To have or to be

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Have or to Be (English. To Have or to Be? ) Is a popular socially critical work of the social psychologist Erich Fromm from the year 1976 . With The Art of Love from 1956, it is one of his best-known works, first appeared as a volume in the US book series World Perspectives and was then translated into numerous languages. Shortly after its publication, the book was an international bestseller and, with its consumer criticism , hit the nerve of the 1968 generation for whom the book, according to some critics, has become a cult book.

In his work, Fromm sketches his analysis of Western society, which from his point of view is increasingly dominated by the pursuit of possession, of "having". He contrasts this with the mindset of "being", an attitude in which possessions play no role, and invokes numerous philosophical and religious approaches that advocate this attitude, including Buddha , Jesus and Meister Eckhart . The socially critical book is one of the approaches of philosophical anthropology ; In the last part of the book, Fromm outlines how society could overcome the attitude of having in favor of an attitude of being.

A continuation or addition is the book Vom haben zum Sein , which was created from the then unpublished manuscripts and published by Fromm's student Rainer Funk . In this document, Fromm uA is based on its own experiences on possible ways and wrong ways that the personal effort to more His occur.

content

The work is divided into the introduction and three main parts. In the introduction, Fromm explains his culturally pessimistic point of view, criticizes capitalism and describes “a society of notoriously unhappy people”. In the first part ( To understand the difference between having and being ) Fromm shows etymological , sociolinguistic, philosophical, religious and everyday examples of the difference between having and being. In the second part ( analysis of the fundamental differences between the two modes of existence ) he analyzes the differences between the two character orientations. In the third part, The New Man and the New Society , he finally presents the crisis in society and presents possible solutions.

introduction

In the introduction, Fromm states that the hope that industrialization would make the greatest possible happiness possible for everyone has not been fulfilled. Rather, Fromm sees that the current way of life is leading mankind to an ecological or military catastrophe. According to Fromm, the survival of mankind depends on a fundamental change in basic human values.

The reason for Fromm's writing was also the criticism of the material abundance and the unlimited growth of the industrial age, which the author calls the “religion of progress”. This was predominant in both the West and the Eastern Bloc. Fromm also relies explicitly on the reports of or to the Club of Rome by Dennis Meadows ( The Limits to Growth , 1972) and the second report by Mihajlo D. Mesarovic and Eduard Pestel ( Menschheit am Wendpunkt , 1974) as a justification for that fundamental social changes are essential for human survival. Even EF Schumacher ( Small is Beautiful , 1973) is quoted. For the first time, according to Fromm, it is necessary that psychological and social changes are necessary for the further physical survival of humanity.

Fromm's book aims to present the modes of existence of having and being and to what extent the two modes of existence can be relevant for the emergence of a new person and a new society. According to Fromm, such a representation is necessary because society cannot change without a vision.

To understand the differences between having and being

Fromm begins the first part of the book by saying that for most possessions, having something is a natural thing. Fromm names consumption as the most important form of having in today's affluent society. Fromm points out, however, that many great thinkers have rejected the pursuit of possessions; B. Buddha or Jesus. Fromm describes this mode of existence, in which having, the striving for possession, is irrelevant, as the mode of existence of being and tries to illustrate the differences between the mode of existence of having and being by means of a few examples, including first some everyday experiences such as learning, Speaking, exercising authority, knowing, believing, or loving. In the case of knowledge, Fromm says that having a mode of existence is all about absorbing as much knowledge as possible, for example to pass an examination, while the mode of existence is about productive listening and genuine interest in the topic. When it comes to love, Fromm contrasts the attitude of having one's partner as property with real love.

Finally, Fromm explains that the Old Testament and the medieval mystic Meister Eckhart already make a fundamental distinction between having and being and (in their words) propagate a mode of existence of being. With Meister Eckhart, for example, the highest virtue is to overcome all wanting to have, greed and egoism in order to strive for a “productive inner activity”.

Analysis of the fundamental differences between the two modes of existence

Today's society, so Fromm analyzes, is based on private property, profit and power, which is the basis for a way of existence of having. These social values ​​also shape the behavior and attitudes of society members. Fromm specifically criticizes the attitude of a throwaway society that quickly drops items in favor of new acquisitions instead of looking after existing possessions. People who follow the existence of having are characterized by greed and greed. The identity of the individual is not determined by what he is, but by what he has. In this context, Fromm refers to the anal phase in personality development according to Freud, an early phase of development in which the will to possess and to incorporate play a role. If the person remains in this phase, he can be described as sick. Today's society, so Fromm, consists of a multitude of anal characters whose development has not reached maturity, but has stopped at this early phase of possessiveness; so it's a sick society.

In contrast to the existence of having, Fromm sets the existence of being. This is characterized, among other things, by productive inner activity, the use of one's own gifts and talents. Fromm distinguishes this type of productive activity from mere busyness in which the person carrying it out is alienated from his work. Fromm believes that society can turn to the mode of existence of being and cites some neurological and social studies that show that even children and adults are able to overcome the desire for possession and instead give, share and even make sacrifices bring, such as the English society during the Second World War or the many committed people in nursing and medical professions.

According to Fromm, a movement from having to being would also have further effects. B. the feeling of insecurity and fear of losing one's possessions in favor of a security to rest in oneself, in the mode of existence of being. Antagonism disappears in favor of solidarity. Mere thrills in the pleasure of having-character give way to a sensation of real pleasure in being-character. A life that focuses on the accumulation of possessions in the past and the future fades in favor of a focus on the present, the here and now.

The new man and the new society

In the third part of his work, Fromm works out the basic conditions through which people and society can detach themselves from the idea of ​​having and feel obliged to the view of being. He emphasizes that the character of society must first change so that the conditions are given that individual people can also change their attitudes. A reverse approach, in which individual people and small groups of people initially seek to change, according to Fromm, does not, as history has shown, achieve the goal. Fromm observes that religion cannot change the character of society for the better, because it no longer has any meaning in today's western society, but has given way to a secret religion, the center of which is the marketing of oneself (see also: Marketing Character ).

As the new spirit of society, Fromm therefore advocates radical humanism , which is characterized, among other things, by the following:

  1. the work should serve the fulfillment of the real needs of man and not the requirements of the economy
  2. the relationship between the exploitation of nature by humans is replaced by that of cooperation between humans and nature
  3. the mutual antagonism between people is through solidarity replaced
  4. primary goals of social arrangements were human well be and preventing human suffering
  5. maximum consumption is replaced by sensible consumption (consumption for the benefit of man)
  6. the individual is motivated to actively participate in social life

Thinkers in whom Fromm recognizes this basic spiritual attitude are u. a. Henry David Thoreau , Ralph Waldo Emerson , Albert Schweitzer , Ernst Bloch , Ivan Illich , the Yugoslav writers for the magazine Praxis , Ernst Friedrich Schumacher and Erhard Eppler . Communities in which this spirit is lived include a. the Israeli kibbutzim , the Hutterite communities and the Communautées de Travail .

In a society that, according to Fromm, leans towards the mode of existence of being, economy and politics are as largely decentralized as possible: People live together in so-called neighborhood groups and a “Supreme Cultural Council” controls media, research and development as neutrally as possible. According to Fromm's recommendation, this supervisory board should be composed of “men and women whose integrity is beyond any doubt”. The aim of this, for example, is to minimize “profit and military usability” in scientific research. Further aspects of the new society for which Fromm pleads and which result from the existence of being are the alignment of the production of goods to a reasonable consumption, well-organized consumer movements , the closing of the gap between poor and rich nations, a minimum income (comparable with the basic income discussed today , on which he already commented in earlier writings) and nuclear disarmament .

From having to being

From the then unpublished chapters and manuscripts from Fromm, his estate administrator Rainer Funk later put together the book Vom haben zum sein , which is to be seen as a supplement to having or being . Funk explains the need for this addition in the preface; important key points were among others:

  • common misunderstandings, e.g. For example, for having -orientation; as if being were about an "ascetic ideal and an orientation towards not-having"
  • The lack of concrete steps that can do the individual to the have gone to greater His coming. Such was largely left out in Having or Being , because Fromm placed the emphasis there on the structure of society, and he was convinced that the "socio-economic guiding values ​​and structures" must also be changed, since the individual and society are always related to one another can be seen (cf. social character ).
  • Criticism of psycho sects, gurus, esoteric aberrations and the marketing of self-awareness, which tend to obscure people's point of view and stand in opposition to the ideals of humanism and the Enlightenment . Due to his earlier, Jewish-Orthodox background, Fromm often argues religiously in his writings, but clearly rejects esoteric aberrations.

Classification in the scientific context and in the work of the author

Together with Max Horkheimer , Walter Benjamin and Herbert Marcuse , Fromm belonged to the early circle of the Frankfurt School , whose interdisciplinary program strongly shaped parts of German sociology and philosophy. In his publications Fromm combined analysis of society with elements of psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud ; his approach has also been called socialist humanism.

Having or being is a psychological and sociological analysis of the modes of existence of having and being and continues approaches from his earlier work. The two modes of existence affect both individuals and entire societies. The script is written in the humanistic spirit of Fromm and in places - written a decade before glasnost and perestroika - is to be understood against the background of the Cold War and in particular the danger of a nuclear war ( Cuban crisis etc.).

If you replace the machine-based examples used by Fromm, which were current for the time, with computer-based ones, the work is for the most part still highly topical. The basic ideas about the cybernetic character or monocerebral people from Fromm's most extensive study of the anatomy of human destructiveness appear here again. This new personality is characterized by “the predominance of the purely intellectual level and the underdevelopment of the emotional area”.

To have or to be is a late work by Fromm that builds in part on his previous work. Since it largely dispenses with footnotes and is aimed at readability for the general public, it is a good introduction to Fromm's line of thought. Thoughts from earlier work are also taken up and summarized in a generally understandable manner.

reception

To have or to be has become a bestseller just a few years after its publication. Almost half a million copies of the German paperback edition alone were sold between 1979 and 1982. It is one of Erich Fromm's best-known books and has been translated into numerous languages. Thanks to its columnar style, the book was also easy to read for the general public. With his consumer criticism, Fromm hit the alternative zeitgeist of the time; in the 1970s and 1980s the book became a cult book and a “bible” for criticism of capitalism. The book and numerous interviews also made Fromm known in Germany.

In contrast to his colleagues from the Frankfurt School, Fromm attached importance to suitability for the masses in at least some of his publications, including to have or to be: For example, to have or to be is deliberately sparse with footnotes: “From the desire to make this book easy to read , I have reduced footnotes to an absolute minimum [...]. ”This wish for mass suitability has been partially reproached by his critics for Fromm, since in Fromm's work systematic rigor was dispensed with and having or being contains some gaps and some simplifications .

As the “cult book of the 1968”, having and being was also seen as tied to the zeitgeist of the time. However, there are increasing voices that emphasize the relevance of having or being for the present day as well, in particular Fromm's criticism of Western society's obsession with consumption in the face of dwindling resources on earth is still relevant. Other aspects of having or being are also amazingly topical , such as Fromm's demand for a minimum income that fits today's discussion about an unconditional basic income for everyone. Fromm could not foresee other current developments, such as digitization, but nevertheless Fromm's social analyzes have lost none of their validity in a world that is characterized by technology and acceleration, such as a review of Fromm's life and work and its relevance for today. Science is also concerned with a reassessment of the relevance of Fromm's work for today.

literature

Text output

  • Erich Fromm: To Have or to Be? Harper & Row, New York 1976. (Original edition in English)
  • Erich Fromm: To have or to be. The spiritual foundations of a new society . Translated from English by Brigitte Stein, revised by Rainer Funk. Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart 1976. (German first edition)
  • Erich Fromm: To have or to be. The spiritual foundations of a new society . Translated from English by Brigitte Stein, revised by Rainer Funk. dtv, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-423-01490-3 . (first edition of the German paperback edition, many other editions)

Complementary

  • Erich Fromm: From having to being. Paths and aberrations of self-awareness . Edited by Rainer Funk . 9th edition, Ullstein Taschenbuch, 2016, ISBN 978-3-548-36775-0 .

Secondary literature

  • Rainer Funk (Ed.): Towards a human science: The relevance of Erich Fromm for today. Psychosozial-Verlag, Giessen 2015, ISBN 978-3-8379-2535-7 .
  • Jürgen Hardeck: Erich Fromm. Life and work . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2005, ISBN 978-3-534-16734-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ World Perspectives on LibraryThing as volume no. 50 with the original title "To Have or to Be?". Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  2. ↑ Erich Fromm: From having to being. Paths and aberrations of self-awareness . Edited by Rainer Funk. 9th edition, Ullstein Taschenbuch, 2016, ISBN 978-3-548-36775-0 , pp. 9–11 ( on this book by Rainer Funk).
  3. ↑ Erich Fromm: To have or to be - the spiritual foundations of a new society . 44th edition. dtv, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-423-34234-6 , p. 18 .
  4. ↑ Erich Fromm: To have or to be. The spiritual foundations of a new society . Translated from English by Brigitte Stein, revised by Rainer Funk. dtv, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-423-01490-3 , pp. 13-14 ( introduction [...] ): “This triad of unlimited production, absolute freedom and unlimited happiness formed the core of the new religion of progress [...] ] ". Emphasis in the original.
  5. ↑ Erich Fromm: To have or to be. The spiritual foundations of a new society . Translated from English by Brigitte Stein, revised by Rainer Funk. dtv, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-423-01490-3 , p. 21.
  6. ↑ Erich Fromm: To have or to be. The spiritual foundations of a new society . Translated from English by Brigitte Stein, revised by Rainer Funk. dtv, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-423-01490-3 , pp. 27, 37.
  7. ↑ Erich Fromm: To have or to be. The spiritual foundations of a new society . Translated from English by Brigitte Stein, revised by Rainer Funk. dtv, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-423-01490-3 , p. 69.
  8. ↑ Erich Fromm: To have or to be. The spiritual foundations of a new society . Translated from English by Brigitte Stein, revised by Rainer Funk. dtv, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-423-01490-3 , pp. 73-76.
  9. ↑ Erich Fromm: To have or to be. The spiritual foundations of a new society . Translated from English by Brigitte Stein, revised by Rainer Funk. dtv, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-423-01490-3 , pp. 85-86.
  10. ↑ Erich Fromm: To have or to be. The spiritual foundations of a new society . Translated from English by Brigitte Stein, revised by Rainer Funk. dtv, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-423-01490-3 , pp. 89-91.
  11. ↑ Erich Fromm: To have or to be. The spiritual foundations of a new society . Translated from English by Brigitte Stein, revised by Rainer Funk. dtv, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-423-01490-3 , pp. 99-106.
  12. ↑ Erich Fromm: To have or to be. The spiritual foundations of a new society . Translated from English by Brigitte Stein, revised by Rainer Funk. dtv, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-423-01490-3 , pp. 107-126.
  13. ↑ Erich Fromm: To have or to be. The spiritual foundations of a new society . Translated from English by Brigitte Stein, revised by Rainer Funk. dtv, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-423-01490-3 , p. 130.
  14. ↑ Erich Fromm: To have or to be. The spiritual foundations of a new society . Translated from English by Brigitte Stein, revised by Rainer Funk. dtv, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-423-01490-3 , p. 153.
  15. ↑ Erich Fromm: To have or to be . 44th edition. dtv Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-423-34234-6 , p. 236 .
  16. ↑ Erich Fromm: To have or to be . 44th edition. dtv Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-423-34234-6 , p. 239 .
  17. ↑ cf. Erich Fromm 1966: Psychological aspects on the question of a guaranteed income for everyone . First published as The Psychological Aspects of the Guaranteed Income . In: R. Theobad (Editor), The Guaranteed Income. Next Step in Economic Evolution? , New York 1966, pp. 175-184, published by Doubleday & Co.
  18. ↑ Erich Fromm: From having to being. Paths and aberrations of self-awareness . Edited by Rainer Funk. 9th edition, Ullstein Taschenbuch, 2016, ISBN 978-3-548-36775-0 , p. 9 ( About this book ).
  19. ↑ Erich Fromm: From having to being. Paths and aberrations of self-awareness . Edited by Rainer Funk. 9th edition, Ullstein Taschenbuch, 2016, ISBN 978-3-548-36775-0 , p. 10 ( About this book ).
  20. ↑ Christoph Helferich: History of Philosophy. From the beginning to the present and Eastern thinking . dtv, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-423-30706-4 , p. 437.
  21. ↑ Erich Fromm on the power of love: Erich Fromm in conversation with Hans Jürgen Schultz . In: Deutschlandfunk Kultur, December 22, 2019, accessed on May 31, 2020.
  22. ↑ Erich Fromm: To have or to be. The spiritual foundations of a new society . Translated from English by Brigitte Stein, revised by Rainer Funk. dtv, Munich 1979, p. 11, p. 26.
  23. ↑ Erich Fromm: Anatomy of human destructiveness . 25th edition. dtv, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-499-17052-2 , p. 393-403 .
  24. ↑ Erich Fromm: To have or to be - the spiritual foundations of a new society . 38th edition. dtv, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-423-19519-5 , p. 185 .
  25. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung on the book, in: Erich Fromm: Have or Be. The spiritual foundations of a new society . Translated from English by Brigitte Stein, revised by Rainer Funk. dtv, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-423-01490-3 , p. 1.
  26. ^ Christian Graf von Krockow: To have or to be? . In: Die Zeit Nr. 40/1982, October 1, 1982, accessed on May 30, 2020.
  27. ↑ Summary of having or being by Erich Fromm . In: getabstract, accessed May 31, 2020.
  28. ↑ Rainer Funk: Erich Fromm, Not only the art of loving is current today . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , March 23, 2020, accessed on May 31, 2020.
  29. ↑ Sven Ahnert: Erich Fromm and the art of life . In: SWR2 Wissen, broadcast on March 20, 2020, introductory text and manuscript accessed on May 31, 2020.
  30. ↑ Erich Fromm: To have or to be. The spiritual foundations of a new society . Translated from English by Brigitte Stein, revised by Rainer Funk. dtv, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-423-01490-3 , p. 11.
  31. ↑ Summary of having or being by Erich Fromm . In: getabstract, accessed May 31, 2020.
  32. ↑ The World Improver - How up-to-date is Erich Fromm? In: SWR2 Forum , sent on March 18, 2020.
  33. ↑ Rainer Funk: Erich Fromm, Not only the art of loving is current today . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , March 23, 2020, accessed on May 31, 2020.
  34. ↑ Sven Ahnert: Erich Fromm and the art of life . In: SWR2 Wissen , broadcast on March 20, 2020, introductory text and manuscript accessed on May 31, 2020.
  35. ^ Rainer Funk (Ed.): Towards a human science: The relevance of Erich Fromm for today. Psychosozial-Verlag, Giessen 2015, ISBN 978-3-8379-2535-7 .