Erich Fromm

A study of aggression from the renowned social psychologist and New York Times–bestselling author of The Art of Loving and Escape from Freedom. Throughout history, humans have shown an incredible talent for destruction as well as creation. Aggression has driven us to great heights and brutal lows. In The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, renowned social psychologist Erich Fromm discusses the differences between forms of aggression typical for animals and two very specific forms of destructiveness that can only be found in human beings: sadism and necrophilic destructiveness. His case studies span zoo animals, necrophiliacs, and the psychobiographies of notorious figures such as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. Through his broad scholarship, Fromm offers a comprehensive exploration of the human impulse for violence. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Erich Fromm including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate.

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.

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.

Why do people choose authoritarianism over freedom? The classic study of the psychological appeal of fascism by a New York Times–bestselling author. The pursuit of freedom has indelibly marked Western culture since Renaissance humanism and Protestantism began the fight for individualism and self-determination. This freedom, however, can make people feel unmoored, and is often accompanied by feelings of isolation, fear, and the loss of self, all leading to a desire for authoritarianism, conformity, or destructiveness. It is not only the question of freedom that makes Fromm’s debut book a timeless classic. In this examination of the roots of Nazism and fascism in Europe, Fromm also explains how economic and social constraints can also lead to authoritarianism. By the author of The Sane Society and The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, this is a fascinating examination of the anxiety that underlies our darkest impulses, an enlightening volume perfect for readers of Eric Hoffer or Hannah Arendt. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Erich Fromm including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate.

The landmark bestseller that changed the way we think about love: “Every line is packed with common sense, compassion, and realism” (Fortune). The Art of Loving is a rich and detailed guide to love—an achievement reached through maturity, practice, concentration, and courage. In the decades since the book’s release, its words and lessons continue to resonate. Erich Fromm, a celebrated psychoanalyst and social psychologist, clearly and sincerely encourages the development of our capacity for and understanding of love in all of its facets. He discusses the familiar yet misunderstood romantic love, the all-encompassing brotherly love, spiritual love, and many more. A challenge to traditional Western notions of love, The Art of Loving is a modern classic about taking care of ourselves through relationships with others by the New York Times–bestselling author of To Have or To Be? and Escape from Freedom. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Erich Fromm including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate.

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.

The acclaimed social psychologist and New York Times–bestselling author of The Art of Loving discusses the nature of evil and humanity’s capacity for it. Originally published in 1964, The Heart of Man was influenced by turbulent times. Average Americans were suffering from different forms of evil, including a rise in juvenile delinquency. On a grander scale, the threat of nuclear war loomed over the nation, and President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. What could drive humanity to do things such as these? In The Heart of Man, renowned humanist philosopher and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm investigates man’s capacity to destroy, his narcissism, and his incestuous fixation. He expands upon ideas he presented in Escape from Freedom, Man for Himself, and The Art of Loving, and examines the essence of evil, as well as the choice between good and evil. He also explores man’s ability to destroy and further considers freedom, aggression, destructiveness, and violence. “The Heart of Man questions human nature itself, from the forms of violence that plague it to individual and social narcissism to how the positive value of “love of life” can potentially outweigh the destructive “syndrome of decay” caused by the love of death and other harmful tendencies of thought.” —Midwest Book Review