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  • Fromm The Human Implications of Instinctivistic Radicalism

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    Алехандре Василиаускас
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    Fromm the Human Implications of Instinctivistic Radicalism

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    44 views5 pages

    Fromm The Human Implications of Instinctivistic Radicalism

    Uploaded by

    Алехандре Василиаускас
    famous debate

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    LS3ND3yY AASSAGO qos pe ‘oBeo1yon@)66016 seasqe9 K106219 1S3NDIY AISSAGO ‘oyensuew :uone207 SS6L Z°A 19 LoaZa H#IIED Wa ov:to:s ztoziezie :S010N wsijeoiper ot Jo suonesyduut vewny oy, wwol yous aoMny any eve-zve :s0Bed Ss6b HReAMUOW, cans} Z ‘ounjon uuotuido jsyjero0s Jo Auayenb y quassig sent jeusnor AAV TIT} 28”8S°# NA Per JBAr[aq ue uBdg AsvsqrT OFvo1YD Jo Ausioaruy, A Reply to Herbert Marcuse THE HUMAN IMPLICATIONS OF INSTINCTIVISTIC ‘“‘RADICALISM” Erich Fromm 1am glad to have the opportunity of answering Herbert, Marcuse’s article on the "Social Implications of Freudian Revision inthe last ise ofthis journal. "Thit iso par beeause Marcuse singles Ine out as a representative of the “revisionist” theory and aceuses me of having changed from a radial dhinker and crise of society into @ Spokesman for adjustnene to the satus quo. More importantly, T want tb anower Marcuse because he couches upon some of the moxt signif ant problems of psychoanalyde. theory” and. its socal implications probiens which are of general interest for any stadene of contemporary However, I cannot follow Marcus's procedure of lumping various “revisionist” writers together, I can only speak for myself and this for a very good reasons although there are certain points which Horney’ and. Sullivans writings haves in comnon with my own, they differ fundamentally with regard to the very problems which Riarcwse dal tvith in his papers (Chae myself ported to various basic dierenes with Sullivan in The Sane Soviety%) This lumping together hes the Unfortunate result that Marcuse substantiates his brie against me By ‘quoting Horney or Sullivan whenever there is no passage troan my Wt thgs which would serve the purpose. Marcust's raver contains two main theses, First, that Freud! an theory is not only correct psychologically, but a radical theory it its explicit and implicit criticism of society. Second, that my own theories tare philosophically idealistic, advising adjustment to present alienated society, and only paying lip service to the criticism of this same society- Let us take up these two claims, one after another: Indeed, it is true that Freud was 2 eritic of society, but his evticism™ was not that of contemporary capitalistic society, but of civilization such. Happiness, for Freud, is satisfaction of the sexual instinct, spect fically of the wish for free access to all available females. Primitive man, according to Freud, has yet to cope with exceedingly few restrie by Rinchatt, Erich Fromm’s latest hook will be reviews! ia the nest fue of DisexrFd, 342 tions to the satisfaction of these basic desires. Furthermore, he can give vent to his aggression. It is the repression of these desires which leads to ever-increasing civilization and, at the same time, to an increasing, incidence of neurosis. “Civilized man,” says Freud, "has exchanged some part of his chances of happiness for a measure of ‘security.'"* Freud's concept of man was the same which underlies most anthropological speculation in the nineteenth century. Man, as he is molded by capi- talism, is supposed to be the natural man, hence capitalism the form of society which corresponds to the needs of human nature. ‘This nature is competitive, aggressive, egotistical. It seeks its fulfillment in victory over one’s competitors. In the sphere of biology this was demonstrated by Darwin in his concept of the survival of the fittest; in the sphere of ‘economics in the concept of the homo economicus, held by the classical economists. In the sphere of psychology Freud expressed the same idea about man, based on the competitiveness resulting from the nature of the sexual instinct. “Homo homini lupus; who has the courage to dispute it in the face of all the evidence in his own life and in history?”, Freud asks. Man’s aggressiveness, Frend thinks, has two sources; one, the innate striving for destruction (death instinct) and the other the frustration of his instinctual desires, imposed upon him. by civilization. While man may channel part of his aggression against himself, through the Super-Ego, and while a minority can sublimate their sexual desire into brotherly love, aggressiveness remains ineradicable, Men will always compete with and attack each other, if not for material things, then for the prerogatives. in sexual relationships, which must arouse the strongest Tancour and most violent enmity among men and women who are otherwise equal. Let us suppose this were also to be removed by inst tuting complete liberty in sexual life, © that the family, the germ

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