Erich Fromm: Lives and Voices, or Life and Voice?
- Two sources, Lawrence Friedman's recent biography and Michael Maccoby's important 1994 essay on the >two voices< of Erich Fromm, present Fromm as torn between his roles as scholarly >scientist< and as revolutionary >prophet<. Contra Friedman and Maccoby, who see the >prophetic< as impinging on Fromm's scholarly objectivity and rigor, I argue that Fromm's prophetic and scientific sides must be understood as fundamentally linked. Fromm's ethical-prophetic orientation and his theory of >prophetic messianism< are intellectually sophisticated. Fromm draws on philosophical traditions that privilege human flourishing (Aristotle, Spinoza, Marx) as the basis for ethical decision-making. Like Marxist Georg Lukács's >totality<, Fromm's prophetic messianism not only doesn't limit his theoretical work – it opens up new vistas, through an encounter with reality that is both theoretical and practical.
Author: | Joan Braune |
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Publisher URL (printed edition): | http://www.psychosozial-verlag.de/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/2535/CATALOGSSID/8c52oh5o77t4cs3r5m2r2722j4 |
Parent Title (English): | R. Funk and N. McLaughlin (Eds.), Towards a Human Science. The Relevance of Erich Fromm for Today, Giessen (Psychosozial-Verlag) 2015, pp. 91-98. |
Document Type: | Articles |
Language: | English |
Year of first Publication: | 2015 |
Release Date: | 2015/12/14 |
Format: | PDF-scan to download |
IdNo: | Braune_J_2015 |
Writings about Erich Fromm (Secondary Literature): | Articles / Artikel |
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive: | Articles / Artikel |
Licence (German): |