TY - JOUR A1 - Pacquing, Ian Raymond B. T1 - The Power of Man in Fromm’s Humanistic Ethics JF - Kritike, Vol. 7, pp. 33-49. N2 - Erich Fromm analyzed how man is divided in his sense of true self. This division within forces him to cling to abstract and concrete entities outside of himself and Fromm calls this >transference< which he, after all, borrowed from Freud. This transferring of man’s individuality to outside forces brings temporary relief to his experience of powerlessness and loneliness. The transference makes man acquire a masochistic character wherein he submits himself to outside irrational forces that perpetually dehumanize him. This is the reason why his ethics is a struggle to bring back the power of man within, nursing his potentialities to change himself and transform his world. Ethics, for Fromm, is a form of normativity which leads man into freedom to fully actualize his own sense of self. Y1 - 2013 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pacquing, Ian Raymond B. T1 - Neoliberalism and our Precarious Culture JF - Kritike, Vol. 11, pp. 129-148. N2 - The fluidity, contradictions, and multiplicity of the neoliberal structures fragment the historical continuity of our culture. The signifying chain, which our culture serves, is shattered and hence there is a constant need to regain our lost identity. However, the massive concentration of the market economy dissuades us from achieving this end. Psychoanalytically, we regress into the pregenital stages of human development, which give rise to narcissistic traits. Social narcissism finds its expressions through the accumulation and possessions of lacuna of >images< and >appearances< that serve to cover existential issues in contemporary life. Reliance on surface reality, this modern-day psychopathology deadens our individual convictions on social and political issues, as well as our fidelity in emotional matters. As a consequence, we lose concern over things that might be equally or more important for the survival of our society—tradition. Y1 - 2017 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pacquing, Ian Raymond B. T1 - Neoliberalism and the Paralysis of Human Rationality JF - Kritike, Vol. 10, pp. 146-162. N2 - The neoliberal character rests on the credo—>There is no alternative.< There is no alternative to deregulation, free trade, individual entrepreneurship, and competition. This is believed by economists and intellectuals as the only way for humanity to be liberated from the feudal past. It is argued that this new economic liberalism reclaims the lost humanity of man. It is therefore through neoliberal perspectives that freedom and human creativity are realized. There is no other way but to engross oneself in this economic mainstream as transnational companies, through the help of IMF and the WB, continuously occupy the social sphere. Economically, as individuals adapt to this capitalist mainstream, they assimilate their environment in accordance to the character matrix predominantly enforced by neoliberal apologists. Consequently, human potentialities are being absorbed into a system controlled by the very socio-economic apparatuses of modern society. Human reason becomes its very instrument as it is refashioned into a reified system of thinking. Human consciousness is captured in a single dimensional space propagated by this liberal economy. Individual growth, creativity, spontaneity, and productivity are all incorporated and hobbled in order to transmit the structures of neoliberal paradigm. Y1 - 2016 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pacquing, Ian Raymond B. T1 - The Philosophical Anthropology of Erich Fromm: The Conscious and the Unconscious in Man JF - Kritike, Vol. 8, pp. 77-97. N2 - The philosophical anthropology of Erich Fromm rests on his analysis of the existential dichotomy, which breaks man’s humanity. When man disobeys God in paradise, he begins to become human. He begins to be free. For Fromm, disobedience is a prerequisite towards freedom. However, there is in him a yearning to go back to paradise to enjoy the >roots of his own nature.< He wants to be secured and taken care by a loving God. This allegory was taken and interpreted by Fromm that man is separated from his own nature. In paradise, he is an animal. He does not possess any reason or freedom as a human being. Physiologically, he does what other creatures do. However, saying >no< to God’s commandment allowed him to become human. He has reason and freedom. He is forced to take the responsibility to build his own humanity. Now, he is torn between two existential nature i.e., his animal nature and human nature. There is no way for him to return to his paradisiacal roots. He has to move on and build his true human nature. For Fromm, this can be done through reason, faith, and love. Y1 - 2014 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pacquing, Ian Raymond B. T1 - Our Social Discontents:Revisiting Fromm’s Redemptive Psychoanalytic Critique JF - Kritike, Vol. 12, pp. 277-292. N2 - Modern society is marked with utmost ambivalence. There is the utmost desire to be free, creative, and productive. Yet, our creative and productive desires trap us and now control our own freedom to become. Couple this inconsistency with the rapid sociostructural changes, fragmentation of traditions, and dissolution of communal well-being, what we have is a life of uncertainty. It is a life debased from its very ontological foundation with the transmission of technorationalities of the capitalist industry. In modernity, we could no longer speak of individuality and subjectivity since the very historical thread that serve as its foundation is now wavered towards accumulation and possession of the capital. Moreover, this overleaning towards the capital deadens us unconsciously that we mistake this for reality. The market ideology with all its rationalizations reifies human consciousness to the extent that we consider the technorationalities as the ontological normative structure. As a result, there is a growing dislocation of subjectivity which leads to neurotic social behaviors and inner social contradictions. As a result, we have our own social discontents. It is then the aim of this paper to ponder on the psychosocial effects of the market economy. I argue that there is a need to look at the effects of this economic system that perpetually delineate subjective experiences and plunge humanity into incontrovertible pseudo images. It is at this point that Fromm’s radical psychosocial interpretation of society becomes binding. I argue with Fromm that our social libidinal drives or what he termed as social characterology, which we are all unconscious of, must be thoroughly brought to fore. I claim that this particular characterology result to the obstructions of a normal and healthy society. Y1 - 2018 ER -