Erich Fromm facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Erich Fromm
Fromm in 1974
Born	Erich Seligmann Fromm March 23, 1900 Frankfurt am Main, German Empire
Died	March 18, 1980(1980-03-18) (aged 79) Muralto, Ticino, Switzerland
Alma mater	Heidelberg University
Era	20th century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Continental philosophy Frankfurt School psychoanalysis Marxist humanism humanistic Judaism
Main interests	Humanism, social theory, Marxism
Notable ideas	Being and Having as modes of existence, security versus freedom, social character, Character orientation
Influences Bachofen, Spinoza, Eckhart, Kierkegaard, Marx, Freud, Alfred Weber, Korsch, Lukács, Dunayevskaya
Influenced Martin Luther King Jr., Elias Porter, Chögyam Trungpa, Paulo Freire

Erich Seligmann Fromm (born March 23, 1900 – died March 18, 1980) was a German thinker who studied how people think and behave in society. He was a social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, and humanistic philosopher. He also believed in democratic socialism, which is a political idea about fairness and equality.

Fromm was a German Jew who had to leave Germany because of the Nazi government. He moved to the United States. He helped start a famous center for studying psychiatry and psychology in New York City. He was also connected to the Frankfurt School, a group of thinkers who looked at society and culture critically.

Life of Erich Fromm

Erich Fromm was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on March 23, 1900. He was the only child of Jewish parents. In 1918, he started studying law at the University of Frankfurt. The next year, he moved to the University of Heidelberg to study sociology with famous professors like Alfred Weber. Fromm earned his PhD in sociology in 1922. His main topic was "Jewish Law."

For a while, Fromm was very interested in Zionism, a movement to create a Jewish homeland. But he soon changed his mind. He felt that Zionism didn't fit with his idea of a "universal" way of thinking that included all people.

In the mid-1920s, he trained to become a psychoanalyst. He started his own practice in 1927. In 1930, he joined the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research.

When the Nazis came to power in Germany, Fromm left the country. He moved to Geneva, Switzerland, and then to New York in 1934. In New York, he worked at Columbia University. He was part of a group of psychoanalysts called Neo-Freudians. After leaving Columbia, Fromm helped create the William Alanson White Institute in 1946. He also taught at several colleges.

In 1949, Fromm moved to Mexico City. He became a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He also started a psychoanalytic section there. He taught at UNAM until he retired in 1965. In 1974, he moved to Switzerland. He died at his home in 1980, just before his 80th birthday. Throughout his life, Fromm continued to see patients and write many books.

Fromm was often described as an atheist, meaning he didn't believe in God. However, he called himself a "nontheistic mystic." This meant he believed in spiritual experiences and values without needing a traditional idea of God.

Fromm's Ideas on Psychology

Fromm's first important book, Escape from Freedom, came out in 1941. This book looked at how people deal with freedom. It is seen as one of the first books in political psychology. His next big book, Man for Himself, published in 1947, built on these ideas. These books explained Fromm's ideas about human character and human nature.

His most popular book was The Art of Loving, published in 1956. This book became a worldwide bestseller. It explained his ideas about human nature and love, which he also wrote about in many of his other works.

Understanding Human Nature

A key part of Fromm's thinking came from his study of the Talmud and Hasidism, which are Jewish religious texts and traditions. He studied these from a young age. Even though he later moved away from traditional Judaism, he used these teachings to understand human ideas.

One central idea in Fromm's philosophy is his view of the biblical story of Adam and Eve leaving the Garden of Eden. In the Bible, Adam and Eve are seen as sinning by eating from the Tree of Knowledge. But Fromm saw it differently. He believed that eating from the tree was a good thing. It meant humans started to think for themselves and use their own reason to decide what is right and wrong. This was better than just following rules given by someone else.

Fromm used the Adam and Eve story to explain how humans evolved. When Adam and Eve ate from the tree, they became aware of themselves. They realized they were separate from nature, even though they were still a part of it. This made them feel "ashamed." They had become human beings, aware of their own lives, their deaths, and how small they were compared to nature and society. This feeling of being separate is a source of guilt and shame. Fromm believed the way to deal with this feeling is to develop our human abilities of love and reason.

What is Love?

Fromm saw love as a creative skill, not just an emotion. He thought that "falling in love" often meant people didn't truly understand love. For Fromm, real love always included four things:

• Care: Being truly concerned for someone's well-being.
• Responsibility: Taking care of someone's needs.
• Respect: Seeing others as independent people and letting them be themselves.
• Knowledge: Truly understanding what another person wants and needs.

He believed that in modern society, many people lack these qualities in their relationships.

Escaping Freedom

Fromm believed that freedom is a part of human nature. We can either accept our freedom or try to escape from it. He thought that accepting our freedom was healthy. But trying to escape it led to psychological problems. Fromm described three common ways people try to escape freedom:

• Automaton conformity: This is when people change who they really are to fit in with what society expects. They lose their true self in the process. This way, society makes the choices for them.
• Authoritarianism: This means giving up control of yourself to someone else. By letting another person make all the decisions, you almost completely get rid of your own freedom to choose.
• Destructiveness: This is any action that tries to get rid of others or the world. Fromm said that "destroying the world is the last, almost desperate attempt to save myself from being crushed by it."

Fromm often used the word biophilia. This means a love for life and living things. He saw it as a healthy way of thinking and being. He believed that humans can find a new sense of unity by developing their human strengths, which include biophilia, love for humanity and nature, and being independent and free.

Eight Basic Needs

Erich Fromm suggested that humans have eight basic needs:

Five Ways of Relating to the World

In his book Man for Himself, Fromm talked about "character orientations." He said that people relate to the world in two main ways: 1. Assimilation: How we get and use things. 2. Socialization: How we interact with other people.

Fromm believed these ways of relating are not just instincts. Instead, they are how each person responds to their own life. He also thought that people are never just one type. These ways of relating lead to different character orientations.

Fromm listed four "nonproductive" character types:

• Receptive: Someone who expects to receive things from others.
• Exploitative: Someone who takes things from others.
• Hoarding: Someone who saves and keeps things, not wanting to let go.
• Marketing: Someone who sees themselves and others as products to be sold, changing to fit what is needed at the moment.

He also described one "productive" character type:

• Productive: This is the healthy way to be. It means using your potential for love, reason, and creative work. Fromm said that humans need to find a balance between being close to others and being independent. The answer to this is being productive.

Fromm's Influence

Fromm's ideas about character types were used to create psychological tests. For example, the LIFO test and the Strength Deployment Inventory were based on his work. He also influenced his student Sally L. Smith, who founded the Lab School of Washington, a school for children with learning differences.

Fromm's Thoughts on Freud

Fromm studied the work of Sigmund Freud, another very famous psychologist. Fromm noticed that Freud's ideas changed over time. Before World War I, Freud thought human drives were about desire and holding back. But after the war, Freud said human drives were a fight between life instincts (Eros) and death instincts (Thanatos). Fromm felt that Freud and his followers never really explained these changes.

Fromm also criticized Freud for thinking in "either/or" terms, which he felt was too narrow. He also thought Freud had some outdated views about women. However, Fromm still respected Freud greatly. He called Freud one of the "architects of the modern age," along with Albert Einstein and Karl Marx. But Fromm believed Marx was more important historically and a better thinker than Freud.

Political Ideas and Activities

Fromm's book Escape from Freedom explores why people might want to give up their freedom and seek a strong leader. He looked at how modern politics and capitalism might lead people to feel disconnected.

His book The Sane Society, published in 1955, was the peak of his social and political thinking. In it, he argued for a humanistic and democratic socialism. He used the early ideas of Karl Marx to emphasize the importance of freedom. Fromm's idea of socialism was different from both Western capitalism and Soviet communism. He believed both systems made people feel less human and led to alienation, where people feel separated from their work and from each other. He helped promote Marxist humanism, which focuses on Marx's ideas about human freedom and dignity.

In the 1960s, Fromm wrote more books about Marx. He also worked to bring together thinkers from different parts of the world who believed in humanistic socialism. In 1966, the American Humanist Association named him Humanist of the Year.

Fromm was also involved in U.S. politics for a time. He joined the Socialist Party of America in the 1950s. He tried to offer different ideas during the time of McCarthyism, which was a period of strong anti-communist fear in the US. His book May Man Prevail? (1961) explored these ideas.

Fromm was very active in the international peace movement. He spoke out against the nuclear arms race and the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. After 1968, he mostly stepped back from American politics. He received the Nelly Sachs Prize in 1979 for his work.

Works

Early work in German

• Das jüdische Gesetz. Ein Beitrag zur Soziologie des Diaspora-Judentums. Promotion, 1922. ISBN: 3-453-09896-X.
• Über Methode und Aufgaben einer analytischen Sozialpsychologie. Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung, Bd. 1, 1932, S. 28–54.
• Die psychoanalytische Charakterologie und ihre Bedeutung für die Sozialpsychologie. Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung, Bd. 1, 1932, S. 253–277.
• Sozialpsychologischer Teil. In: Studien über Autorität und Familie. Forschungsberichte aus dem Institut für Sozialforschung. Alcan, Paris 1936, S. 77–135.
• Zweite Abteilung: Erhebungen (Erich Fromm u.a.). In: Studien über Autorität und Familie. Forschungsberichte aus dem Institut für Sozialforschung. Alcan, Paris 1936, S. 229–469.
• Die Furcht vor der Freiheit, 1941 (In English, "Fear/Dread of Freedom"). ISBN: 3-423-35024-5
• Psychoanalyse & Ethik, 1946. ISBN: 3-423-35011-3
• Psychoanalyse & Religion, 1949. ISBN: 3-423-34105-X (The Dwight H. Terry Lectureship 1949/1950)

Later works in English

• Escape from Freedom (US), The Fear of Freedom (UK) (1941) ISBN: 978-0-8050-3149-2
• Man for himself, an inquiry into the psychology of ethics (1947) ISBN: 978-0-8050-1403-7
• Psychoanalysis and Religion (1950) ISBN: 978-0-300-00089-4
• The Forgotten Language; an introduction to the understanding of dreams, fairy tales, and myths (1951) ISBN: 978-0-03-018436-9
• The Sane Society (1955) ISBN: 978-0-415-60586-1
• The Art of Loving (1956) ISBN: 978-0-06-112973-5
• Sigmund Freud's mission; an analysis of his personality and influence (1959)
• Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis (1960) ISBN: 978-0-285-64747-3
• May Man Prevail? An inquiry into the facts and fictions of foreign policy (1961) ISBN: 978-0-385-00035-2
• Marx's Concept of Man (1961) ISBN: 978-0-8264-7791-0
• Beyond the Chains of Illusion: my encounter with Marx and Freud (1962) ISBN: 978-0-8264-1897-5
• The Dogma of Christ and Other Essays on Religion, Psychology and Culture (1963) ISBN: 978-0-415-28999-3
• The Heart of Man, its genius for good and evil (1964) ISBN: 978-0-06-090795-2
• Socialist Humanism (1965)
• You Shall Be as Gods: a radical interpretation of the Old Testament and its tradition (1966) ISBN: 978-0-8050-1605-5
• The Revolution of Hope, toward a humanized technology (1968) ISBN: 978-1-59056-183-6
• The Nature of Man (1968) ISBN: 978-0-86562-082-7
• The Crisis of Psychoanalysis (1970) ISBN: 978-0-449-30792-2
• Social character in a Mexican village; a sociopsychoanalytic study (Fromm & Maccoby) (1970) ISBN: 978-1-56000-876-7
• The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness (1973) ISBN: 978-0-8050-1604-8
• To Have or to Be? (1976) ISBN: 978-0-8050-1604-8
• Greatness and Limitation of Freud's Thought (1979) ISBN: 978-0-06-011389-6
• On Disobedience and other essays (1981) ISBN: 978-0-8164-0500-8
• For the Love of Life (1986) ISBN: 0-02-910930-2
• The Art of Being (1993) ISBN: 978-0-8264-0673-6
• The Art of Listening (1994) ISBN: 978-0-8264-1132-7
• On Being Human (1997) ISBN: 978-0-8264-1005-4

See also

In Spanish: Erich Fromm para niños

• American philosophy