Erich Fromm was born on March 23, 1900 in Frankfurt into an Orthodox Jewish family. His father was a grape wine trader, and his paternal grandfather and great-grandfather were rabbis. Erich's mother, Rosa Krause, was originally from Russian emigrants who moved to Finland and converted to Judaism.

The family lived in accordance with the patriarchal traditions of the pre-bourgeois era, marked by the spirit of religiosity, hard work and meticulous observance of rituals.

Erich got good primary education. The gymnasium, which taught Latin, English and French, aroused in him an interest in the Old Testament texts. True, he did not like tales of heroic battles because of their cruelty; but he liked the stories about Adam and Eve, about the predictions of Abraham, and especially the prophecies of Isaiah and other prophets. Pictures of the universal world, in which a lion and a sheep live side by side, attracted the boy's attention very early, and later became an impetus for reflection on the life of the human community, for the ideas of internationalism. In the middle classes of the gymnasium, Erich Fromm formed a protest against mass madness leading to war, the beginning of which the young man met with pain and bewilderment (1914).

At the same time, he also experiences the first personal shock that had a very serious impact on him: a lovely young woman, an artist, a family friend, committed suicide after the death of her old, sick father. Her last wish was to be buried with her father. Erich painfully reflects on the issues of life and love and, most importantly, seeks to understand how strong this woman’s love for her father was, that she preferred unity with him (even in death) to all the joys of life. These observations and reflections led Fromm to the path of psychoanalysis. He began to try to understand the motives of human behavior.

In 1918, he began studying psychology, philosophy, and sociology at the Frankfurt and then Heidelberg Universities, where among his other teachers were Max Weber, Alfred Weber, Karl Jaspers, Heinrich Rickert, and other world-class philosophers. At 22, he received a Ph.D. and then continued his education in Munich and completed his studies at the renowned Institute of Psychoanalysis in Berlin. Fromm got acquainted early with the philosophical works of K. Marx, which attracted him primarily with the ideas of humanism, understood as the complete liberation of man, as well as the creation of opportunities for his self-expression.

FOREWORD

This edition is the first volume of an extensive study in the field of the theory of psychoanalysis. I took up the study of aggression and destructiveness not only because they are one of the most important theoretical problems of psychoanalysis, but also because the wave of destructiveness that has swept the whole world today gives reason to think that such a study will have serious practical significance.

More than six years ago, when I began writing this book, I underestimated the potential difficulties and obstacles. It soon became clear to me that, remaining within the professional boundaries of psychoanalysis proper, I would not be able to adequately assess the problems of human destructiveness. Although such research has primarily a psychoanalytic aspect, I needed data from other fields of knowledge, especially neurophysiology, animal psychology, paleontology and anthropology. I was forced to compare my conclusions with the most important conclusions of other sciences in order to make sure that these conclusions did not contradict my hypotheses.

Since at that time there were no generalizing works on the problem of aggressiveness, there were no reports or reviews, I was forced to do this work myself. So I have tried to do my readers a favor and look at the problem of destructiveness from a global standpoint, and not just from the point of view of a particular scientific discipline. Such an attempt, of course, is not safe. For it is clear that I could not be sufficiently competent in all areas; I had the least knowledge in the field of neurology. And the knowledge that I have acquired I owe not so much to my own work, but to the friendly participation of several neuroscientists who gave me valuable advice, answered many of my questions, and also reviewed a significant part of my manuscript.

At the same time, it should be added that quite often many specialists speak from completely different positions, there is no unity between them - especially in the field of paleontology and anthropology. After a serious study of all points of view, I settled on those that are either recognized by most authors, or convince me of their logic, or, finally, those that seemed to be less affected by the prevailing prejudices. It is impossible to detail all the polar points of view within the framework of one book; but I have tried, as far as possible, to present the opposing views and give them a critical evaluation. And even if specialists find that I have nothing new to offer them in their narrow field, they will still probably welcome the opportunity to expand their knowledge on the subject of interest to them with information from other research areas. There are difficulties with repetitions from my earlier works. After all, I have been working on the problems of the individual and society for more than 40 years, and each time, focusing my attention on a new aspect of this problem, I simultaneously refined, deepened and honed my ideas worked out in previous studies. I could not write about destructiveness without using many of the ideas already expressed, although I tried to avoid repetition as much as possible by referring readers to a more detailed presentation in other publications, but this was not always successful. This is especially true of my book The Soul of Man.

I am pleased to thank those who helped me in the creation of this book. First of all, this is Dr. Jerome Brahms, to whom I owe a lot.

I thank Dr. Juan de Dios Hernandez who helped me in the field of neurophysiology. During our discussions, which lasted for hours, he gave me information about the literature, and also reviewed and commented on those parts of my manuscript that are devoted to problems of neurophysiology.

Publisher: AST, 2004, - 635 p.
ISBN: 5-17-023209-8.
Per. from English. E. M. Telyatnikova, T. V. Panfilova Series: Philosophy.
This book is the first volume of the failed multi-volume systematization of psychoanalysis, which E. Fromm dreamed of implementing. The content of the book is much broader than indicated in the title. The paper analyzes the problem of evil in man, in social relations, in history. The book is addressed to a wide range of readers. Table of contents.
Erich Fromm. biographical note.
Preface.
Terminological explanations.
Introduction: instincts and human passions.
Teachings about instincts and drives; behaviorism; psychoanalysis.
representatives of instinctivism.
The older generation of researchers.
The current generation of researchers: Sigmund Freud and Konrad Lorenz.
The concept of aggression in Sigmund Freud.
Theory of aggression by Konrad Lorenz.
Freud and Lorenz: similarities and differences.
About war: the result of Lorenz's concept.
Deification of evolution.
Behaviorism and environmental theory.
Enlightenment theory of the environment.
Behaviorism.
Neobehaviorism BF Skinner.
Goals and values.
Reasons for Skinner's popularity.
behaviorism and aggression.
About psychological experiments.
The theory of frustration aggressiveness.
Behaviorism and instinctivism: similarities and differences.
Similarities.
On the political and social background of both theories.
Psychoanalytic approach to understanding aggression.
Discoveries that refute the instinctivists.
Neurophysiology.
The brain as the basis of aggressive behavior.
Escape instinct.
Predator behavior and aggressiveness.
Animal behavior.
Aggressiveness in captivity.
Overcrowding and aggressiveness in people.
Aggressiveness of animals in natural habitats.
The problem of territory and leadership.
Aggressiveness of other mammals.
Does a person have a "don't kill!" instinct?
Paleontology.
Is man a special species?
Is man a predator?
Anthropology.
"Man-hunter" - is this the adam of anthropology?
Primitive hunters and aggressiveness.
War among primitive peoples.
Neolithic Revolution.
Prehistoric society and human nature.
Urban revolution.
How did it happen?
Aggression in primitive cultures.
Analysis of thirty primitive tribes.
System a: life-affirming societies.
System in: non-destructive, but still aggressive society.
System c: destructive societies.
Zuni Indians (system a).
Tribe Manus (system c).
Dobu (system c).
Symptoms of cruelty and destructiveness.
Various types of aggression and destructiveness and their preconditions.
Benign aggression.
Preliminary remarks.
Pseudo-aggression.
unintentional aggression.
Game aggression.
Aggression as self-affirmation.
defensive aggression.
The difference between man and animal.
aggression and freedom.
Aggression and narcissism.
aggression and resistance.
Aggression and conformism.
instrumental aggression.
About the causes of wars.
Conditions for reducing defensive aggression.
Malignant aggression: background.
Preliminary remarks.
Human nature.
Existential needs of a person and various passions rooted in his character.
Value orientations and the object of veneration.
historical roots.
Feeling of unity.
Creative skills.
Excitation and stimulation.
Chronic depression and boredom (longing).
Character structure.
neurophysical background.
social conditions.
On the rationality and irrationality of instincts and passions.
Psychological function of passions.
Malignant aggression: cruelty and destructiveness.
Seeming destructiveness.
spontaneous forms.
Historical review.
The destructiveness of revenge.
Ecstatic destructiveness.
worship of destructiveness.
Ernst von Salomon and his hero Kern.
A clinical case of worship of the idol of destruction.
Destructive character: sadism.
Examples of sexual sadism and masochism.
Joseph Stalin, a clinical case of non-sexual sadism.
essence of sadism.
Conditions that cause sadism.
Heinrich Himmler, a clinical case of anal-accumulative sadism.
Conclusions.
Malignant aggression: necrophilia.
traditional performances.
necrophilic character.
Necrophilic dreams.
"Unintentional" necrophilic acts.
necrophilic language.
The deification of technology and necrophilia.
Futurist Manifesto.
The hypothesis of incest and the Oedipus complex.
The relation of Freud's drive theory to biophilia and necrophilia.
Symptoms of necrophilia.
Malignant aggression: Adolf Hitler is a clinical case of necrophilia.
Preliminary remarks.
Hitler's parents and early childhood.
Clara Hitler.
Alois Hitler.
Early childhood of Adolf Hitler (up to six years: 1889-1895).
Hitler's childhood (from six to eleven years: 1895-1900).
Adolescence and youth (from eleven to seventeen years: 1900-1906).
Vienna (1907-1913).
Munich.
Methodological remarks.
Hitler's destructiveness.
Repression of destructiveness.
Other aspects of Hitler's personality.
Relationships with women.
Talents and abilities.
Disguise.
Lack of will and realism.
Epilogue: about the duality of hope.
Application: Freud's theory of aggressiveness and destructiveness.
Notes.
Name index.
notes.

Anatomy of human destructiveness Erich Fromm

(No ratings yet)

Title: Anatomy of human destructiveness
Author: Erich Fromm
Year: 1973
Genre: Foreign educational literature, Foreign psychology, Classics of psychology, Personal growth, Philosophy

About The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness by Erich Fromm

How sometimes you want to philosophize on the topic of good and evil, because sometimes you watch the news and you are simply amazed where such unbearable cruelty comes from people! The best assistant in this matter can be the famous philosopher and psychologist Erich Fromm, author of the book Anatomy of Human Destructiveness. No, you should not worry about the fact that a person will have a collection of dry and emotionless lectures in front of him, which will be boring to read. This book, on the contrary, is distinguished by liveliness and the absence of a sense of coercion.

"Anatomy of human destructiveness" fundamentally refers to the study of the characteristics of human psychology and the influence of the surrounding world on it. The work is not a superficial collection of smart thoughts, which are very “fun” to read, but a real full-fledged anatomy, because the author studies the issue on absolutely all fronts. While reading, there is a feeling that the "guests" in the lecture hall are psychology, political science, sociology, anthropology and other sciences, which are also mentioned in the book.

Erich Fromm describes examples and reasoning in a very interesting and realistic way. An image of a professor appears in the head, who walks around a person, examining him and pointing out important points that reflect the psychological state of a person. The philosopher allows each reader to become part of a journey through the ages and epochs on the issue of cruelty. It is a lot of fun that in the work "Anatomy of Human Destructiveness" Erich Fromm absolutely does not go in cycles in his opinion, he considers different points of view, allowing the reader to draw his own conclusions.

It is worth noting once again that this book is an excellent opportunity to understand the peculiarities of human psychology, which is fraught with many "surprises" that are gradually revealed by specialists. It is better to read the work with breaks, because the layer of information embedded in the work is not so easy to assimilate at a time. It is better to divide the process of getting acquainted with the book "Anatomy of Human Destruction" into several parts, so as not to get confused, analyze the data and, possibly, write something down.

Creation is one of the best philosophical analyzes of human nature, therefore, each individual, regardless of the type of activity, should take the time to read the above work, because the knowledge gained is truly priceless!

On our site about books, you can download the site for free without registration or read online book"Anatomy of human destructiveness" by Erich Fromm in epub, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf formats for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. The book will give you a lot of pleasant moments and a real pleasure to read. Buy full version you can have our partner. Also, here you will find last news from the literary world, learn the biography of your favorite authors. For beginner writers there is a separate section with useful tips and recommendations interesting articles, thanks to which you yourself can try your hand at literary skills.

Quotes from The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness by Erich Fromm

Passions are his religion, his cult and his ritual, and he is forced to hide them even from himself, especially if he does not receive the support of the group. At the cost of extortion and bribery, he can be forced to abandon his "religion" and become an adherent of a new cult - the cult of the robot. But such a psychological approach takes away from a person his last property - the ability to be not a thing, but a person.

From reasonable conjecture to hypothesis and further to theory - such is the way of knowledge; from ignorance to knowledge, from uncertainty to truth - through feelings, reason, critical thinking and imagination. For someone who has these abilities, relative uncertainty is a completely normal thing, for it brings to life the activation of all abilities. Certainty is dull, because it is dead.

All that one person can help another is to reveal to him truthfully and with love, but without sentimentality and illusions, the existence of an alternative.

A person needs the drama of life and experiences; and if on highest level he does not find satisfaction with his achievements, then he himself creates a drama of destruction for himself.

With the emergence of consciousness, a new dimension appears in a person: the dimension of good and evil. And then a contradiction comes into the world, and a curse comes into the life of a person (both men and women).

It turns out that a person has a much stronger excitement (excitement) caused by anger, rage, cruelty or a thirst for destruction than love, creativity or some other productive interest. It turns out that the first type of excitement does not require any effort from a person: neither patience, nor discipline, nor critical thinking, nor self-restraint; for this you do not need to study, concentrate, fight with your dubious desires to abandon your narcissism. People with a low spiritual level are always rescued by "simple irritants"; they are always in abundance: you can read about wars and catastrophes, fires, crimes in the newspapers, see them on the screen or hear about them on the radio. You can also create similar “irritants” for yourself: after all, there is always a reason to hate someone, control someone, and harm someone.

The individual loses his active responsible role in social process; a person becomes a completely “conformal” being and gets used to the fact that any behavior, deed, thought, and even feeling that deviates from the standard will have negative consequences for him; he is effective only in what is expected of him. If he insists on his uniqueness, then in a police state he risks losing not only his freedom, but his life; in some democracies he risks his career, sometimes he risks losing his job, and most importantly, he risks being isolated. Although most people are not aware of their inner discomfort, they still experience a vague sense of fear of life, they are afraid of the future, loneliness, longing and the meaninglessness of their existence. They feel that their own ideals are not supported by social reality. What a great relief they must feel when they learn that adaptation is the best, most progressive and
active form of life.

Free Download The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness by Erich Fromm

DER MENCHLICHEN DESTRUCTIVIAT

Translation from German EM. Telyatnikova

Computer design V.A. Voronin

Reprinted with permission from The Estate of Erich Fromm and of Annis Fromm and Liepman AG, Literary Agency.

© Erich Fromm, 1973

© Translation. EM. Telyatnikova, heirs, 2014

© Russian edition AST Publishers, 2015

Erich Fromm (1900–1980) is one of those “great theoretical psychologists” (M. Yaroshevsky), whose ideas had a tremendous impact not only on psychology proper, but also on philosophy, anthropology, history, and sociology. Sigmund Freud, Carl Gustav Jung, Karen Horney, Harry Sullivan, Erich Fromm - all these scientists were distinguished by paradigm thinking, i.e. their ideas "brought about a revolution in people's minds" (P. Gurevich).

Fromm began as a student of Freud, but, like C. G. Jung, he quickly realized the limitations of Freudianism. While agreeing that Freud proposed to humanity a fundamentally new scheme of thinking, he believed that Freudianism is a "product of its own culture" that cannot go beyond its framework. The “humanistic psychoanalysis” proposed by Fromm is an attempt to overcome the “biological” and “mythological” nature of Freud’s teachings, to combine the undoubted achievements of Freudianism with sociological theories in an effort to create a harmonious social structure, "healthy society" (as one of Fromm's works was called) based on psychoanalytic "social and individual therapy".

Erich Fromm was born on March 23, 1900 in Frankfurt into an Orthodox Jewish family. His father was a grape wine trader, and his paternal grandfather and great-grandfather were rabbis. Erich's mother, Rosa Krause, was originally from Russian emigrants who moved to Finland and converted to Judaism.

The family lived in accordance with the patriarchal traditions of the pre-bourgeois era, marked by the spirit of religiosity, hard work and meticulous observance of rituals.

Erich received a good primary education. The gymnasium, which taught Latin, English and French, aroused in him an interest in the Old Testament texts. True, he did not like tales of heroic battles because of their cruelty; but he liked the stories about Adam and Eve, about the predictions of Abraham, and especially the prophecies of Isaiah and other prophets. Pictures of the universal world, in which a lion and a sheep live side by side, attracted the boy's attention very early, and later became an impetus for reflection on the life of the human community, for the ideas of internationalism. In the middle classes of the gymnasium, Erich Fromm formed a protest against mass madness leading to war, the beginning of which the young man met with pain and bewilderment (1914).

At the same time, he also experiences the first personal shock that had a very serious impact on him: a lovely young woman, an artist, a family friend, committed suicide after the death of her old, sick father. Her last wish was to be buried with her father. Erich painfully reflects on the issues of life and love and, most importantly, seeks to understand how strong this woman’s love for her father was, that she preferred unity with him (even in death) to all the joys of life. These observations and reflections led Fromm to the path of psychoanalysis. He began to try to understand the motives of human behavior.

In 1918, he began studying psychology, philosophy, and sociology at the Frankfurt and then Heidelberg Universities, where among his other teachers were Max Weber, Alfred Weber, Karl Jaspers, Heinrich Rickert, and other world-class philosophers. At 22, he received a Ph.D. and then continued his education in Munich and completed his studies at the renowned Institute of Psychoanalysis in Berlin. Fromm got acquainted early with the philosophical works of K. Marx, which attracted him primarily with the ideas of humanism, understood as the complete liberation of man, as well as the creation of opportunities for his self-expression.

Another important source of personal and professional interests Fromm in the 1920s. becomes the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud. Fromm's first wife was Frida Reichman - an educated woman, a psychologist; and Erich, who was much younger than Frida, became interested in the clinical practice of psychoanalysis under her influence. They lived together for only four years, but for the rest of their lives they retained a friendly disposition and the ability for creative cooperation.

The third spiritual source for Fromm was the German philosopher Johann Jakob Bachofen. His doctrine of maternal right subsequently became for Fromm an important argument refuting Freud's theory of libido.

In the 1920s Fromm got acquainted with the teachings of Buddhism, which he perceived as an insight, and was faithful to him until old age.

In 1927–1929 Fromm began to publish a lot. He became famous for his presentation on "Psychoanalysis and Sociology", and then for the publication of an article entitled "On the Method and Tasks of Analytical Social Psychology: Remarks on Psychoanalysis and Historical Materialism".

For almost ten years (1930-1939) his fate was connected with the Frankfurt Institute social studies headed by Max Horkheimer. Fromm is in charge of the department of social psychology here, conducts a series of empirical studies among workers and employees, and by 1932 concludes that the workers will not resist Hitler's dictatorial regime. In 1933, Frome left Germany, moved to Chicago, and then to New York, where Horkheimer and his institute would soon relocate. Here, scientists together continue to study the socio-psychological problems of authoritarianism, and also publish the periodical Journal of Social Research.

In the 1940s the confrontation with Adorno and Marcuse leads to Fromm's departure from the Frankfurt School. Breaking away from the "German roots", he is completely in the American environment: he works in many educational institutions, participates in various unions and associations of American psychoanalysts. When the Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis was created in Washington in 1946, Frome actively joined in the systematic training of specialists in the field of psychoanalysis. But Fromm was never an ordinary professor in any department, he always taught his course at the “interdisciplinary” level and, like no one else, was able not only to link together the data of anthropology, political science and social psychology, but also to illustrate them with facts from his clinical practice.

In the 1950s Fromm departs from Freud's theory and gradually forms his own concept of personality, which he himself called "radical humanism".

The reasons for Fromm's revision of Freud's concept are quite obvious. This is primarily the rapid development of science, especially social psychology and sociology. This is the shock that Fromm himself suffered in connection with the rise of fascism to power, forced emigration and the need to switch to a completely new clientele. It was the practice of psychotherapy on the American continent that led him to the conclusion that the neuroses of the 20th century. it is impossible to explain solely by biological factors that drives and instincts are a completely insufficient determinant of the behavior of people in an industrial society.

“It is impossible to list all the radical humanists since Marx,” says Fromm, “but I would like to name the following: Thoreau, Emerson, Albert Schweitzer, Ernst Bloch, Ivan Illich; Yugoslav philosophers from the Praxis group: M. Markvich, G. Petrovich, S. Stoyanovich, S. Supek, P. Vranitzky; economist E. F. Schumacher; politician Erhard Eppler, as well as many representatives of religious and radical humanist unions in Europe and America of the 20th century.