ERICH FROMM (1900-1980) “Integrity is simply an unwillingness to violate one’s identity.” (1900-1980) “Integrity is simply an unwillingness to violate.

ERICH FROMMERICH FROMM(1900-1980)

“Integrity is simply an unwillingness to violate one’s identity.”

(1900-1980)

“Integrity is simply an unwillingness to violate one’s identity.”

The Sane Society“[...] many psychiatrists and psychologists refuse to entertain the idea that society as a whole may be lacking in sanity. They hold that the problem of mental health is only that of a number of ‘unadjusted’ individuals, and not that of a possible unadjustment of the culture itself.”

Five needs a sane society should provide

“This book [ ...] is based the idea that a sane society is that which corresponds to the needs of man -- not necessarily to what he FEELS to be his needs [...] but to what his needs are OBJECTIVELY, as they can be ascertained by the study of man.”

“Even the most complete satisfaction of all his instinctive needs does not solve the HUMAN problem; his most intensive passions and needs are not those rooted in the body, but those rooted in the very peculiarity of his existence.”

RELATEDNESS“The necessity to unite with other living beings is an imperative need on the fulfillment of which man’s sanity depends.”

“Love is the union with somebody, or something, outside oneself, under the condition of retaining the separateness and integrity of one’s own self.”

A loving orientation involves a productive orientation: “care, responsibility, respect and knowledge.”

Opposed to narcissism - “only one reality, that of his own thought processes, feelings and needs”

TRANSCENDENCE

Opportunity to be CREATIVE, to “plant seeds, produce material objects, create art, create ideas, raising children” etc.

If people feel they cannot create, they will destroy instead: “If I cannot create life, I can destroy it. To destroy life make me also transcend it.”

ROOTEDNESSFeeling established in a family, whether biological family or broader family in a way that builds individual identity while providing a sense of belonging.

The dark side of this need is belonging coming at the expense of individual identity.

“Only when man succeeds in developing his reason and love further than he has done so far, only when he can build a world based on human solidarity and justice, only when he can feel rooted in the experience of universal brotherliness, will he have found a new, human form of rootedness, will he have transformed his world into a truly human home.”

SENSE OF IDENTITYBecoming aware of oneself as a separate self and accepting self (engage in the process of individuation) rather than sacrificing self in order to gain belonging via conformity.

Beware of when “a new identity develops, in which the sense of identity rests on the sense of an unquestionable belonging to the crowd. That this conformity is often recognized as such, and is covered by the illusion of individuality, does not alter the facts.”

FRAME OF ORIENTATIONIn essence, he means the capacity and opportunity to develop a worldview.

Without a “satisfactory frame of orientation, [mankind] cannot live sanely.” It provides the direction for a sense of meaning.

“Reason is man’s faculty for grasping the world by thought, in contradiction to intelligence, which is man’s ability to manipulate the world with the help of thought.”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

#1-Based on Fromm’s essential needs for a sane society, is the society of F451 sane or insane? Explain.

#2 - How about our present day society? Sane? Insane? Explain.