The Essential Fromm: Life Between Having and Being

Written by Erich Fromm

Narrated by Jim Seybert

Essays on human alienation, mode of existence, consumerism, narcissism, and more from "both a psychologist of penetration and a writer of ability" (Chicago Tribune).

As Erich Fromm points out, ours is "a life between having and being"-between mere having and healthy being, between destructiveness and creativity, between narcissism and productive self-understanding, between passivity and the joy of positive activity.

The alternatives of having and being are basic orientations of our character and determine our behavior. The mostly unpublished and unknown texts featured in The Essential Fromm encapsulate the psychologist's views on the fulfilling life. To put down roots yet remain free is what the late Erich Fromm called the art of being. It is the secret of happiness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Feb 27, 2024
• ISBN: 9798855530926

Erich Fromm

Erich Fromm (1900–1980) was a bestselling psychoanalyst and social philosopher whose views about alienation, love, and sanity in society—discussed in his books such as Escape from Freedom, The Art of Loving, The Sane Society, and To Have or To Be?—helped shape the landscape of psychology in the mid-twentieth century. Fromm was born in Frankfurt, Germany, to Jewish parents, and studied at the universities of Frankfurt, Heidelberg (where in 1922 he earned his doctorate in sociology), and Munich. In the 1930s he was one of the most influential figures at the Frankfurt Institute of Social Research. In 1934, as the Nazis rose to power, he moved to the United States. He practiced psychoanalysis in both New York and Mexico City before moving to Switzerland in 1974, where he continued his work until his death.