Erich Fromm

Erich Fromm (March 23, 1900 – March 18, 1980) was an internationally renowned German-American psychologist and humanistic philosopher.

Politics

The culmination of Fromm's social and political philosophy was his book The Sane Society, published in 1955, which argued in favor of humanist, democratic socialism. Building primarily upon the works of Karl Marx, Fromm was the first political and social commentator in this school of thought to introduce the ideal of personal freedom, more frequently found in the writings of classic liberals. Fromm's brand of socialism rejected both Western capitalism and Soviet communism, which he saw as dehumanizing and bureaucratic social structures that resulted in a virtually universal modern phenomenon of alienation.

Related Topics:
1955 - Democratic socialism - Karl Marx - Classic liberals - Western capitalism - Soviet communism - Alienation

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fromm was very active in American politics. He joined the Socialist Party of America in the 1950s, and did his best to help them provide an alternative viewpoint to the prevailing McCarthyism of the time, a viewpoint that was best expressed in his 1961 paper May Man Prevail? An Inquiry into the Facts and Fictions of Foreign Policy. However, as a co-founder of SANE, Fromm's strongest political interest was in the international peace movement, fighting against the nuclear arms race and America's involvement in the Vietnam war. After supporting the then Senator Eugene McCarthy's losing bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, Fromm more or less retreated from the American political scene, although he did write a paper in 1974 entitled Remarks on the Policy of Détente for a hearing held by the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Related Topics:
Politics - Socialist Party of America - 1950 - McCarthyism - 1961 - SANE - Vietnam war - Eugene McCarthy - Democratic presidential nomination - 1974 - U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~