This thesis seeks to uncover the methodological ground-work necessary for the construction of an emancipatory theory of society. The theoretical work of Erich FROMM on the necessary valuative criteria of social sanity is explored first. This leads to a discussion on the subjective and speculative characteristics of social theories; it hopes to demonstrate the presence of an inherent psychological, internal debate that lies at the root of any political agency. This debate is properly located between our accepted social norms and our more deeply rooted, historically acquired beliefs and perspectives, between the public and the private realm. – This dichotomy leads to the more contemporary work of Nancy Chodorow, where this public-private debate is critiqued through the use of the interpretive analysis of object-relations theory, a theory of personality development firmly grounded in specific socially constructed patterns. Her work serves as an example of an interrelational theory of political agency which does not risk becoming self-justifying. This thesis concludes with observations on the fact that mainstream political theory seems to have failed to take into account the subconscious motivational factors as the birth-place of our complex, socio-political behaviour; what we will call the >pre-political,< private debate. It finally restates the possible contribution that psychoanalytic methodology can make to social theory and to the study of political behaviour.
Grundzüge der Persönlichkeitslehre Erich FROMMs werden systematisch dargestellt. – Inhalt: (1) Geistige und biographische Wurzeln FROMMschen Denkens (Die jüdische Tradition; psychoanalytische Erfahrungen; die Auseinandersetzung mit Sullivan). (2) FROMMs Sozialpsychologische Methode. (3) Grundbegriffe der Anthropologie Erich FROMMs (Das Modell der energetischen Strukturierung; das Modell der Instinktsubstitution; existentielle und historische Dichotomien; die existentiellen Bedürfnisse des Menschen). (4) Der Charakterbegriff FROMMs. (5) Nicht-produktive Charakterorientierungen (Die rezeptive, ausbeuterissche, hortende, destruktive, Marketing-, konformistische, nekrophile Charakterorientierung). (6) Produktive Charakterorientierungen ( Produktive Liebe; produktives Denken; produktives Tätigsein). (7) Die Liebe zum Toten und die Liebe zum Lebendigen (FROMMs >biophile Ethik<).
Contra la idea de que Rene Descartes es un filósofo sólo interesado en la razón, alejado de las sensaciones, y desinteresado por las cuestiones morales, se examinan aspectos fundamentales de la ética cartesiana. En primer lugar, se considera el lugar fundamenta que tiene la moral (provisional) para que Descartes pudiera dedicarse al cultivo de su razón y a avanzar tanto como le fuera posible en el conocimiento de la verdad. En segundo lugar, se presentan las cuatro máximas morales que inicialmente considera como el lugar provisional, donde residir confortable y feliz, mientras estaba listo para emprender la labor filosófica de fundamentación del conocimiento verdadero. Finalmente, luego de destacar la influencia estoica en la ética cartesiana, he procurado mostrar que para Descartes el conocimiento está íntimamente ligado a la felicidad.
The book deals with one of the main leitmotivs of contemporary humanities – the criticism of Cartesian duality of subject and object. To define the ideas expressing this criticism the author uses the philosophical metaphor of >non-Cartesian coordinates<. By the application of this metaphor the author aims at showing how two configurations of these ideas, neostructuralism of A. J. Greimas and neopsychoanalysis of E. FROMM, can become the coordinates for characterizing other non-Cartesian orientations (deconstructionism, Lacan theory, and neo-gnoses).