Today in Yiddishkayt… March 23
Birthday of Erich Fromm, Psychoanalyst
Erich Fromm was born on March 23, 1900 in Frankfurt, Germany. He was the only child of Orthodox Jewish parents and began studying the Talmud at an early age. Fromm’s interpretations of the Talmud, and specifically the story of Adam and Eve, later proved to be central in the development of his humanistic philosophy. Fromm studied sociology at the University of Heidelberg and received his Ph.D. in 1922. In 1924 he began his studies in psychoanalysis under Freida Reichmann, to whom he was briefly married. Upon completing his studies a few years later, he helped to found the Frankfurt Psychoanalytic Institute, and was invited to join the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research.
After the Nazis came to power in Germany, Fromm moved to Geneva and then to the United States, where he lectured at the New School of Social Research (1934–39), Columbia (1940-41), Yale (1949-50), and Bennington (1941-50). He began to publish papers that were critical of Freudian thinking, shifting his focus from a concern with unconscious motivations, to a recognition that humans are social beings whose beliefs and motivations are deeply inscribed by the societies and cultures of which they are part. In 1941, Fromm published his influential book Escape From Freedom. In it he argued that freedom from the traditional bonds of medieval society led individuals to experience feelings of alienation from community and place, which in turn caused people to seek the security of authoritarian social orders.
Fromm moved to Mexico City in 1949 where he became a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and established a psychoanalytic section at the medical school there. While living in Mexico, he continued to teach for around three months a year in the United States. In 1955 Fromm published his book The Sane Society, in which he argues in promotes early writings of Karl Marx in favor of a democratic and humanistic socialism. In the late 1950′s Fromm published a number of ‘classic’ books including The Art of Loving and Sigmund Freud’s Mission. Fromm also became involved in U.S politics as a member of the Socialist Party of America. He participating in the civil rights movement, campaigns for nuclear disarmament, anti-Vietnam war activities, and the ecology movement.
In the 1960′s Fromm began to write about the fascination with death and objects in Western societies. He believed that the central driving force behind necrophilia was the desire to make up for a lack of authentic being and selfhood. Fromm’s last major work, To Have or To Be, was published in 1976. In it he argues that there are two ways of existence, having and being, and it is the dominance of the having mode (based on aggression and greed) that is bringing the world to the edge of disaster.
Here is an interview with Erich Fromm discussing the having and being modes of orientation:
In 1974 he moved from Mexico City to Muralto, Switzerland. He died of a heart attack in his home on March 18, 1980.
