Ad Veritatem

Vol. 8, No. 2 (March 2009)

Fromm’s Search for a

Humanistic Alternative

Rafael D. Pangilinan*


Some Perspectives on Humanism

T
he earliest gist on humanism can be traced from the Old
Testament. From it we are given the idea that no man can
claim superiority against anybody simply based on the fact that
his ancestors were, for instance, warriors or patricians who had been
celebrated for the achievements that they had wreaked. The first book,
Genesis, states that man is created in the image and likeness of God,
and therefore all men are equal and same in dignity despite the obvious
variances in physical appearance, material wealth, power, etc.
The idea of humanism also has its roots in the Greek and Roman
tradition. Fromm relates that in Sophocles’ drama Antigone, the heroine
was fighting against a fascist emperor, Creon, because she insisted that the
law of nature, which is the law of compassion for men, has precedence
over the law of the state; she is willing to die in order to fulfill the law

of humanity when this law is contradicted by that of the state.
During the Renaissance Period man was viewed as a universal man,
the many-sided all-rounded realization of humanity in each individual.

* The author is currently pursuing his masterate in Philosophy at the UST Graduate School.

Humanity, the focal point of humanism, is taken from the Latin word hunanitas. Humanism
is contrary to tribalism where one has confidence only in the members of one’s own tribe while the
stranger is considered with suspicions and is not experienced as a full human being.

Erich Fromm, On Being Human, ed. Rainer Funk (New York: Continuum, 1994).
r. d. pangilinan

Each individual was considered as the bearer of all humanity inasmuch

the essence of man, that by virtue of which man is human, is engrained
in him and his task is to uphold and unfold fully the humanity within
himself. Such essentialism is different from the antiquarian Aristotelian
definition that ‘Man is a rational animal’ and hence consists of a
bifurcated nature, that of rationality and animality. For Fromm we
never see human nature as such; we never see man in general, yet we
can infer from the manifold manifestations in various cultures and in
various individuals that which man has in common and which remains

constant throughout history. The essence of man is a constellation, or as
Heidegger calls it, a configuration. In a restricted sense, this configuration
pertains to man’s existential dichotomy, which is one of contradiction
between man as an animal who is within nature and between man as
the only thing in nature that has awareness of itself.
From eighteenth to nineteenth century Germany in particular saw
the emergence of four theoreticians whose estimations on humanism

continue to inspire contemporary discussions. Johann Gottfried von
Herder (1744-1803) said that man was born feeble and needed to
develop in himself humanity. He has reason and in the development
of this specifically human quality he becomes the highest product of
natural evolution. Following Herder Gottfried Ephraim Lessing (1729-
1781) considered it the task of man to realize the essence of the human
species, that which is specifically human, i.e. his reason. Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe (1749-1832) also said that man carries in himself not only
his individuality but all humanity with all its potentialities, although
because of the limitations of his existence he can realize only part of


For Fromm man’s nature leads to existential dichotomies. It is said that man is a freak of
nature in that man is a part of nature yet through a gradual process of individuation he transcends the
rest of nature. He is thrown in this world, most radically at birth, beyond his own choosing, and yet as
with the natural cyclical process of growth and decay he must face the inevitable fate of sickness and
death. His reason is also considered to be a blessing and a curse; reason has provided man with limitless
possibilities for pushing the frontiers of knowledge, but it has also resulted in the factuality that man is
the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he must solve. Tormented by a lack of
meaning, he struggles to discover his reason for being, and so, to fill that great chasm in his existence. But
this search is thwarted as soon as he makes an appeal to deceiving ideologies that only ensue in a brief
respite from his feeling of meaninglessness (e.g. Christian concept of immortality, which by postulating
an immortal soul denies the tragic fate that man’s life ends with death). [Fromm, The Revolution of Hope:
Toward a Humanized Technology, 1st ed. (New York: Perennial Library–Harper & Row, 1974), 62; cf.
Florentino T. Timbreza, Alternative to a Dead God (Manila: DLSU Press, 2001), 1-3]

Fromm, On Being Human, 67ff.

[468]
 fromm’s search for a humanistic alternative

these potentialities. Man must not seek universality by kowtowing with

the scruples of the multitude in order to feel a sense of attachment; he
must as it were sever his primary ties which gives him security yet at the
same time constrains his freedom, and strive for individuation. Karl
Marx (1818-1883) for his part said that man reifies his independence
only if he appropriates his manifold being in an all-inclusive way. “All
his human relations to the world—seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting,
touching, thinking, observing, feeling, desiring, acting, loving—in short,
all the organs of his individuality… are… the appropriations of human

reality.” He loathes private property for it has made people too gripped
with habitual acquisition and consumption of material things—hence

of having as opposed to being —so much so that they fail to take heed
to what is more primal for man, that is, his quest for rootedness and
authenticity notwithstanding all artificialities and mendaciousness that
are fecund in this world.
Now, what is Fromm’s conception of human nature, and so, of
humanism? For Fromm the human being is at once part of human
nature and yet transcends the rest of nature; reason drives us to endless
striving for new solutions to the problems which ever-developing needs

confront. The human life is one of unavoidable disequilibrium in which
there can be no return to pre-human state of harmony with nature but


Karl Marx, “Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts,” qtd. in Fromm, Marx’s Concept of
Man, trans. T.B. Bottomore, Milestones of Thoughts in the History of Ideas (New York: Frederick
Unger Publishing Co., 1961), 138.

In To Have or to Be? Fromm distinguishes two fundamental modes of existence: having and
being (1976). The nature of having mode follows from the nature of private property. In such mode
all that matters for the person is acquisition of property and his incontrovertible right to keep what he
has acquired; in this sense, we may conjecture that it is a synergy of symbiosis and withdrawal insofar
as one has the tendency to amass things irrespective of his/her actual need and declines in proffering
what he has taken and collected. It is expressed by the formula “I [subject] have X [object]” and ‘I am
= what I have and what I consume”: the subject and the object have become insoluble and fused into a
single identity, so that the ‘I’ cannot be known disjointedly but must always be attached and attributed
with something. ‘It’ and ‘I’ have become things; one has it because he has the force to make it his.
Conversely, the ‘it’ has the ‘I’ because his [I’s] sense of identity rests upon his having it.
On the other hand, the mode of being has as its requirements independence, freedom and
presence of critical reason. It involves the productive use of one’s human powers freed from the decoy
of dominating/subjugating others and compulsive acquisition. [See Fromm, To Have or To Be?, World
Perspectives 50 (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1976)].

See also Fromm, Marx’s Concept of Man, ch. 4. His most enthusiastic interpretation of Marx’s
view of human essence and its alienation comes in a paper delivered in Paris in May 1968, “Marx’s
Contribution to the Knowledge of Man,” published in The Crisis of Psychoanalysis (New York: Fawcett,
1970), Ch. 3.

[469]
r. d. pangilinan

only a development of reason towards mastery of nature, including


human nature. Only by recognizing that the only meaning to life is that
which is given by humans through productive living can the possibility
develop of achieving happiness through the full realization of the faculties

which are peculiarly human—reason, love, and productive work. For
Fromm, as for Marx, the fulfillment of our potential as creative human
beings is imperative. Indeed, Fromm makes explicit the essentialist ethical
dimension of Marx’s work, focusing on the struggle to overcome the
alienation of the human essence in order to achieve a realm of freedom
10
in which self-realization becomes possible for all human beings.

Exploring the Humanist Alternative

In On Being Human Fromm posited three alternatives between
which we can choose amidst the caustic principles of maximum
production, maximum consumption and minimal friction that is rife in
contemporary civilization. The first is to continue in the direction we have
taken since the 19th century, to be flaccid and indifferent to the need of
11
spawning change in the course of events and to hope for the best. The
second, called “Maoist alternative,” proceeds form the premise that the
only way by which humanity can be salvaged from the unpleasant and
pathological maladies of the technotronic society or megamamachine is
to initiate violent revolution on an international scale which will thereby
compel structural shifts in the current economic, political and cultural
setup of a nation or group of nations. This alternative, similar to the
first, is not feasible in that although fundamental changes must be done
on such spheres of human activity thoughtless radicalism leading to
hostilities, which could result in the cataclysmic purgation of a fraction
of world population, will only give birth to very few political fanaticists


Fromm, Man for himself: An inquiry into the psychology of ethics (London: Routledge, 2003),
40.This view that human essence lies in the contradiction between being simultaneously in nature
while transcending it is restated in Fromm, “The Application of Psychoanalysis to Marx’s Theory,” On
disobedience and other essays (New York: Seabury Press, 1982), 39.

Fromm, Man for Himself, 45.
10
Id., Marx’s Concept of Man, 60, 76.
11
This suggests that we return to nature, to make man again into a pre-human animal and
to eliminate in man that which is specifically human, i.e. his reason. This elimination strikes with
the employment of drugs, orgies and with man’s identification with ancestors (totemism) and nature
(animism). More generally, it is achieved when man ceases to be human and regresses into a state in
which man was still part of nature and in which he might become an animal.

[470]
 fromm’s search for a humanistic alternative

and dictators in various regions who shall pare down the rights of those
they have outranked through force, and hence, far from ushering in
“freedom to” and humanization they will stifle man’s creativity and
encourage conformism and orthodoxy instead of realizing his own
12 13
identity. As the foregoing are unsatisfactory this calls us to consider
the humanist-activist alternative. This entails the humanization of the
system in such a way that it could serve the purpose of man’s well-being
and growth through revolutionary changes brought about gradually
by united people’s movements which are motivated by a love of live
(biophilia).
Three general conditions must be complied with if such alternative
is to be efficacious in altering our present lot. First, a development of
14
non-productive orientation must occur which conflicts with the
requirements of human nature. Second, there must be awareness of the
presence of suffering and repression, that is, that which is shut out and
dissociated from our conscious personality which includes among others,
repressed rational passions, repressed feelings of aloneness and futility and
15
repressed longing for love and productivity. Awareness means waking
up to something that one has felt or sensed without forceful thinking;
it is an active process stemming from the recesses of one’s mind, i.e.
from a self-referential knowledge of one’s psychic processes, and not a
passive process of listening, agreeing and contradicting. With particular
reference to social organization awareness must embrace knowledge
not of isolated and fractionated features but of the whole system; all
features that we discern are merely parts of the entire system and are as
it were merely symptoms of the very root cause of the problem of social

12
Cf. Fromm, Escape from Freedom, 4th ed. (New York: Avon Books, 1966).
13
Related to this, Fromm mentions that there are deceptive alternatives which have been offered
by numerous social theorists: 1) the suggestion of returning to the pre-industrial age or accepting the
society of the megamachine; 2) expropriation of all property or accepting the totalitarian managerial
society; 3) choosing between a theistic religion such as Christianity or idolatric materialism; and 4)
choosing between realism (which means automation uncontrolled by decisions based on human values)
and utopianism (which banks on unreal and unreliable goals insofar as they have not and cannot be
realized). Real alternative must spring from the syndrome thought-knowledge-imagination-hope which
enables man to see the real possibilities.
14
In humanistic psychoanalysis this orientation results in the development of irrational passions,
especially of incestuous, destructive and exploitative strivings. There are four types of non-productive
orientation for Fromm, viz. receptive, exploitative, hoarding, and marketing, the first two of which is
marked by symbiosis whilst the last two by withdrawal. Cf. Fromm, Man for Himself, 45-60.
15
Fromm, The Sane Society (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston), 244.

[471]
r. d. pangilinan

pathology. Lastly, we must deracinate elements that fuel and constantly

reproduce neurotic structures by amending our practice of dehumanizing
life. Generally, this can be done by changing one’s realistic life situation,
system of values and ideals, so that they further rather than block man’s
striving for a renewed existence. Indeed, this condition is the culmination
of Fromm’s humanist-activist alternative, the only real alternative which
man ought to take.
In the field of social organization this alternative points to humanist
industrialism—as opposed to a bureaucratized industrial system which
is guided by the goals of power, prestige and pleasure, programmed by
the principles of maximal production and minimal friction and as such
dehumanizes man—which requires decentralization, self-management
and individual responsible activity in all fields. This requires, of course,
legislation and constitutional amendments as well as a certain degree
of centralization of administration of property (instead of expropriation
which is practiced in many Communist countries where factors of
production are under the management of the State’s bureaucracy) guided
by the principles of optimum value for man’s development. In the
field of “psycho-spirituality” such alternative requires a renewed frame
of orientation in which the goal of life is the full realization of man’s
powers/creative energies, the transcendence of the finiteness of one’s ego
and the affirmation not only of oneself but of all that has life instead of
relegating oneself to a necrophilous and fixated mechanical/push-button
life which leads to alienation.
Before the very elusive project of humanizing society is expatiated it
is germane to briefly clarify that there had been three reform movements
which antedated communitarian socialism or socialist humanism—
Fromm’s real alternative—which had utterly fallen flat in their crusade
16
for various grounds; those historical events, their pitfalls in particular,
will caution us to reroute on our path to attain a truly ‘enlightened’
humanist alternative. The first, Judeo-Christianity, has preached spiritual
renewal whilst neglecting the changes in the social order without which
spiritual renewal must remain ineffective for the majority of the people.
The second, which commenced during the Age of Enlightenment, placed

16
Cf. Sane Society, 238-9.

[472]
 fromm’s search for a humanistic alternative

a great premium on the discovery of truth through the observation of

nature rather than through the study of authoritative sources, such as
the Bible; people came to assume that through a judicious use of reason,
an unending progress would be possible—progress in knowledge,
in technical achievement, and even in moral values. Following the
philosophy of Locke, the 18th century empirical theoreticians believed
that knowledge is not innate, but comes only from experience and
observation guided by reason. Through proper education, humanity
itself could be altered, its nature changed for the better. In the realm of
politics, there was a united stand in support of tolerance, the rule of law,
social welfare, and secular education. The state was viewed as a crucial
instrument for the realization of the people’s ideals, as long as the ruler
respected reason and natural law. This period preached political equality,
yet its fault lied in its failure to see that political equality could not lead
to the realization of the brotherhood of man if it was not accompanied
by a fundamental change in the socio-economic organization. The last
movement pertains to mainstream Marxist-Leninist socialism which
arose in Russia and spread across some countries in Latin America,
Eastern Europe and East and West Asia and Africa. While it posed itself
as antithetical to the abstractification, commodification and alienation
individuals are living through in capitalist societies with its introduction
of social and economic changes, Fromm admits that it has not offered
a better alternative for humanity because it forwent the necessity of the
inner changes in human beings (characterological change), without
which any economic reform can never lead to a good society.
Fromm maintains in several of his writings that the real humanist
alternative must consist in the promotion of processes and structures that
are consonant with a more humane and productive life. They operate
on three levels: first, everyday life; second, political institutions within
existing states; and third, the merging ‘One World.’

Everyday Life
For Fromm, as for Marx, to produce was part of the human essence,
although in modern society work was normally a stultifying experience.
For the manual worker, de-skilling has destroyed interest in the process
of work, engendering a socially patterned syndrome of pathology

[473]
r. d. pangilinan

manifested in apathy, boredom, lack of joy and a vague feeling that life
17
is meaningless. The majority of workers suffer from the dictatorial
authority structures of major corporations, in which managerial elites
display virtually unlimited power. It is, according to Fromm, the very
opposite of the democratic process, a situation of “power without control
18
by those submitted to it.” But even when authoritarian managerial
methods are not dominant, employees or the self-employed are obliged
to sell themselves, their personalities, in order to survive and progress.
This concept of the marketing orientation is extremely useful in
understanding the mediocrity of modern management in organizations
which judge merit by arbitrarily imposed and unaccountable criteria.
“Only in exceptional cases,” he writes, “is success predominantly the
result of skill and certain other human qualities like honesty, decency,
19
and integrity.” In addition to direct managerial pressure, the insecurity
of the labor market means that those in work live in fear of offending
management or feel obliged to adjust their behavior to conform to the
organizational culture. Those who want to move into new occupations
in mid-life have little opportunity to do so and become ‘trapped’ for
decades in work which holds no interest for them.
Fromm is quite clear that these problems will not be adequately
resolved before the realization of the final goal of socialism, democratic
control of all economic activities, free co-operation of all citizens and the
20
reduction of central state activity to a minimum. But he was acutely
aware of the need to present ‘intermediate’ socialist goals which could
be pursued meaningfully by broad sections of working people. These
intermediate goals include support for a Basic Income scheme, reduction in
work-time, workers’ participation in management, and stronger trade union
21
activity on working conditions. The idea of a “Guaranteed Income For
All” was first supported by Fromm in The Sane Society, where he argues
that lifting the economic threat of starvation would make it very difficult
to impose unacceptable working conditions. He sees it as a means to

17
Ibid., 295.
18
Fromm, “Let Man Prevail,” Disobedience and Other Essays, 62.
19
Id., Man for Himself, 69.
20
Id., See Fromm, “Humanist Socialism,” Disobedience and Other Essays, 78-9; Sane Society,
95.
21
Id., Sane Society, 335; cf. To Have or To Be?, 185-6.

[474]
 fromm’s search for a humanistic alternative

removing one of the greatest limitations on human freedom, “the threat

of starvation against all who were unwilling to accept the conditions of
22
work and social existence that were imposed upon them.” It is important
to note that for Fromm the idea needed to be matched with greatly
diminished working hours for all and measures to discourage socially
damaging consumption, without which those on the minimum basic
23
income would feel frustrated and worthless. Ideally, the Guaranteed
Income would be a step towards liberating people from the domination
of the world of work so that they would have time to confront the critical
questions about the direction in which society was travelling and the
24
values it embodied.
Another approach which Fromm considers significant is the work
on human relations management pioneered by Elton Mayo in the late
forties. In his study of the various experiments in management conducted
at the Chicago Hawthon Works of the Western Electric Company,
Mayo demonstrates that the output of workers increased considerably
not primarily because their conditions were improved but because they
were involved in the decisions to set those conditions. Participation
in decision-making not only improved their job satisfaction but also
25
improved productivity. Although it is possible to dismiss human
relations management as just another device to raise productivity,
the demand for democracy in the workplace raises awareness of the
authoritarian and largely unaccountable reality of most management
systems. Evidence of the greater efficiency of participatory schemes also
challenges the commonly held management assumption that workers
will perform better only when working under the threat of performance
measurement. In a socialist manifesto which he drafted for the American
Socialist Party he demands workers’ participation in the management of
big corporations and a greater influence for trade unions, particularly
26
on issues concerning working conditions. Writing in 1968, Fromm
bemoaned the bureaucratization of the unions and their original broad

22
Id., “The Psychological Aspects of the Guaranteed Income,” Disobedience and Other Essays,
91.
23
Ibid., 96.
24
Ibid., 93; see also his discussion of the “universal subsistence guarantee” in Sane Society,
35-38.
25
Fromm, Sane Society, 302-5.
26
Id., “Humanist Socialism,” Disobedience and Other Essays, 89.

[475]
r. d. pangilinan

27
social purpose. His suggestion of face-to-face groups in the workplace
to decide on conditions and working practices appears to have been
inspired by the autogestion movement in France and the workers’ self-
28
management system in Yugoslavia. Interestingly, despite the difficulties
faced by the workers’ movements since Fromm made these appeals,
trade unions have tended to broaden their endeavors to tackle sexism,
racism, bullying, environmental damage, and health and safety issues.
The weakening of collective bargaining which has accompanied post-
Fordism has nevertheless raised issues about the treatment of individuals
and particular groups of workers which have provided unions with new
opportunities to oppose the power of autocratic management. In the
fifties Fromm had anticipated the development of ‘super capitalism’
with an extension of competition into the workplace itself through the
widespread introduction of incentives such as performance-relate pay
29
and bonuses. But he continues to see enduring significance of trade
union activity in responding to the changing work environment and
defending the dignity of labor.
A second issue of everyday life which interested Fromm was the
social effect of the consumption process. In the world of advertising
and marketing he saw the manipulation of needs and the imposition
of conformity, but he also saw the possibility of contesting the power
of the major corporations. With great foresight he supported the work
of consumer movements. “The consumer movement has attempted to
restore the customer’s critical ability, dignity, and sense of significance,
30
and thus operates in a direction similar to the trade union movements.”
Although the development of capitalism brings with it an impulse to
meet whatever desires are present in society, Fromm points out that
there has always been regulation or prohibition of certain products,
sometimes from concern with bodily harm but often on the basis of
31
“vestigial remnants of the Puritan morality.” What Fromm would like
to see is the advancement of life-furthering rather than life-denying

27
Id., Revolution of Hope, 111-2.
28
Ibid., 111; see also Sane Society, 306-21. In the foreword he comments that the Yugoslav
model offered possibilities for widespread adoption (Fromm, Sane Society, xiii).
29
Fromm, Revolution of Hope, 240-6.
30
Id., The Fear of Freedom (London: Routledge, 1997), 111.
31
Id., Revolution of Hope, 117.

[476]
 fromm’s search for a humanistic alternative

consumption. His suggestion that a group of experts (psychologists,

sociologists, economists and consumers) could study consumption to
establish which products were humane and which were not now appears
32
somewhat naïve, but the subsequent development of independent
groups which promote such critical scrutiny is right in line with Fromm’s
attitude to making consumption a site of struggle. His championing of
33
the revolution of the consumer against the domination by industry
anticipates some of the successful challenges to corporate capital that have
since taken place. Ultimately, concludes Fromm, sane consumption only
becomes possible when we curb the right of corporations to determine
34
their production solely on the basis of profit and expansion. Short of
that, however, the struggle over consumption can reveal the irrationality
of the global system of production and reflects a new desire to overcome
passivity. So, the struggles against the oil giants and the big agricultural
producers (e.g. in Mindanao and Luzon regions) help to question the
logic of accumulation and promote awareness of the limitations of
corporate power. Fromm calls for ‘consumer strikes’ to unleash the
potential of the humanist-minded consumers and to assert a genuine
35
democratic impulse in an active and non-alienated fashion.
A third aspect of everyday life which Fromm identifies as playing
a key role in the struggle to transform values is feminism, or ‘women’s
liberation’ as it was known to him. Deriding Freud’s conception of
women as little more than castrated men, Fromm categorizes women
as a class exploited by men in all patriarchal societies, requiring an
36
ideology to explain their domination as ‘natural.’ His position was not
merely a response to ‘second-wave’ feminism, for as early as 1934 he
had written critically of the damaging aspects of ‘patricentric’ psychic
structures. Focusing on the nineteenth-century work on matriarchy
by J. J. Bachofen, Fromm relates patriarchy to the maintenance of
class society and concludes that ‘matricentric’ psychic structures are,
implicitly, socialist. Bachofen viewed matriarchal society as democratic,
sexually open, and without private property, in which maternal love and

32
Ibid., 120.
33
Ibid., 122.
34
Fromm, Sane Society, 175.
35
Ibid., 177.
36
Fromm, Crisis of Psychoanalysis, 39-41.

[477]
r. d. pangilinan

compassion were the dominant moral principles and injury to another

37
was the gravest offense. According to Fromm, this harmonized with the
Marxist stress on the meeting of all material needs through democratic
social control and the promise of a life of happiness residing in the
38
harmonious unfolding of one’s personality. Returning to the theme,
Fromm relates the significance of the idea of the matriarchate to the
development of the women’s revolution which was attempting to make
39
a reality of the Enlightenment idea of the equality of all people. In To
Have or To Be? he argues that the freedom of women from patriarchal
domination is a fundamental factor in the humanization of society
and concludes that if the women’s movement can identify its role and
function as an anti-power then women will have a decisive influence in
the battle for a new society (1976, 186-8). Fromm perceives patriarchy as
a distortion of human essence and feminism as a path to the achievement
of true humanization, an equality of recognition and respect. To be an
‘anti-power’ is to acknowledge the sources and configurations of social
power and for Fromm this is rooted in control of the means of production
and administration.

Democratic Institutions
Moving onto the second level of social participation considered by
Fromm, his work on renewing political democracy is more significant in
principle than in the practical detail of his suggestions and interventions.
However, it is important to note that he was prepared to engage in
mainstream political activity even if it fell well short of his ideal of
democratic socialism. Here the contrast with Herbert Marcuse could not
be clearer, for the latter disapproved of any involvement with established
politics, prompting Fromm to accuse him of a lack of concern with
politics. Fromm’s ideas for renewing democratic politics first appear
briefly in The Sane Society. He largely accepts the gloomy conclusions of
Joseph Schumpeter in Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy that most
citizens in modern western democracies were passive, apathetic and
possessed little power over decision-making. To counter this, Fromm
37
Ibid., 90.
38
Ibid., 108.
39
Ibid., 80. Fromm makes it clear that he favors a fruitful synthesis between matriarchal and
patriarchal principles rather than simply the elimination of the latter.

[478]
 fromm’s search for a humanistic alternative

suggests something like a return to the old Town Meetings of the early
USA, in face-to-face groups which are well-informed and are capable
of directly influencing the decisions made by the centrally elected
parliamentary executive. Such groups might meet monthly and comprise
say, 500 citizens, based on areas or workplaces and hopefully composed of
40
people from a variety of social backgrounds. These ideas are developed
further and in greater detail in The Revolution of Hope, in which he
suggests that the equivalent of the Town Meetings could become an
official part of the decision-making process at state and federal level. With
particular attention to USA, he also suggests a National Council called
the Voice of American Conscience comprising 50 ‘good’ Americans to
discuss the major issues of the day and issue recommendations. These
major issues could be discussed at a lower level by Clubs of between 100
41
and 300 people, and by small Groups of about 25 people. The general
idea was for a more participatory polity in which forums would serve as
an educative as well as a deliberative function, in order to counter the
power of vested interests. The chief problem is how such an initiative
could get off the ground, and there is no obvious answer: Fromm tried
to take the idea forward by having a card inserted in each copy of The
Revolution of Hope which asked readers who they would nominate for
the National Council and whether they would be prepared to participate
42
in a Club or a Group. However, democratic forums historically have
tended to flourish only in revolutionary moments, and the recurring
aspiration towards greater participation needs to look for new forms. One
such development would be through more proportional representation
and the involvement of non-party organizations in the political process.
Another would be participation through on-line personal computers, i.e.,
Internet, and it is to Fromm’s credit that he identified the democratic
43
potential of computerization as early as 1968.

40
Fromm, Sane Society, 341-2.
41
In To Have or To Be? he suggests a Supreme Cultural Council (see page 189). See also Revolution
of Hope, 151-62.
42
Fromm did not enclose a pre-paid envelope on the grounds that “even the first small step
requires the initiative at least to address to address the envelope yourself and spend the money for a
stamp.” The response is not known.
43
Fromm, Escape from Freedom, 96, 108, 113.

[479]
r. d. pangilinan

‘One World’: Toward Human Solidarity

The ultimate level of political activity which concerns Fromm
is the international or global level. In a certain speech he argued
that the globalization of industrial production and new methods of
communication means that ‘One World’ is coming into existence and it
44
is probably “the most revolutionary event in the history of mankind.”
The question he poses is whether the One World will be a livable one or
a giant battlefield. He developed much energy in the fifties and sixties
to supporting the cause of nuclear disarmament and arguing for détente
45
or relaxation of hostility between the superpowers. Today, however, it
is perhaps the issues of global inequality and the power of nationalism
which are most relevant. On global inequality, Fromm argues for the
redistribution of resources from the affluent countries to the poorer
countries. For this to happen, the having mode must be greatly weakened
46
and a “sense of solidarity, of caring (not of pity), must emerge.” But this
is not just a pious hope. He points to the oil price hike of 1973-4 and
the Vietnam War as assertions of the rights of former colonized states to
challenge their exploitation and oppression by the dominant powers. The
recent past has been rich in words about global redistribution and poor
in effective intervention, but it is clear that an issue which was marginal
in Fromm’s lifetime will be of major significance in the new century.
The principal ideological obstacle to the development of a
harmonious global society in Fromm’s view is tribalism, a feeling that we
have the confidence only in those who belong to our tribe, who eat the
same food, sing the same songs, and speak the same language. Nationalism
in the modern form of tribalism, through which we project all the evil
in us on the stranger, and in so doing we lose touch with humanity. As
part of his personal ‘Credo’ appended to Beyond the Chains of Illusions,
he expressed his belief that the One World will become truly human
only if a ‘New Man’ comes into being, free of tribal loyalties, who feels
himself to be a “citizen of the world whose loyalty is to the human race
47
and to life.” In The Sane Society he issues an unequivocal denunciation

44
Id., “A New Humanism as a Condition for the One World,” On Being Human, 61.
45
Cf. Id., “The Case for Unilateral Disarmament,” Disobedience and Other Essays, ch. 8.
46
Id., Escape from Freedom, 185; Sane Society, 333-4.
47
Id., Beyond the Chains of Illusions: My Encounter with Freud and Marx, ed. Ruth Nanda Anshen,
Credo Perspective Series (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1962), 178.

[480]
 fromm’s search for a humanistic alternative

of nationalism, describing it as our form of incest, idolatry and insanity,

with patriotism as its cult. He laments the unparalleled power of outrage
shown against those who have the temerity to deny that they love their
country or unthinkingly supports its war effort, and complains that this
nationalist rage is often conducted under the rationalization of solidarity.
He argues that, on the contrary, human solidarity can be found only
when nationalism has been transcended; only when we develop our
love and reason further than we have done so far can we “build a world
based on human solidarity and justice” and thereby transform it into “a
48
truly human home.” The persistence of warlike nationalism in violent
conflicts in central Africa (e.g. in countries like Mozambique, Angola,
Ethiopia, Republic of Congo, etc. where manslaughter is irreversibly in
vogue) indicate the strength of the problem identified by Fromm, but
in movements towards the development of supra-national entities like
the European Union and Association of Southeast Asian Nations and
forums such as global summits there is at least the chance that these
conflicts can be ameliorated.

Conclusion
Fromm’s combination of social psychology, humanistic ethics and
democratic socialist politics offers a powerful alternative to and protest
against the postmodernist rejection of essentialism. Fromm is, without
doubt, an essentialist, operating with a strong adherence to socialism, but
his work on the productive character and the goal of the ‘being mode’
conveys a sense of liberated expression which is wholly consonant with
the widest variety of cultural identities. Indeed, it is one of the strengths
of his work that he draws from ethical sources from ancient times to the
present century and from a variety of religions and civilizations in order
to demonstrate the remarkable endurance of the common attachment
to freedom, justice, and solidarity.
Fromm outlines a progressive political strategy which promotes a
radical change of values away from instrumentality, possessiveness and
acquisitiveness and towards social responsibility and respect for people.
The social action which aids this change includes both old and new social

48
Id., Sane Society, 60.

[481]
r. d. pangilinan

movements, the struggle for reforms as well as direct protest. For example,
Fromm endorsed the significance of trade union activity in struggling
for worker participation in management and the reduction of working
hours, as well as day-to-day struggles on issues such as discrimination and
bullying. He was one of the first social theorists to identify the radical
potential of new social movements, particularly those concerned with
environmentalism and feminism. He lent support to reforms which, in
the case of the basic income scheme, eradicate the causes of insecurity
which too often push people to reactionary responses or to despair. He
identified the emergence of the ‘One World’ in an era of globalization
which begs for global political solutions to the problems of war and peace,
production and distribution, and sustainability. Ultimately, Fromm held
fast to the idea that socialism is the only political movement which has
the capacity to retain the hope of human liberation, the establishment
of new moral values, and the realization of human solidarity. But he
recognized the weaknesses of previous forms of socialism, particularly
in neglecting the visualization of a better world. In calling for the
proliferation of designs, studies and experiments to bridge the gap
between what is necessary and what is possible, he insisted that the
model of the new society be determined by the requirements of the un-
alienated, being-oriented individual. In raising this ‘big’ questions of
why we live the way we do and how we might live differently and better,
Fromm’s work resolutely opposes the creeping fatalism of contemporary
social and political life.

References
Habermas, Jürgen. Autonomy and Solidarity: Interviews with Jürgen Habermas. Edited and
introduced by Peter Dews. London and New York: Verso, 1992.
Fromm, Erich. The Art of Being. London: Continuum, 1993.
———. Beyond the Chains of Illusion: My Encounter with Freud and Marx. Credo Perspective
Series. Planned and edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen. New York: Simon & Schuster,
1962.
———. The Crisis of Psychoanalysis. New York: Fawcett, 1970.
———. Escape from freedom. 4th ed. New York: Avon Books, 1966.
———. The Fear of Freedom. London: Routledge, 1997.
———. Man for Himself: An Inquiry into the Psychology of Ethics. With a new introduction by
Dr Rainer Funk. London: Routledge, 2003.
———. Marx’s Concept of Man. With a translation of Marx’s Economic and Philosophic
Manuscripts by T.B. Bottomore. Milestones of Thoughts in the History of Ideas. New
York: Frederick Unger Publishing Co., 1961.

[482]
 fromm’s search for a humanistic alternative

———. On Being Human. Edited by Rainer Funk. New York: Continuum, 1994.
———. On Disobedience and Other Essays. New York: Seabury Press, 1982.
———. The Revolution of Hope: Toward a Humanized Technology. 1st ed. New York: Perennial
Library–Harper & Row, 1974.
———. The Sane Society. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1955.
———, ed. Socialist Humanism: An International Symposium. New York: Allen Lane the Penguin
Press, 1965.
Marcuse, Herbert. Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud. Boston: Beacon
Press, 1974.
Schaar, John. Escape from Authority: The Perspectives of Erich Fromm. New York: Basic Books,
1964.
Timbreza, Florentino T. Alternative to a Dead God. Manila: DLSU Press, 2001.
Wiggerhaus, Rolf. The Frankfurt School: Its History, Theories, and Political Significance. Studies
in Contemporary German Social Thought. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003.

[483]