@article{Cawood, author = {Cawood, Helen-Mary}, title = {Fromm's ethic of solidarity and the potential for critical communitarianism}, series = {South African Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 38, No. 2 (2019), pp. 166-179. [Online ISSN 2073-4867] [doi.org/10.1080/02580136.2019.1625187]}, journal = {South African Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 38, No. 2 (2019), pp. 166-179. [Online ISSN 2073-4867] [doi.org/10.1080/02580136.2019.1625187]}, abstract = {It can be (and has been) claimed that one of the central thematic concerns in Erich Fromm's immense body of critical work is the exposition of a new >radical< humanist ethic, based upon the normative foundations of human solidarity/relatedness and love. The role of community in this ethic is vital, as Fromm argues for the existence of an intrinsically human need for belonging and communion. According to Fromm, the breakdown of traditional societies in modernity and the adoption of strong anti-traditionalist paradigms in both liberalism and Marxism has paradoxically led to the desire in the contemporary individual to >escape< this freedom, too often resulting in an uncritical adoption of what Eric Hobsbawm calls >invented traditions< in order to rediscover a shared sense of humankind. This article therefore contends that 1) Fromm advocates a form of >critical communitarianism<; and 2) that critical communitarianism can provide a strong foundation for an ethical confrontation with neoliberal modernity, and thereby a reconsidered form of community through human solidarity.}, language = {en} }