Erich Fromm



Erich Fromm

author profile

born December 13, 1901
died March 18, 1980
gender male
place of birth Frankfurt, Germany
genre Health, Mind & Body
influences Spinoza, Eckhart, Kierkegaard, Marx, Freud, Alfred Weber

about this author

Fromm's theory is a rather unique blend of Freud and Marx. Freud, of course, emphasized the unconscious, biological drives, repression, and so on. In other words, Freud postulated that our characters were determined by biology. Marx, on the other hand, saw people as determined by their society, and most especially by their economic systems.

He added to this mix of two deterministic systems something quite foreign to them: The idea of freedom. He allows people to transcend the determinisms that Freud and Marx attribute to them. In fact, Fromm makes freedom the central characteristic of human nature!

There are, Fromm points out, examples where determinism alone operates. A good example of nearly pure biological determinism, ala Freud, i...more

books by Erich Fromm

combine editions
avg rating: 3.94 | 1402 ratings | 53 distinct works
The Art of Loving: An Enquiry ... The Art of Loving: An Enquiry into the Nature of Love (Paperback)
by Erich Fromm
avg rating 3.98 — 523 ratings — published 1956
34 editions
my rating: didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
add to my books
Escape from Freedom Escape from Freedom (Paperback)
by Erich Fromm
avg rating 4.04 — 171 ratings — published 1941
3 editions
my rating: didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
add to my books
To Have or to Be? The Nature o... To Have or to Be? The Nature of the Psyche (Paperback)
by Erich Fromm
avg rating 4.05 — 103 ratings — published 1976
12 editions
my rating: didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
add to my books
The Anatomy of Human Destructi... The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness (Paperback)
by Erich Fromm
avg rating 4.15 — 53 ratings — published 1973
10 editions
my rating: didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
add to my books
The Sane Society The Sane Society (International Library of Sociology)
by Erich Fromm
avg rating 4.15 — 40 ratings — published 1956
5 editions
my rating: didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
add to my books
The Art of Being The Art of Being (Paperback)
by Erich Fromm
avg rating 3.92 — 39 ratings — published 1993
3 editions
my rating: didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
add to my books
Marx's Concept of Man Marx's Concept of Man (Continuum Impacts)
by Erich Fromm
avg rating 3.84 — 37 ratings — published 1961
3 editions
my rating: didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
add to my books
Man for Himself: An Inquiry in... Man for Himself: An Inquiry into the Psychology of Ethics (Paperback)
by Erich Fromm
avg rating 3.90 — 31 ratings — published 1947
4 editions
my rating: didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
add to my books
The Fear of Freedom The Fear of Freedom (Paperback)
by Erich Fromm
avg rating 4.32 — 25 ratings — published 2001
2 editions
my rating: didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
add to my books
Psychoanalysis and Religion: T... Psychoanalysis and Religion: The Terry Lectures Series (Paperback)
by Erich Fromm
avg rating 3.82 — 22 ratings — published 1959
2 editions
my rating: didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
add to my books

see all books by Erich Fromm »



quotes by Erich Fromm

""Love is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise. If love were only a feeling, there would be no basis for the promise to love each other forever. A feeling comes and it may go. How can I judge that it will stay forever, when my act does not involve judgment and decision""
Erich Fromm (The Art of Loving)
Add_quote

"A person who has not been completely alienated, who has remained sensitive and able to feel, who has not lost the sense of dignity, who is not yet "for sale", who can still suffer over the suffering of others, who has not acquired fully the having mode of existence - briefly, a person who has remained a person and not become a thing - cannot help feeling lonely, powerless, isolated in present-day society. He cannot help doubting himself and his own convictions, if not his sanity. He cannot help suffering, even though he can experience moments of joy and clarity that are absent in the life of his "normal" contemporaries. Not rarely will he suffer from neurosis that results from the situation of a sane man living in an insane society, rather than that of the more conventional neurosis of a sick man trying to adapt himself to a sick society. In the process of going further in his analysis, i.e. of growing to greater independence and productivity,his neurotic symptoms will cure themselves. "
Erich Fromm
Add_quote

""It is naively assumed that the fact that the majority of people share certain ideas and feelings proves the validity of these ideas and feelings. Nothing could be further from the truth. Consensual validation as such has no bearing on reason or mental health.""
Erich Fromm
Add_quote