To Have Or to Be?

by Erich Fromm

Paperback, 1990

Status

Available

Call number

128

Collections

Your library, Philosophy, Theoretical & Philosophical Psychology

Publication

Abacus Little, Brown (1990), Edition: New Ed, 224 pages

Description

To Have Or to Be? is one of the seminal books of the second half of the 20th century. Nothing less than a manifesto for a new social and psychological revolution to save our threatened planet, this book is a summary of the penetrating thought of Eric Fromm. His thesis is that two modes of existence struggle for the spirit of humankind: the having mode, which concentrates on material possessions, power, and aggression, and is the basis of the universal evils of greed, envy, and violence; and the being mode, which is based on love, the pleasure of sharing, and in productive activity. To Have Or to Be? is a brilliant program for socioeconomic change.

User reviews

LibraryThing member jwhenderson

Fromm states that people in our society have become obsessed with acquiring property, keeping it and increasing it. People become property to be owned and used. He rejects the ideas of the enlightenment and those thinkers who believe people can live freely and trade with one another maintaining a

respect for each other through sharing mutual values. His views about people seem to stem from a static view of power rather than a dynamic view of the possibilities for individuals who choose to live a flourishing life. He claims that humans have a deeply rooted desire to express themselves, yet he does not explain the apparent contradiction between this view and the social structure that forces people to have rather than to be. Joy is experienced through productive behavior which, for Fromm often ends in sadness. It was disappointing to read a book that was contradictory on so many levels.

Show Less

1 more

LibraryThing member adrianburke

I saw this book in the secondhand shop in Sharrow and didn't buy it. Then yesterday I cycled down to say goodbye to the Greek man selling his gift shop and to buy a lunch in the Sharrow Marrow and after locking up the bike I went back into the book shop and bought this book after all. I read some

in the cafe spilling tea on its early pages then I biked through Endcliffe Park and got off the bike, sat on the grass and read some more. When I got home I read some more. All the time thinking - he wrote this in the seventies and yet it is fresh and speaks to us from the author's grave. No higher praise than this.

Show Less

Fewer