Erich Fromm is a representative of neo-Freudianism. In his works, he focuses on social factors that affect both character and human life. One of the main ideas was the idea that a person should be connected with a person by love.
Erich Fromm - psychoanalyst, author of the concept of humanistic psychoanalysis, founder of neo-Freudianism. All his life he devoted to the study of the subconscious and the contradictions of human existence in the world.
Biography
Erich Fromm was born in Germany to a Jewish family in 1900. His dad owned a wine shop, and his mother was the daughter of a rabbi who emigrated from Poznan. He spent almost all his childhood in Frankfurt. He attended a national children's school, where the emphasis was placed not only on subjects of the general education cycle, but also on doctrines and religious traditions. In 1918, Erich entered Geldberg University, where he immersed himself in the world of philosophy, psychology and sociology. In 1922 he defended his doctoral dissertation. Professional training was completed at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute.
When the years of education are in the past, Fromm opens his own private practice. He continued to study it for the next 5 years. Active interaction with clients served as the basis for rethinking the relationship between biological and social in the process of forming the human psyche.
When Hitler came to power in 1933, Erich moved to live in Geneva, and later to New York. There he begins teaching. Important events in life:
- 1938 begins to publish his numerous works in English, and not in German.
- 1943 takes part in the formation of the department of the Washington School of Psychiatry.
- 1950 moves to live in Mexico, researches socially significant projects, publishes the book "Healthy Life".
- 1968 is experiencing the first heart attack.
Erich Fromm died at his home in Switzerland in 1980.
Personal life
The author of many scientific works had three wives:
- Frida Reichman. A psychoanalyst who became known for her effective work with schizophrenics. Family ties were broken in 1933, but friendly relations persisted for many years.
- Henny Gurland. Her health problems were the main reason for moving to Mexico, where she died in 1952. His wife worked as a photojournalist, she was 10 years older than the scientist. At the time of their acquaintance, she had a 17-year-old son, in whose fate Fromm took an active part.
- Annis Freeman. The American is from Alabama. She was two years younger than her husband. The scientist lived with her for 27 years until the end of his life. It was she who pushed him to write the book "The Art of Love", which generalized cultural ideas about love with his own direct experience.
Sociologist career
The researcher began to engage in psychiatry and psychology when it became fashionable in the West to write about the secrets of cognition, phenomena. Throughout his life, he remained faithful to the anthropological theme. However, in none of his works were anthropological views presented in a systematic form.
Hitler's rise to power was perceived positively by the German population. Fromm concluded that responsibility for one's own destiny is an unbearable burden for most people. It is for this reason, in his opinion, that the people are ready to part with freedom.
When Erich Fromm becomes the head of the department of social psychology, active research begins on the unconscious motives of social groups. Thanks to them, the conclusions were drawn that the masses would not only not offer resistance to the emerging fascism, but would also lead it to power.
This was due to unemployment, inflation and other difficult circumstances. According to the sociologist, this led to the desire to abandon the privileges that are given by freedom. The book "Escape from Freedom", exposing various varieties of totalitarianism, brought the author fame in America and hatred in Germany.
The rethinking and development of Freud's theory was the impetus for the formation of one of the most influential areas of the humanities - neo-Freudianism. She emphasizes the idea of self-actualization. According to the scientist, the most important fruit of every person's efforts is his own personality.
Fromm shifts the emphasis from biological motives to social factors, balancing the two concepts. In his works, he relies on the concept of human alienation from his essence in the process of work and life. In this case, the subject begins to be used as a tool or means, but not as an end.
Creativity and basic concepts
The central part of the worldview has become the concept of "I" as a social character. The character of each of us is formed under the influence of existential disappointment that there is a need to rise above nature and ourselves through the ability to reason and love. According to the psychoanalyst:
- religion is not an act of faith, but a way to avoid doubt;
- people who have evolved into beings who are aware of their own mortality and powerlessness before the forces of nature are not one with the Universe;
- the main task of anyone is to give birth to himself, to become who he really is.
Erich Fromm believed that love is not an emotion, but a creative ability. He viewed falling in love as evidence of an inability to comprehend the true nature of love, which has elements of caring, respect, and knowledge. The works also trace the idea that a person who chooses progress can find a new unity through the development of all his human powers. They can be presented together or separately.
The contribution of a famous personality to sociology and psychology is so great that monographs are actively studied to this day in universities in many countries. Especially popular are the works: "Beyond Illusion", "Psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism", "Human Soul", "The Revolution of Hope", "To Have or To Be?"
