of a society in which the emphasis is on each person and on the social measures designed to further function as a responsible individual.

The Sane Society is a continuation and extension of the brilliant psychiatric concepts Erich Fromm first formulated in Escape from Freedom; it is also, in many ways, an answer to Freud's Civilization and its Discontents. Fromm examines man's escape into overconformity and the danger of robotism in contemporary industrial society: modern humanity has, he maintains, been alienated from the world of their own creation. Here Fromm offers a complete and systematic exploration of his humanistic psychoanalysis. In so doing, he counters the profound pessimism for our future that Freud expressed and sets forth the goals of a society in which the emphasis is on each person and on the social measures designed to further function as a responsible individual.

The key book in our quest for understanding of ourselves and our lives. What differences are there in Eastern and Western thought regarding the nature of the human mind and our role in the cosmos? How can Zen and psychoanalysis help us in our struggle to realise our full potential as human beings and members of society? Erich Fromm's seminal work among contemporary efforts to resolve our spiritual crisis results here in the great achievement of a language to reveal the contributions of Zen and psychoanalysis to our 'struggle to be fully born'. He shows how both can teach us in their different ways to live our lives rather than be 'lived by them'. The book includes material from D.T. Suzuki, who explains with profound and gentle wisdom how Western materialism and intellectualism contrast with the Eastern concept of acceptance as the basis of well-being for the 'whole man'. His illuminating discussion of the unconscious and the self shed fresh light on our understanding of our own nature. Combined with Richard De Martino's clear account of the psychology of Zen, these writings make up a work of brilliance and value that has much to help us in our quest for understanding.