The Lives of Erich Fromm

The Lives of Erich Fromm PDF Author: Lawrence J. Friedman
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231162596
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 458

Book Description
Erich Fromm was a political activist, psychologist, psychoanalyst, philosopher, and one of the most important intellectuals of the twentieth century. Known for his theories of personality and political insight, Fromm dissected the sadomasochistic appeal of brutal dictators while also eloquently championing loveÑwhich, he insisted, was nothing if it did not involve joyful contact with others and humanity at large. Admired all over the world, Fromm continues to inspire with his message of universal brotherhood and quest for lasting peace. The first systematic study of FrommÕs influences and achievements, this biography revisits the thinkerÕs most important works, especially Escape from Freedom and The Art of Loving, which conveyed important and complex ideas to millions of readers. The volume recounts FrommÕs political activism as a founder and major funder of Amnesty International, the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, and other peace groups. Consulting rare archival materials across the globe, Lawrence J. Friedman reveals FrommÕs support for anti-Stalinist democratic movements in Central and Eastern Europe and his efforts to revitalize American democracy. For the first time, readers learn about FrommÕs direct contact with high officials in the American government on matters of war and peace while accessing a deeper understanding of his conceptual differences with Freud, his rapport with Neo-Freudians like Karen Horney and Harry Stack Sullivan, and his association with innovative artists, public intellectuals, and world leaders. Friedman elucidates FrommÕs key intellectual contributions, especially his innovative concept of Òsocial character,Ó in which social institutions and practices shape the inner psyche, and he clarifies FrommÕs conception of love as an acquired skill. Taking full stock of the thinkerÕs historical and global accomplishments, Friedman portrays a man of immense authenticity and spirituality who made life in the twentieth century more humane than it might have been.

For the Love of Life

For the Love of Life PDF Author: Erich Fromm
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504094255
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 184

Book Description
This poignant philosophy about the human capacity for love in the face of tragedy from the New York Times–bestselling author is as relevant today as it was when it was first broadcast. Transcribed from a series of recorded conversations streamed over German public radio in 1970, the profound ideas and thoughts collected in this volume represent a lifetime of the renowned psychoanalyst and social philosopher’s explorations into human emotion and behavior throughout the twentieth century. Insightful and provocative, Erich Fromm meditates on the preoccupations that drive human action or inaction, interweaving related ideas from such profound thinkers as Sigmund Freud, Albert Camus, and Karl Marx. Here, Fromm recognizes the links between rising contemptuous boredom and overwhelming overabundance. He unravels the confusing mysteries of religious doctrines by examining the causes and motives behind our aggressive tendencies and revealing how dreams connect us all as a universal language. Fromm’s perspective offers a vivid portrait of our ever-evolving social history and the difficulty of experiencing personal growth in a world driven by “manufactured needs.” Despite all of modern life’s trials, For the Love of Life celebrates Fromm’s belief in the human spirit to rise above tragedy and trauma through the bonds of family, friendship, and the transcendent power of love. Includes a preface by Hans Jürgen Schultz.

The Essential Fromm

The Essential Fromm PDF Author: Erich Fromm
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1497693624
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 98

Book Description
As Fromm points out, ours is “a life between having and being”—between mere having and healthy being, between destructiveness and creativity, between narcissism and productive self-understanding, between passivity and the joy of positive activity. The alternatives of having and being are basic orientations of our character and determine our behavior. The mostly unpublished and unknown texts featured in The Essential Fromm encapsulate Fromm’s views on the fulfilling life. To put down roots yet remain free is what the late Erich Fromm called the art of being. It is the secret of happiness.

Life Itself Is an Art

Life Itself Is an Art PDF Author: Rainer Funk
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 150135146X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Book Description
A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year Erich Fromm (1900-1980) is known to most readers as the author of the international bestseller The Art of Loving (1956). What may be less widely known is that Fromm was a social psychoanalyst whose psychoanalytic theories, developed around a humanistic concept of man and society, have had a profound impact on many fields and disciplines: on social life and societal organization, on politics, on religion, on psychotherapy and, last but not least, on the practice of mindfulness. Rainer Funk was Erich Fromm's last assistant. He wrote his dissertation about Fromm, was designated by Fromm's last will to be his sole literary executor, and is the editor of Fromm's writings. From his very intimate knowledge of Fromm's life and ideas, and his access to an archive that includes 6,000 letters, Funk introduces Fromm's central concepts and examines them in relation to Fromm's lived experiences and to his idea that life itself is an art. The question of "the art of living" runs through all of the chapters, from the Introduction, in which Funk describes meeting Fromm for the first time in 1972, to the last chapter, in which Funk reflects on the impact of Fromm's social-psychoanalytic writings and his efforts to live well.

Erich Fromm

Erich Fromm PDF Author: Rainer Funk
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 9780826415196
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 188

Book Description
This lavishly illustrated biography covers Fromm's entire life, from his traditional Jewish upbringing to his association with the Frankfurt School. Fromm's work (1900-1980) is more compelling and popular in our century than ever before. It took a decisive turn as he encountered Freudian psychoanalysis--even as Fromm critiqued it throughout much of his lifetime. Funk covers with great sensitivity Fromm's seminal work with the so-called Frankfurt School of social critics as well as his break with it, his move to the U.S., his personal and professional relationship with Karen Horney, his associations with The New School in New York City and with D.T. Suzuki--living in Mexico "part time." More than 200 photographs and other memorabilia make this a compelling pictorial biography.

The Fear of Freedom

The Fear of Freedom PDF Author: Erich Fromm
Publisher: ARK Paperbacks is
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Book Description


In the Name of Life

In the Name of Life PDF Author: Erich Fromm
Publisher: Holt McDougal
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 362

Book Description


To Have or To Be?

To Have or To Be? PDF Author: Erich Fromm
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1472504550
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 217

Book Description
To Have Or to Be? is one of the seminal books of the second half of the 20th century. Nothing less than a manifesto for a new social and psychological revolution to save our threatened planet, this book is a summary of the penetrating thought of Eric Fromm. His thesis is that two modes of existence struggle for the spirit of humankind: the having mode, which concentrates on material possessions, power, and aggression, and is the basis of the universal evils of greed, envy, and violence; and the being mode, which is based on love, the pleasure of sharing, and in productive activity. To Have Or to Be? is a brilliant program for socioeconomic change.

The Art of Living

The Art of Living PDF Author: Gerhard Peter Knapp
Publisher: Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Book Description
The Art of Living is the first large-scale analysis in English of Erich Fromm's life and his entire printed works. This study addresses both the specialist in a variety of disciplines (psychology, social sciences, philosophy) and a large lay readership. It is written in an appealing style and clearly delineates Fromm's career as a psychoanalyst and a writer, pinpointing the strengths and weaknesses in the work of one of this century's most influential thinkers. Fromm's unflagging insistence on a more humane world emerges here in full relevance for today's reader.

The Legacy of Erich Fromm

The Legacy of Erich Fromm PDF Author: Daniel Burston
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674521681
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Book Description
This is the first full-scale intellectual biography in English of Erich Fromm, perhaps the most widely read psychoanalyst after Freud, whose contributions to clinical and social psychology and the history of the psychoanalytic movement have long been underrated. Though considered a pedant, a popularizer--Escape from Freedom, The Sane Society, and The Art of Loving, among others, were best-sellers -and an "outsider" in many psychoanalytic circles, Fromm played a historic role in the development of the discipline. As a member of Freud's "loyal opposition" with strong leanings toward the "dissident fringe;' he helped effect the transfer of productive ideas from the periphery to the mainstream of the psychoanalytic movement. Daniel Burston's meticulous elucidation of these ideas unravels the numerous strands--philosophical, literary, and social--that formed a part of Freud's own work and of Fromm's sympathetic, but not uncritical, reaction to Freudian orthodoxy. Despite his grounding in the tradition of Freud, contemporaries and former associates persistently misunderstood Fromm's work. Insofar as he attempted to decipher the ideological subtexts to Freudian theory, analytically oriented theorists doing clinical or social research avoided his ideas. His Marxist leanings and his radically historical approach to human behavior made it all but impossible for mainstream academic psychologists to grasp his meaning, much less to grant it any validity. At the same time, his humanistic and ethical concerns struck many psychologists as grossly unscientific. Practical and intellectual constraints have conspired to ensure that Fromm's impact has been peripheral at best. Burston's eloquent, evenhanded reassessment of Fromm's life and work cuts through the ideological and political underbrush to reveal his pivotal role as a theorist and a critic of modern psychoanalysis. It leads readers back to Freud, whose theoretical and clinical contributions Fromm refracted and extended, and on to controversies that remain a vital part of contemporary intellectual life.