Critical Theory of Religion by Erich Fromm: from Messianic Judaism to Radical Humanism

This paper studies Erich Fromm’s critical theory of religion and looks into the evolution of the philosopher’s views. We analyze key concepts of Fromm’s humanistic psychology, including biophilia, rejection of idolatry, X-experience, classification of religions as humanistic or authoritarian, plea for sustainable coexistence with the environment, and some others. The author demonstrates close connection of these concepts with Judaic tradition, especially the messianism and negative theology of Maimonides. The paper is divided into chapters tracing the evolution of Fromm’s views on religion — from Hasidic Judaism, through following Freud and Marx, to the concept of humanistic religion. The analysis shows that starting from his early works and up to the radical, socialistic humanism as the pinnacle of his thought, Fromm as a philosopher and a strong Israelite draws inspiration from the religious tradition. Notably, his PhD thesis was devoted to the sociology of Hebrew diaspora, Der Sabbath, The Dogma of Christ. However, Fromm’s theory of religion, accordant with the Frankfurt School, combines aspects of Hegel, Marx and Freud’s teachings. Fromm’s views on religion are an original, self-consistent synthesis of diverse ideas, and result in the concept of radical humanism. The paper specifically considers Fromm’s view on idolatry as a form of alienation. Fromm urges to fight against idolatry in a bro.ader sense, finding it in various social phenomena, ranging from consumerism to religious fundamentalism. The paper also reviews the concept of X-experience that Fromm gives in You Shall Be as Gods. The X-experience is a special transcendental experience, separated from its multiple theistic or non-theistic conceptualizations. X-experience is psychological in its nature and leads to diminishing or eliminating narcissism. It constitutes a certain opposition to the alienation caused by idolatry. The work also considers Fromm’s idea of humanistic religion as related to his other concepts. The author supposes that the distinction between authoritarian and humanistic religions is tied to the earlier separation into authoritarian and humanistic ethics that Fromm presents in Man for himself. The impact of Marx and Freud on Fromm’s philosophy of religion is highlighted. While drawing from both, Fromm considered Marx’s theory to be deeper and more significant.

Philosophy and Cultural Heritage. An Approach to Philosophy in Museal Contexts

The following considerations form a philosophical approach to the meaning of cultural heritage. They are an attempt to answer the question, which position and task philosophy holds or may hold for this heritage. In a first section it is shown that there is no escape from the cultural heritage. For this purpose, it is resorted to the juxtaposition of «to have or to be» by the social psychologist Erich Fromm. Following this distinction, two basic approaches are sketched that precisely fail to do justice to the cultural heritage and to the way of dealing with it that is necessary for one’s own location in the world. These sketches serve as a background against which the significance of philosophy in and for the cultural heritage is discussed, in order to be able to grasp the appropriate approach to philosophy in museal contexts. As a result, museums are proving to be part of the philosophical heritage, at least in terms of possibility.

Neoliberal Impression Management

This chapter discusses the nexus between digital networks and neoliberal transformations since the 1980s. We describe how on social media, people orient around a variety of metrics in order to build and display their ‘human capital’, projecting their preferred electronic doubles of themselves in order to gain desired recognition from others, and in many cases to network and showcase a ‘professional’ identity directly in the interests of career advancement. We discuss this in light of a theory of ‘neoliberal impression management’, which we introduce in reference to the ideas of Erich Fromm, Erving Goffman, and Michel Foucault. In our theory of neoliberal impression management, a person forges a spectacular self through which their actions and interactions are displayed in ‘public’ view. In doing this, they also amass publicly viewable metrics (likes, shares, followers, etc.) that suggest an ‘objective’ value. This cultural development moves toward self-centeredness, narcissism, and attention-seeking, and away from genuine concern for others and connection with them. This feeds the potential for numbness to – if not outright acceptance of – political cruelty and injustice.

Re-visiting The History of Consumerism: The Emergence of Mass Consumer Culture as a Distinctive Feature of Capitalist Societies

The Frankfurt School was the first school to discern the roles of the media in shaping human thought, influencing politics, and increasing the insatiable demand of consumers in capitalist societies. The analysis brought to the fore by Adorno and Horkheimer regarding the ‘Culture Industry’ illustrated a model of media as tools of hegemony and social control advanced by Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse, Erich Fromm, and Jurgen Habermas. The School also examined the repercussions of mass culture and the rise of the consumer society on the proletariat that was aimed to be the instrument of revolution in the classical Marxian scenario. Another thing that was analyzed is how the culture industries and consumer society were considered as stabilizing forces of contemporary capitalism. Therefore, they were among the first to see the expansion of communication and mass media roles in politics, socialization and social life, culture, and the construction of docile subjects as Foucault puts it. In the present article, I review the contributions to media and social theory advanced by the Frankfurt School. The integration of psychoanalysis, aesthetic theory and the critique of mass culture, and the critique of the Enlightenment are the main components discussed in the present article.

Impact on the Individual Consciousness of in the Context of Ethnocultural Identity

The consciousness of individuals and the masses becomes the object of influence on the part of both political elites and political technologists In this context, the topic of the group, including ethnocultural, self-identifcation of the individual, becomes relevant This question was considered in the works “Psychology of Peoples and Masses” by Gustave Lebon and “Escape from Freedom” by Erich Fromm One of the latest trends in the impact on the consciousness of individuals and the masses is the “consentient war”, that is, the war for consciousness Group consciousness leads to the deindividualisation of individuals However, its value can be ambiguous On the one hand, the individual feels the integrity of his personality On the other hand, as he is in a cultural society, however, he often has to be guided by ethnic values even if they do not correspond to his semantic attitudes This issue was considered in the works “The Psychology of Nations and Masses” by Gustav Le Bon and “Escape from Freedom” by Erich Fromm The United States today seeks to merge cultural patterns through globalisation The fnal step towards achieving this goal is control over the Heartland, the Russian Federation’s centre One of the newest trends in the impact on the consciousness of individuals and the masses is becoming “consciential war”, that is, a war for consciousness Group consciousness leads to the deindividualisation of individuals.

As perspectivas de Viktor Frankl e Erich Fromm sobre o amor e a humanidade

As perspectivas de pensamentos da Logoterapia e Análise Existencial de Frankl e a Psicanálise de Freud, apesar de visões diferentes de ser humano e mundo, há muito em comum, principalmente quando as influências do humanismo e existencialismo afetam os pensamentos de psicanalistas. Esse trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar os pressupostos teóricos sobre o amor e humanidade de Viktor Emil Frankl e Erich Fromm considerados dois humanistas. O artigo busca indicar, apesar das divergências entre as duas abordagens psicológicas, posições em comum principalmente semelhanças de pensamentos, ou seja, concordâncias de ideias em benefício de um bem comum da saúde mental do indivíduo na terapia. Foram utilizadas pesquisas bibliográficas em livros e artigos em bases de dados, por meio dos fundamentos teóricos dos pensamentos de Viktor Emil Frankl e de Erich Fromm. Averiguou-se que, mesmo de escolas divergentes em relação aos conceitos de ser humano e mundo, as duas abordagens apresentam, de acordo com os pensadores, perspectivas que convergem em relação aos construtos de amor e humanidade.