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Today, a plague of certitude is spreading within American psychoanalysis. This socially constructed virus is increasingly dominating our unmoderated list serves, appearing in our journals, and slowly seeping into our institutes. Having transcended the objectivism of traditional Freudian analysis, we seem to be revivifying its spirit. Rigorous claims to truth, superior knowledge, and contempt for those not in agreement abound. The life and work of psychoanalyst and sociologist Erich Fromm is offered as an antidote and model for resistance to this plague. He consistently objected to all forms of authoritarianism, from the Right and the Left. As a radical humanist he viewed us all as responsible selves, not mere vessels for instinctual drives or victims of unbearable circumstances. As Paul Roazan said about Fromm: >It still seems to me remarkable how he was willing to stand up for what he believed in. He should be a model of independence and autonomy for us all.<
Diese Hausarbeit beschäftigt sich mit dem Werk des Sozialphilosophen und Psychoanalytikers Erich Fromm. Die Fragestellung mit welcher sich diese Arbeit vordergründig auseinandersetzt lautet: Wie konzeptionalisierte Fromm die produktive Charakterorientierung und welche Gemeinsamkeiten bestehen zum Zen-Buddhismus? Darüber hinaus geht sie der Frage nach, inwiefern östliche Meditationsformen in der psychoanalytischen Therapie zur Anwendung kommen können? Um diese Fragen zu beantworten werden biographische wie historische Bedingungen des wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisprozesses von Erich Fromm skizziert und wichtige Überlegungen auf diesem Weg dargestellt. Des Weiteren werden die gesellschaftlichen Bedingungen und die wissenschaftliche Konzeptualisierung seiner Theorie der produktiven Charakterorientierung erläutert. Sie stellt einen wichtigen sozialpsychoanalytischen Beitrag zur Entwicklung des Gesellschaftscharakters dar und beschreibt die natürliche Existenzweise des Menschen im Rahmen einer humanistischen Ethik. Darauf aufbauend vergleicht sie die produktive Orientierung mit der buddhistischen Lehrtradition, wobei dabei insbesondere auf Dr. Suzukis Beitrag über Zen-Buddhismus und Psychoanalyse von 1957 eingegangen wird. Darüber hinaus setzt sich die Arbeit mit dem Beitrag von Dr. Rupert von Keller auseinander und beschreibt Indikationen und Kontraindikationen zur therapeutischen Reichweite östlicher Meditationsformen in der Psychoanalyse. Abschließend werden wichtige Ergebnisse der Arbeit zusammengefasst und diskutiert. [Buecher.de]
This article focuses on the role that the notion of temporality can and should play in the tradition of Critical Theory. Following an overview of the critical analyses of time found in the works of Marx, Lukács, Weber, Adorno, Fromm, and Marcuse, the article analyzes Hartmut Rosa’s critique of social acceleration and argues that this critique lacks a firm normative basis. This basis is required, however, for one to claim why certain processes of social acceleration are wrong. It is shown that Rosa’s analyses of acceleration contain two suggestions for such a basis: autonomy understood as a narrative identity, and autonomy as defended by Honneth’s theory of recognition. After an exploration of both suggestions, in which the ideas of MacIntyre and Ricoeur are briefly discussed as well, it is argued that a combination of both may result in a specific, normative understanding of reification, which is defended against Honneth’s definition of this concept. Based on an interpretation of passages in Horkheimer and Adorno’s >Dialectic of Enlightenment< and Adorno’s notion of >working through the past<, the article claims that reification should be understood as a forgetting of the narratives that have shaped the self and the social structures under which this self is formed, and therefore as the inability to recognize the temporal dimensions of the autonomous self.
We use to think that creativity is an attribute that any individual, to a greater or lesser extent, has. In this essay I will try to show that, besides the obvious differences among individuals, every man choose, more or less consciously, to narcotize part of his creative attitude because in some cases it is advantageous for himself and for the species. In order to do that, I will give a working definition of the concept of creativity (§ 1); then, echoing the words of Erich Fromm, I will outline an individual phenomenology of the creative attitude that might allow the reader to recognize a creative behavior when he sees it (§ 2);(§ 3) lastly, I will try to show, through the use of empirical data on man and on non-human primates, what are the advantages for the species and for the single individual of not acting creatively.
[Chinese abstract not available] >Ragtime<, published in 1975, is the fourth novel written by Jewish-American novelist E. L. Doctorow, for which he was awarded >the 1976 National Book Critics Circle Award<. Doctorow focused on the important figures in three families to explore the fate of different classes in the United States, and he didn’t try to write a grand history of the entire United States to reflect that time. He perfectly presented three very different American family freedom dilemmas in >Ragtime<: One was a wealthy middle-class white family, the other was a Jewish family from European immigrants, and the last was a black family, which genuinely reproduced the microcosm of all classes in that era. At present, some scholars have explored >Ragtime< from different angles such as feminist criticism and new historicism. Because of its unique writing style and ingenious narrative techniques, there are also many scholars studying the narrative strategy of the novel. However, there is a lack of comprehensive comments on the dilemma of freedom of the protagonists, the mechanism to negative freedom and how to realize positive freedom in the novel. From the perspective of Fromm’s freedom theory, we can find that the freedom dilemma of an individual in modern society makes people confused. So manipulation and being manipulated, a desire to destroy, automaton conformity, and other mechanisms of negative freedom come into being. As for Fromm, to be a complete human being, to be truly free must be achieved through the spontaneous love and creative labor of the individual. Based on Fromm’s view of freedom, the interpretation of >Ragtime< is of guiding significance for individuals in today’s society to move from freedom dilemma to positive freedom. Ultimately, the liberation and free and all-around development of human beings is the highest value orientation for realizing a community with a shared future for mankind, which promotes the human beings to move towards a better tomorrow.
The ideology of psychotherapy is questioned through critical concepts taken from the Freudo-Marxist tradition. The paper first analyses in detail six determinant ideological processes detected in psychotherapy that three pioneers of Freudo-Marxism criticised in the 1920s: dualistic scission and metaphysical immobilisation (Luria); idealist generalisation and mechanistic determination (Bernfeld); and repressive adaptation and historical decontextualisation (Reich). Following this, it briefly reviews seven paired analogous processes that were denounced by continuators of the Freudo-Marxist tradition: valorative moralisation and the psychologisation of the social (Fenichel); instinctual–rational deprivation and the mechanisation of the subject (Adorno); alienating performance and surplus repression (Marcuse); manipulation and dehumanising alienation (Fromm); abstraction and mythologising (Bleger); authoritarianism and suggestion (Caruso); and depoliticisation and rationalisation (Langer). The argument will show how Freudo-Marxist questionings of these operations – many now forgotten – are still current and can be inspiring and enriching for a modern critique of psychotherapy.
The aim of this paper is to portray the influences of cultural processes on the professional and family life of the modern, Western societies. The text contains the review of the literature on the subject depicting the symptoms of reconciling career with family life. With reference to the analyses conducted by Erich Fromm and Theodore Brameld, a diagnosis of social conditions contributing to disorders of the work – family life balance is put forward. The summary embraces number of conclusions that should be addressed to the overall sphere of education. Consequently, the purpose of the teachers’ work should not exclusively concern relaying specialist knowledge to pupils whom which they teach, nor preparing young people to the work, as the key task is rather to >teach human beings how to be a man, how to reach the level of a complete, coherent personality at peace with others<. Thus, in order to support a well-balanced functioning of the society, education must have an effective influence on the process of establishing standards of the >art of being< in world of the daily life.
이 연구는 플라톤에서 아리스토텔레스, 그리고 토마스 아퀴나스와 헤겔에 이르는 서양철학의 고전적 전통을 지배했던 목적론에 입각하여 행복이라는 문제에 대해서 고찰하려고 한다. 이러한 목적론은 인간을 비롯한 모든 존재자들이 자신들에게 주어져 있는 본질적인 형상을 실현하는 것을 목표한다고 보는 본질실현의 목적론이다. 이러한 본질실현의 목적론은 근대에서 지배적인 영향력을 행사했던 자기보존의 목적론과는 달리 모든 존재자들은 단순한 자기보존이나 종족번식을 넘어서 자신에게 부여된 본질적인 형상을 구현하는 것을 목표한다고 본다. 본 연구는 인간의 행복은 이러한 본질실현의 목적론을 전제로 할 경우에만 제대로 구명될 수 있다고 보면서, 이러한 사실을 본질실현의 목적론에 입각하여 인간을 파악했던 가장 대표적인 사상가인 아리스토텔레스와 에리히 프롬의 행복관을 고찰함으로써 입증하고자 했다.
Economic threat predicted the level of superstition in Germany for the tumultuous years 1918 to 1940. Indexes of superstition were the number of articles on astrology, mysticism, and cults appearing in a German periodical index. Threat was measured by levels of real wages, unemployment, and industrial production. The economic threat variables significantly predicted level of superstition in two of the three superstition indexes. Experimental and naturalistic evidence concerning situational determinants of superstition are reviewed. These results support Fromm's (1941/1965) thesis that threat produces authoritarianism and corroborate Sales's (1973) investigation of U.S. archival data.
It has been over 70 years since Erich Fromm wrote >Escape from Freedom<. He defined two type of freedom: FREEDOM FROM (negative) and FREEDOM TO (positive). Fromm's masterpiece, however, does not measure the two types of freedom, and this is not surprising – there were no freedom data at the time. Now, there are plenty of data, and Fromm's concepts of freedom can be operationalized across countries. The two types of freedom, positive and negative, correlate at below 0.5, and such low correlation is surprising – I discuss outliers and point out that freedom is an end in itself, as recognized, for instance, by Amartya Sen. Furthermore, while we acknowledge the importance of FREEDOM FROM, we forget that FREEDOM FROM is not fully realized without FREEDOM TO: it's great to be free; but it's even better to feel free as well.
The idea of sport's character-forming qualities is a globally spread notion, which has begun to be questioned in recent years. In problematizing this notion, the relation of sport to its practitioners has been the primary study. The way the problems reflect the relation of sport to society has been less in focus. This essay sets such a focus with the help of character concepts in social psychology (Riesman, Fromm and Sennett), developing a reconstruction of such concepts of sport in a Swedish context. From being a sphere by the side of society, sport in Sweden from the twentieth century onwards has been increasingly linked in complex ways to the various spheres and actors of society. This understanding of how characters are fostered into and within sport sheds light on the conditions for character formation at different stages of history until the present time. The problems receive further relevance when considering how New Economy culture and its conditions for character formation may affect Swedish sport in the near future.
Erich Fromm, one of the pioneers of Third Force psychology, consciences: the authoritarian conscience, which, representing the values of munity or culture, demands obedience; and the humanistic conscience, which, the inner self, asks that the individual act in ways that show his respect for his potentiality. It is not surprising that the two consciences, in life as well as in literature, often in conflict. What is surprising is the occasional example of ready obedience demands of an authoritarian conscience. The biblical account of the sacrifice Old English versions of which are discussed in this paper, provides just such an comparison of the language of the Cædmonian poet with that of Ælfric's almost word translation from the Vulgate leads to a conclusion that the biblical story and Isaac represents a moment in the history of religious consciousness when the authoritarian conscience was succeeded by the humanistic conscience.
This article explores the relevance of the life and works of Kiyoshi Miki (1897 – 1945), a Japanese philosopher, to Maslovian humanistic psychology. Although Miki and Maslow differ in many respects, they shared a few common points that are important to examine. In his early articles, Miki equated philosophy with confessions of the soul and argued that individuality was impossible within the traditional framework of logic. His first main work on Pascal’s anthropology was an attempt to assimilate and synthesize the German existential/hermeneutic and the French moralist traditions he had learned in Europe in the early 1920s. Despite pioneering works by Wilhelm Reich and Erich Fromm, humanistic psychology has not exhausted the potentialities of Marxism. Maslow and other intellectuals sympathetic to this materialist philosophy were mutually disappointed. However, Maslow’s enlightened or eupsychian management may be an important step toward social revolution, compensating for a missing psychological viewpoint in traditional Marxism. Miki’s hermeneutic approach to this ideology offers two important points relevant to humanistic psychology: his concept of basic experience – later called Pathos – as the basis of any ideology, and the distinction between dialectic and organicism. His last years, during the War and fascism, raise important questions regarding what talented, self-actualizing intellectuals can do without freedom of speech and expression under a totalitarian and authoritarian regime. Finally, this article addresses how well Miki’s concept of utopia – on which he wrote an essay in the context of a dark age—corresponds to Maslow’s idea of eupsychia.
This paper explores Erich Fromm’s contribution to Deweyan democratic education by referring to his psychoanalytic interpretation of John Dewey’s pragmatic theory. First, it employs the work by Gert Biesta to secure a space between critical pedagogy and Deweyan democratic education, from which Fromm’s theory can be discussed. Furthermore, it argues that Biesta’s perspective offers a valuable theoretical ground to extend the emancipatory potential of Deweyan democratic education, while avoiding some pitfalls of critical pedagogy. Subsequently, the paper contrasts Marcuse’s and Fromm’s views on Dewey to show how Fromm’s understanding of Dewey was more effective than that of Marcuse for developing the potential of Dewey’s philosophy. Next, the paper clarifies key similarities and differences between Fromm’s psychoanalysis and Dewey’s pragmatism, as it is applicable specifically to emancipatory education. Finally, the paper argues that despite the differences between these two thinkers, Fromm’s theory further radicalizes Deweyan democratic education by adding new elements to the list of preconditions on the role of the emancipatory teacher.
In this paper we express concerns that the marketisation of British higher education that has accompanied its expansion has resulted in some sections becoming pedagogically limited. We draw from Fromm's humanist philosophy based on >having< to argue that the current higher education (HE) market discourse promotes a mode of existence, where students seek to >have a degree< rather than >be learners<. This connects pedagogic theory to a critique of consumer culture. We argue that a ‘market-led’ university responds to consumer calls by focusing on the content students want at a market rate. It may decrease intellectual complexity if this is not in demand, and increase connections with the workplace if this is desired. Once, under the guidance of the academic, the undergraduate had the potential to be transformed into a scholar, someone who thinks critically, but in our consumer society such ‘transformation’ is denied and ‘confirmation’ of the student as consumer is favoured. We further argue that there is a danger that the new HE's link to business through the expansion of vocational courses in business, marketing and related offerings, inevitably embeds expanded HE in a culture of having. This erodes other possible roles for education because a consumer society is unlikely to support a widened HE sector that may work to undermine its core ideology.
Erich Fromm, ein unterschätzter Klassiker, steht in der Reihe jener kritischer Geister, die in den vermeintlichen Errungenschaften des Kapitalismus ein Problempotential erkannten, das sich negativ auf die Gesellschaft und auf das Individuum auswirkt. Es wäre müßig, in einer von marktwirtschaftlichen Grundannahmen zutiefst überzeugten Gesellschaft den Versuch einer Bekehrung wagen zu wollen, indem man die Grundannahmen eines linken Denkers zu verteidigen sucht; diese Arbeit soll sich daher der Veranschaulichung und Hinterfragung der frühen, unter dem Eindruck freudomarxistischer Gedanken gefassten Thesen Erich Fromms widmen. Jene Thesen sind von Fromm in vielen populären Bestsellern besprochen worden, so dass es nur allzu leicht fiel, ihn zu einem zwar populären, aber wenig gehaltvollen Philosophen zu erklären. Der Erfolg eines Philosophen macht seine Thesen nicht falscher, auch wenn er durch jenen Erfolg Teil einer Gesellschaft wird, an deren Bekehrung seiner Philosophie eigentlich gelegen ist. Im Falle Fromms lag sein Erfolg nahe: Es ging ihm in der Tradition des jüdischen Humanismus um das psychische Wohl der Menschen, das er in einer wirtschaftlich und politisch unlauteren Mitteln unterworfenen Welt gefährdet sah. Daher ist es auch der Mensch, der im Mittelpunkt dieser Arbeit steht: Welche Gefahren wirken laut Fromm auf das Individuum der Moderne ein und welche Wechselwirkungen von Gesellschaft und Individuum macht er aus? Und warum ist der Kapitalismus eine Gefahr, die sich kaum überwinden lässt? Spätestens mit der Trennung vom Institut für Sozialforschung widmete sich Erich Fromm der Ausarbeitung und Vertiefung seiner Untersuchungen der frühen Jahre. Die sich daraus ergebende Vielfalt und Bandbreite kann in dieser Arbeit nicht besprochen werden; wesentliche Aspekte des Frommschen Werks müssen daher hintanstehen, wenn die vermittels Analytischer Sozialpsychologie herausgearbeitete Kapitalismuskritik dargestellt werden soll. [Hugendubel.de]
The idea of social character has a long and important history within sociological thought. The concept addresses the fundamental question of the relationship between society and the individual, structure and agency. Tracing the development of the idea of social character from the classical sociology of Marx and Weber to more contemporary writings within American sociology by figures such as Fromm, Riesman, and Mills reveals ideas and perspectives central to the development of social theory. Although many argue that the idea of social character is no longer important in sociology, it has in fact resurfaced in Pierre Bourdieu's notion of habitus. Habitus specifies the original idea of social character without the biological or essentialist traits found in most of the earlier work. Habitus marks a substantial advance beyond earlier ideas of social character, providing a more purely sociological answer to the structure/agency (society/individual) problematic.
The current political climate is marked by polarization, which presents new difficulties for psychoanalysis. Erich Fromm, as a Freudian theorist and clinician, is uniquely positioned to address these issues. Fromm is a politically radical thinker who can help psychoanalysis think about society and social injustice beyond the clinical context while avoiding the dangers of excessively orthodox left-wing thinking that risks taking the field away from its core mission. Fromm can help psychoanalysis avoid what we are calling the >Peterson problem,< which is partly the result of provocative and extreme ideas in institutions and psychoanalytic publications that create reputational problems for the field. The >Peterson problem< brings new attention to the political bias of left-liberal authoritarians inside the profession, who focus on changing society rather than healing individuals and neglect audiences outside the liberal university and highly educated classes and thus create space for polarizing figures like psychologist Jordan Peterson to fill the gap. Peterson’s fame and influence serves as a lightning rod for the wider critique of left leaning political and cultural currents in psychoanalysis. Fromm can act as a role model as well as provide the intellectual resources for responding to these challenges.
This article examines the role of comedy and the influence of Kafka in Ana María Shua's comic novel >Soy paciente< (1980). Using Northrop Frye's rubric of comedy as a point of departure, it traces the way in which Shua's text, like Kafka's work, simultaneously inscribes and distorts the traditional utopian themes of comedy: identity acquisition and social resolution. The aim is to relate the distortions to the novel's socio-historical context of El proceso by referring to Erich Fromm's observations on the effect Fascist regimes have on concepts such as social and individual identity. The article also exposes the correlation between Shua's cultural dependency (on Kafkaesque/European creative paradigms) and the novel's oppressive cultural/political context.
Capitalism and Mental Health
(2019)
The psychoanalytical framework developed by Marxist Erich Fromm strongly challenges the dominant biological and individualistic explanations of the mental-health crisis that is now sweeping the globe. Fromm emphasized that all humans have certain needs that must be fulfilled in order to ensure optimal mental health. It follows that capitalism is crucial to determining the experience and prevalence of mental well-being, as its operations are incompatible with true human need.
Se analizan ambos polos de la ecuación >adolescencia< y >política<desde la politica, por una parte, se describen las dificultades epistemológicas subyacentes a su praxis, vinculadas a la causalidad lineal y al >racionalismo mórbido< de Gabel. También se estudia cómo éstas se relacionan con la enfermedad social a través del >narcisismo institucional<. Las posibles elecciones del adolescente están condicionadas por su carácter político (en el sentido de Fromm y Adorno) y se basan sobre la tipología de Merton, de respuestas a la anomia. Se describe el carácter revolucionario como más cercano a la respuesta >rebelled< de Merton y se la considera como respuesta más sana – en el sentido de salud social –. Se subraya la función de los educadores con relación al desplazamiento (en niños y jóvenes) desde el polo autoritario al polo revolucionario del carácter dada, entre otras cosas, su trascendencia social.
The author discusses the ideas of three important psychoanalytic thinkers about group processes in large social groups: Sigmund Freud, Wilfred Bion, and Erich Fromm. Their ideas are developed and applied to analysis of group processes in totalitarian systems, as they were known to the author in Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. In conclusion, treatment considerations as they apply to patients who grew up in these regimes are developed and illustrated by clinical cases.
Self-image arises from a complex interaction of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. This article explores the importance of people with a learning disability attaining a positive self-image. It discusses the effect of society's perception of people with learning disabilities, and questions the willingness of the community to accept such people in a non-judgmental way. It argues that staff caring for this client group have a vital role to play in how people with learning disabilities are perceived by others and discusses the effects that a market philosophy (Fromm, 1978) and the popular media have on society regarding people with learning disabilities. Self-worth is important to everyone; however, the article concludes that a person with a learning disability is seriously disadvantaged in this respect. This aspect of care therefore requires insight, support and skills on the part of those healthcare professionals caring for this client group.
Love is an Art [爱,是一门艺术]
(2008)
This paper asks whether prisoners should have access to Pell Grants, for which they are currently ineligible. In the first section, the author considers philosophical arguments relating to the present ban by examining traditional concerns of deterrence, rehabilitation, and retribution. The second section explores two arguments against a more inclusive Pell Grant policy. In the third section the author argues that restoring higher education grants to prisoners is compelling, especially when one considers issues of race and class. The paper concludes by using Erich Fromm’s social theory to call into question the justice, ethics, and rationality of those societies that normalize mass incarceration.
Strains on professional resources and complex experiences of isolation and despair have taken their toll on communities, adding to the challenges for social workers and social work as a profession. In a context of austerity and locational stress, communities are increasingly relied upon to enhance or, indeed, replace the need for state intervention. However, grass-roots and mutual aid collectives have the potential for both community support and resistance. Using original qualitative data, this article explores how some groups based in Scotland’s most deprived locales provide collective and mutual aid, and, in doing so, attempt to address some of the challenges of modern life (such as overcoming addiction, isolation and mental anguish). Importantly, this article revives and develops Erich Fromm’s discourse on the importance of ‘love’ and Marx’s concept of ‘spiritual emancipation’ to explore the potential for transforming individual experiences into collective resistance.
The Pathology of Modernity
(2021)
This chapter presents the psychological burden of living under modernity’s law of gravitation as the defining focus of much continental philosophy and social science. Most Western philosophers with any self-respect have their own diagnoses of present-day society, intended to capture the essence of living in modernity. Key thinkers such as Nietzsche, Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Freud, Adorno and Horkheimer, Fromm, Rieff, Eriksson and Mitscherlich gave their important contribution to individuation – the development of a unique self, socialization and subjectivation. Equally important is the question of failed individuation as these psychologists, sociologists and philosophers ask themselves whether modern man can manage without >God< and if the science-based Enlightenment’s promise of secular happiness would hold water.
The evolution of dynamic psychology has been highly contradictory and uneven due in part to differences of emphasis and focus, and also due to philosophical and theoretical differences, which led to congruent and incongruent results between the respective schools. Now, especially with the new millennium, many are asking again whether in fact we should not go beyond the different schools towards a new sense of unity and purpose. Today there is a call for integration and a sense of common purpose, although how this is to be achieved is not clear. However, it has been argued that the introversion of a theory and the defence of its purity by its adherents will act as a brake on its growth and further development (John, 1998; Millar, 2000). The basis of any theory is always incomplete (Fromm, 1980) and consequently scientific progress must come as a result of open dialogue and debate for the benefit of all schools of psychology and psychotherapy. Classically, Adlerian psychology was founded upon a flexible and open-ended approach to the understanding of human nature. Orgler, for example, notes that Adler avoided offering a >rigid scheme< that could easily be copied by physicians and therapists (Orgler, 1973, p.167). And, regarding training, Orgler writes that >Adler demanded a thorough knowledge of other psychological schools, of philosophy and of pedagogy< (ibid, p.176).
Loneliness, as a universal sensation, has been a classic topic in literature for a long time. Yiyun Li, a new star in Chinese American literature, has published several short stories in The New Yorker, employing her upbringing memories in her motherland and English, the public language in a foreign land. The loneliness and plight of ordinaries against the profound epochal background have been the universal themes in her works and her humanistic and calm written style attracts readers’ attention. At present, studies of Yiyun’s short stories have concentrated on translation strategies, trauma, culture or multicultural, and Chinese characteristics. However, there is a lack of research on the theme of loneliness. In following six representative short stories, >A Thousand Years of Good Prayers< (2005), >A Flawless Silence<(2018), >Extra< (2005), >Gold Boy, Emerald Girl<(2010), >The Science of Flight< (2010), >A Small Flame< (2017), Yiyun Li portrays different kinds of loneliness with different characters in a psychological sense, which is a mirror reflection of the existential predicaments and spiritual dilemmas of modern people, highlighting the universal value of loneliness in literary criticism. The thesis will investigate the theme of loneliness in the six short stories mentioned above, integrating four key concepts on loneliness in Fromm’s Neo-psychoanalytic theory: automation conformity, authoritarianism, the needs for love, and social unconsciousness to examine three types of loneliness in Li’s writings, such as the aphasics, the marginal man, and the rootless people, to ascertain the association of loneliness among these three types of people, and then, to trace the origins of loneliness from the insane personality, the impotence to love, and the suppressed social unconscious. Therefore, the first key to recovering from loneliness is that individuals must confront and accept loneliness; secondly, they should employ spontaneous love to relieve loneliness; and finally, they could completely get rid of loneliness and make connections with the outside world through joint efforts. Li only depicts loneliness, leaving the question on how to dissipate it to readers. Notably, with her caring and warming kindness for her characters, she invites readers to think together and discuss the ways to cure loneliness. Therefore, from the perspective of Fromm’s Neo-psychoanalytic criticism, the thesis offers guidance for the aphasics, the marginalized and the rootless to get beyond loneliness, and provides reference and insight for loneliness research in a contemporary social context. [www.cnki.net, 1/2023]
Fromm is an important representative of the Frankfurt School in the 20th century, as well as a well-known humanist philosopher and well-known humanist philosopher and psychoanalytic psychologist. The thought of Fromm’s humanistic is based on the investigation of human nature and the analysis of the actual living conditions of human beings. He believes that the rapid development of economy and technology in Western capitalist society has also caused human alienation and social morbidity. On the basis of in-depth analysis and criticism of this, Fromm reveals the survival dilemma of modern people, and hopes to achieve human liberation through psychological revolution (>The Art of Loving< and social revolution (the establishment of a sound society). The article is divided into three parts. The first part is the analysis of the theoretical origins of Fromm’s humanistic thought, mainly involving Freud's psychoanalysis, Marx's theory of alienation, the Frankfurt School’s Critical theory, and the influence of Eastern Zen thought on him. The second part is the analysis of the main content of Fromm’s humanistic thought, taking human nature of good and evil, and the multiple character structure of humans as the logical starting point, leading to the antinomy of existence, the psychological tendency to escape freedom, and the existence of reoccupied existence. In response to these contradictions, Fromm not only proposed to cultivate >new people< from the perspective of psychological revolution, that is, to cultivate creative love and productive personality, but also put forward the idea of overall social change in the fields of economy, politics, and culture, and advocated the establishment of a >new society< aiming at the full and free development of people. The third part is the analysis and evaluation of Fromm’s humanistic thought, analyzing the influence of Fromm’s thought in Frankfurt School, and interpreting the contemporary value of Fromm’s humanistic thought. [English: www.cnki.net, 4/2022]
[Chinese abstract not available] Donna Tartt has published three novels all together. In 2014, she won the Pulitzer Prize for her masterpiece >The Goldfinch<. In this novel, alienation is ubiquitous: A terrorist attack causes irreparable harm to victims; there is widespread addiction to drugs and alcohol; relationships among people are alienated, either superficial and distorted or indifferent and apathetic; people worship art, freedom or money irrationally. People are belittled, objectified and deprived of love and conscience in a materialistic and egotistic society. In this novel, Donna Tartt condemns terrorism and explores the causes of alienation and the ways to overcome it which are scientific and reasonable according to Erich Fromm’s theory of alienation which is the theoretical basis of this thesis. Many articles compare >The Goldfinch< with the works of famous writers like Charles Dickens and Fyodor Dostoevsky. Some analyze the power or value of art or explore the question about the degree of freedom. And some praise the excellent writing skills and delicate expressions in the novel. This thesis focuses on manifestations and causes of alienation and ways to alleviate it, which have not been analyzed deeply yet.– This thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter introduces >The Goldfinch< and its author Donna Tartt and Erich Fromm and his alienation theory. This chapter also makes the literature review, analyzing related studies at home and abroad. The second chapter concerns the manifestations of alienation, including people’s irrational worship of art, freedom or money, apathetic relationships between fathers and sons and between man and others, characters’ Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and widespread addiction to drugs and alcohol. The third chapter explores causes of alienation in >The Goldfinch<, pointing out that it is materialism and egotism in capitalist society that lead to inferiority and objectification of man and disappearance of conscience and love under the guidance of Fromm’s theory of alienation. The fourth chapter is about redemption in this novel in thought, action and feeling, proposing that to overcome alienation, man should wake up from stupor and pay more attention to human beings than to things as Hobie does to Theo and as Theo does to Mrs. Barbour, man should make right choices actively when selecting career and choosing between good and evil and man should relate himself to the world lovingly and artistically. All these ways can help people overcome alienation and get redemption according to Fromm’s theory. Lastly, there is a conclusion of the whole thesis. This novel shows that productive love is the most important for people to develop and fulfill humanity, which is the ultimate weapon to overcome alienation. In front of alienation, people should not give up their self and humanity, but believe in their own life force and face everything bravely. [Translation: www.cnki.net, 2/2024]
D. H. Lawrence (1885 – 1930) is one of the most important novelists in the history of English literature in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He lived at a time when capitalist industry was at its peak, but at the same time, a series of negative consequences of the industrial revolution were exposed. The nature of man is poisoned, the integrity of the individual is destroyed, and the relationship between man and man and nature loses its balance in traditional agricultural societies. For Lawrence, he was living in a time when the world was completely out of balance. For this reason, he keeps on writing, with sharp and bold strokes to express the alienated individual, abnormal interpersonal relationship and the imbalance between man and nature under the capitalist industrial civilization, and tirelessly explores the way to restore the balance between individual and self, between man and man, and between man and nature. Furthermore, in his opinion, these three levels do not exist in isolation, but constitute a mutually restrictive whole; An imbalance at any level leads to an imbalance at other levels, or problems at any level reflect problems at the other two levels. Thus, among the >imbalance< and >balance<, the individual, society and nature form an intricate internal relationship, presenting a systematic structure of three and one, one and three, which integrates Lawrence’s whole life exploration and literary creation. This provides an important entry point for us to re-understand Lawrence’s series of controversial topics and reassess their current significance. Based on this, this paper takes Lawrence’s novels as the research object and the concept of >balance< as the entry point to make a detailed discussion of the relationship between man and self, man and man, man and nature in his works.– This paper consists of three parts: introduction, text and conclusion. The introduction mainly focuses on Lawrence’s personal experience of >imbalance< and traces the origin of his concept of >balance<. The concept of >balance< is preliminarily defined; Review relevant research results at home and abroad.– The first part of the text discusses Lawrence’s concept of balance from the perspective of individual self. Under the background of industrial revolution, due to the poison of mechanical civilization and rampant materialism, human beings constantly overcome or tame their own nature. But when the civilization overcomes the nature, man gradually moves toward the one-sided. In Lawrence’s works, human nature and civilization correspond to >blood consciousness< and >mind consciousness< respectively, while the individuals in his works can be divided into >brain type< individuals and >blood type< individuals. In Lawrence’s opinion, when the >blood< of an individual is overwhelmed by the >mind<, his emotion and instinct will be suppressed, thus leading to the alienation of human nature. At the same time, the >blood< of the individual must resist the >mind< and call for the return of nature, so as to achieve the >balance< of the individual self.– The second part uses Erich Fromm’s theory of >possession and existence< to explore Lawrence’s thoughts on the relationship between people. In Lawrence’s opinion, due to the dominance of >possessive< value orientation, the lovers’ relationship, family relationship and class relationship in the era of industrial civilization were also out of balance, and they tried to control, dominate and possess others, resulting in the breakdown of interpersonal relationship. In view of this bad situation, Lawrence proposed the concept of >interstellar balance< relationship model, calling on modern people to get out of the dilemma of self-centeredness and build a relationship model of >existence<, sharing and symbiosis on the basis of respecting others, so as to rebuild the balance of human relations.– The third part discusses Lawrence’s thoughts on the relationship between human beings and nature in modern industrial civilization from the perspective of ecological criticism. Lawrence believed that the relationship between man and nature became estranged and antagonistic during the transition from agricultural civilization to industrial civilization. His works deeply reflect on and criticize the anthropocentrism and development-oriented concepts in western culture, and accuse human beings of unrestrained conquest of nature. In Lawrence’s view, human beings are part of nature, and they should Revere nature, return to nature, blend in with nature, and live in harmony with nature. Only by conquering nature and reconciling with nature and restoring the balance between man and nature can modern people overcome the ecological crisis and seek the healthy and all-round development of human society.– The conclusion focuses on the inner constitution and current significance of Lawrence’s concept of >balance<. Lawrence’s works comprehensively present his profound reflection on modern industrial civilization and his grand conception of future ideal civilization. His thought has obvious integrity and systematism. In this regard, his idea of >balance<, ostensibly derived from his meditation on the ideal of love, actually runs through his complex meditation on the whole of modern civilization. In his opinion, individuals, society and nature constitute an organic whole. Any imbalance at one level may lead to the imbalance at other levels and trigger a chain reaction at other levels. In order to restore balance at any level, the reconstruction of balance state at other levels is indispensable. Although Lawrence’s concept of >balance< is obviously utopian, it still has important reference value and significance in today’s era of numerous spiritual problems, continuous cultural conflicts and continuous deterioration of ecological environment. [Translation: www.cnki.net, 7/2023]
Oedipus complex is a key concept in psychoanalysis. It is related to the theory of sexual instinct within the system, the field of unconsciousness, the analysis of dreams, neurosis and other important categories, and has caused numerous disputes since its birth. In the past, the evaluation of Oedipus complex mainly focused on three aspects: one is that children depend on their mother rather than sexual desire for food and emotional needs; the other is the penile centralism and neglect of mother in Freud’s theory; the third is the universality of Oedipus complex. These controversies still follow the critical thinking of Malinowski and Fromm, but actually do not touch the core of Oedipus complex. Because the Oedipus complex in Freud’s view is essentially a concept about sex, and the successors of Lacan and other psychoanalytic schools have responded to these disputes by reinterpreting the Oedipus complex.– Therefore, this paper will focus on the initial definition of Oedipus complex and explore the original rationality of this concept. Freud first discovered the special relationship between early children and their parents when exploring the causes of neurosis. This relationship appears again frequently in typical dream cases and self-analysis. Therefore, Freud regarded this connection as a common phenomenon and applied it to clinical treatment and analysis. In addition to returning to the context in which Freud raised this issue, we also introduce Levi Strauss and Foucault’s theory of sex and gender from the perspective of triangular interpersonal structure and human gender differences to reflect on the bias of traditional interpretation of the concept of Oedipus complex. Specifically speaking: Freud believed that the sexual desire contained in Oedipus complex can only appear in the form of heterosexuality, that is, the first impulse of a child should be directed to the heterosexual side of the parents. According to Foucault’s analysis of the relationship between power and sex, sexual experience is produced rather than born with us. Therefore, in this sense, the concept of Oedipus complex constructed by Freud falls into the power. Furthermore, Freud limited the external manifestation of Oedipus complex to the family triangle in the general sense of experience. This kind of setting only pays attention to the interaction between kinship roles, and does not consider each role in the whole system. In Levi Strauss’s view, the deep structure of kinship is the uncle nephew relationship based on the premise of >incest taboo<, which includes four words: >brother-sister-father-son<. This >basic structure of kinship< is universal and stable in explaining all the facts of kinship. To sum up, this paper intends to analyze the heterosexual form and triangular relationship in Oedipus complex through Foucault’s theory of sexual experience and Levi Strauss’s theory of kinship structure. [Translation: www.cnki.net, 4/2023]
Of all the psychological theorists who have tried to formulate a system better than Freud's to approach problems of contemporary life, no one has been more creative or influential than Erich Fromm. He is the most articulate advocate on the role of social forces in molding our character and on our manner of relating to others. This volume is an expansion of his systematic doctrine. >The Dogma of Christ<, which is also the longest essay in this collection, appears in English for the first time. It was written thirty years ago, when Fromm identified himself with the orthodox wing of the psychoanalytic movement. He describes the experience of the early Christian community, with its emphasis on the role of the son, as an expression of the revolutionary stirrings of an oppressed minority against the paternalism of the Roman Empire. >The suffering Jesus originated primarily from the need for identification on […]