The Essential Fromm: Life Between Having and Being

by Erich Fromm, Rainer Funk (Editor)

As Fromm points out, ours is “a life between having and being”—between mere having and healthy being, between destructiveness and creativity, between narcissism and productive self-understanding, between passivity and the joy of positive activity.   The alternatives of having and being are basic orientations of our character and determine our behavior. The mostly unpublished and unknown texts featured in The Essential Fromm encapsulate Fromm’s views on the fulfilling life. To put down roots yet remain free is what the late Erich Fromm called the art of being. It is the secret of happiness.

Genres: Psychology, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Sociology, Theory

156 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 1998

About the author

Erich Fromm, Ph.D. (Sociology, University of Heidelberg, 1922) was a German-American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was a German Jew who fled the Nazi regime and settled in the United States. He was one of the founders of The William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Psychology in New York City and was associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory.

Fromm explored the interaction between psychology and society, and held various professorships in psychology in the U.S. and Mexico in the mid-20th century.

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.

Reviews

[Hossein · Rating 5 out of 5]

با هر صفحه و با هر خطش، اشک شوق فشاندم :))

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

To me, reading Mr. Fromm is like having my whole worldview and way of being synthesized eloquently by a kindly old German man who giggles while telling you hard truths. I am blowing kisses to you always, Erich!

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I side with Fromm’s critique of capitalist consumerism and his preference for ‘being’ over ‘having’. Unfortunately, the prospects for change are indeed ‘slim’.

[Baniakov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kupując książkę był to trochę strzał w ciemno, nawet nie wiedziałem że to jest sumie filozofa Fromma skompresowana do jednej książki stworzona z jego dzieł oraz wykładów i wywiadów które w trakcie życia dawał.
I chyba Fromm to jeden z tych filozofów, który mnie do tej pory przekonuje najbardziej, a po lekturze którego zacznę dostrzegać rzeczy faktycznie w innych kategoriach i będę dążył do trybu bycia. Bo choć wydawało mi się dotąd, że żyje właśnie trybem bycia, to jest parę rzeczy które faktycznie o spróbowaniu sprawiają już na bardzo wczesnym etapie, że czuje się lepiej, a sporo pracy przede mną.
Warta polecenia, czyta się lekko, wątki są ładnie poukładane, a może mieć naprawdę kolosalny wpływ na postrzeganie niektórych rzeczy.

[Lorilee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the beginning of this book and dove in! I can't say it remained quite to that level as the book proceeded. Still, I stuck with it and found many passages to cause me to think deeply about life. I liked that about it...a lot. Any book that can give me pause, admire the author's cogent thoughts, and enjoy the trip to Netherland, I'm all in. What a mind! My only complaint and the reason for a four-star rating rather than a five is that the choppiness of the text took me out of my reverie. Ah well. The short paragraphs allowed me to stick in my marker and go on with my life and pick it up later without losing the train of thought.

[Sinan Öner]

German-American Social Scientist, Doctor, Writer Erich Fromm's book contains his essays about his "life philosophy". Fromm's criticism of modern capitalism in culture, in philosophy and in ethics form his book's (his writings') soul. Fromm's questions about the modern human being's social and private life sign on "to have or to be question", "the destructiveness of capitalism" and "the fear from freedom in social relations". Fromm's "anti-fascism", "anti-racism", "anti-Nazizm", "anti-colonialism" and "anti-imperialism" form his writings' philosophical and ethical ground. Doctor Fromm writes his books with a synthesis of Marxist and Freudian methodologies, Doctor Fromm creates a new methodology - "Fromm's methodology"- for understanding the modern human being and the modern world.

[عنود جمال · Rating 4 out of 5]

‏From is one of my favorite scientists writers. He's really good in explaining things psychologically and philosophically, and really good in opening doors for new paths of belief and thinking.

I found this book translated to Arabic in a series on Hekma website, and I feel really lucky to read it just on time!

This is a quick and informative view of being vs. having paradigm, and how this applies to our modern life. I respected Fromm's loyalty to his values and expressing them in his ideas all the time!

I can't help but connect Fromm's ideas to Zygmont Bauman's on Liquid Modernity. It's really satisfying to start with Fromm's books before moving to Bauman's.

[Fleeting Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

-1 star for some outdated views like polarity between women and men or talking about repressed wishes. Bad influence from Freud.

Otherwise very insightful and relevant.

[Mawr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to some of his ideas.

[Anton Hychka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fromm writes of freedom and fear. He writes of men who flee from freedom and men who stand with it, tells what it means to live and what it means to be human.

[Amelia Kopeć · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fajne myśli, ale zbyt ogólnikowo, ja lubię kopać głęboko

[Ignacio Myers-Melchor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book is especially useful with those who have some background with psychoanalysis and psychology in general. It is written as excerpts from different books and interviews form Erich Fromm's life and structured to give the book a narrative line, which might rub some people the wrong way.

The book explores the prevalent mode of being in today's society (even almost half a century after its publishing, it is still valid today). This book meditates on the reasons and intricacies of the "having" mode of being, that is to say, the consumerist society we live in today and the ways in which it changes every aspect of our lives. This includes aspects such as love, self-esteem, the relations with others and oneself. It is a view that what is valuable is to own and posses things, be it posessions, opinions, emotions, people, and even oneself.
On the other hand, the "being" mode of existence is shown as the antidote. Although it is difficult to pin down its definition, given the experiential nature of the concept, the being mode of existence can be understood as the "I am what am" vs "I am what I have" of the "having" mode of existence.

I have found many insights and interesting ideas to play with thanks to this book, and I would highly recommend if you are interested in societal criticism and are open to a different way of perceiving existence which might clash with your own.

[misia · Rating 5 out of 5]

to była 1 filozofia jaką czytałam i poleciła mi ją moją mama-jeden z lepszych psychoterapeutów na śląsku. po lekturze pozwoliłam sobie na refleksję; nad swoimi zachowaniami, przekonaniami, sposobem życia i myślenia. na pewno sięgnę jeszcze po książki Fromma (ponieważ ogólnie jego dzieła polecała mi moja rodzicielka), a także po innych filozofów. wiem już, że dobrze jest dążyć do trybu bycia, co również staram się osiągnąć. gorąco polecam, nieważne czy zaczynacie z filozofią, czy szukacie dobrej książki w tej tematyce!