Erich Fromm - Fromm Essays: Hope

Fromm Essays:Hope

Erich Fromm

From The Revolution ofHope: Toward a HumanizedTechnology

2010

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First published by Harper & Row,Publishers, New York in 1968 as volume XXXVIII of the WorldPerspectives planned and edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen.

Copyright 1968, 1970 by Erich Fromm

This publication follows therevised edition of 1970.

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Contents

PublishersForeword

As the present book is reissued, The AmericanMental Health Foundation celebrates its 86th anniversary. Foundedin 1924, AMHF is dedicated to the welfare of people suffering fromemotional problems, with a particular concern for individuals withspecial needs and the elderly. For many years, AMHF generallydevoted its efforts to bettering quality of treatment anddeveloping more effective methods, available even to low-incomewage earners.

The major therapeuticadvances and improved training methods are described in itsexisting publications: the series The Search for the Future. Two ofthese books are available on the AMHF Web site under thetitles The Challenge for GroupPsychotherapy (volume 1) and The Challenge for Psychoanalysis andPsychotherapy: Solutions for the Future (volume 2). Portions of these books are reprinted on its Website in French and German, as they were published internationally(in addition to Italian editions), for a segment of theinternational community. These books were prepared by Dr. Stefan deSchill under the joint sponsorship of AMHF and The InternationalInstitute for Mental Health Research, Zurich and Geneva. Volume 3,written by Dr. de Schill and published by Prometheus Books in 2000,is entitled Crucial ChoicesCrucialChanges: The Resurrection of Psychotherapy.

In 2009, AMHF Bookspublished The Violent Person by Dr. Raymond B. Flannery Jr. This is a book forprofessionals as well as anyone with a concern for, and an interestin, the mechanisms of human violence, stress at the breaking point(PTSD), and the workings of the brain.

Under the supervision and direction of Dr.William Van Ornum, AMHF Books is an exciting new venture. Withinthe mission and under the auspices of The American Mental HealthFoundation, AMHF Books publishes new research as well as works byclassic authors.

Erich Fromm (19001980)famously remains one of the authoritative voices of the 20thcentury, a time that witnessed unprecedented changes and upheavalsin our understanding of the inner, as well as political, landscapeof the human race. AMHF Books is proud to be the publisher of thisworld-renowned figure, one that has shaped our culture well into anew century. On the thirtieth anniversary of Fromms death andhundred and tenth of his birth, AMHF Books celebrates his visionaryhumanism by reissuing two of his books, Revolution of Hope and The Heart of Man, andpublishing two, Beyond Freud and The Pathology ofNormalcy, for the first time.

None of the board members of The AmericanMental Health Foundation receives remuneration. Nevertheless, thecosts of promoting research, preparing translations, anddisseminating its findings and knowledge are high. For this reason,all sales of its books, donations, and legacy bequests constitute ameaningful contribution to the public good. We thank you forhelping us improve the lives of our citizens.

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Preface

This book is written as aresponse to Americas situation in the year 1968. It is born out ofthe conviction that we are at the crossroads: one road leads to acompletely mechanized society with man as a helpless cog in themachineif not to destruction by thermonuclear war; the other to arenaissance of humanism and hopeto a society that puts techniquein the service of mans well-being.

This book is meant to clarify the issues forthose who have not clearly recognized our dilemma, and it is anappeal to action. It is based on the conviction that we can findthe necessary new solutions with the help of reason and passionatelove for life, and not through irrationality and hate. It isaddressed to a broad spectrum of readers with different politicaland religious concepts but sharing this concern for life andrespect for reason and reality.

This book, like all my previous work,attempts to distinguish between individual and social reality andthe ideologies that misuse and co-opt valuable ideas for thepurpose of supporting the status quo. For many of the younggeneration who belittle the value of traditional thought, I shouldlike to stress my conviction that even the most radical developmentmust have its continuity with the past; that we cannot progress bythrowing away the best achievements of the human mind, and that tobe young is not enough!

Since this book deals with topics I havedealt with in various works in the past forty years, I could notavoid mentioning many of the same ideas. They are reorganizedaround the central issue: the alternatives to dehumanization. Butthis book contains also many new ideas that go beyond my previousthinking.

Since I am writing for alarge audience, I have reduced quotations to the bare minimum, butI have quoted all authors who have influenced my thinking inwriting this book. As a rule, I have also not made reference tothose of my books that have a direct relevance to the materialdealt with here. These are especially: Escape from Freedom (1941), Man for Himself (1947), The Sane Society (1955), The Heart ofMan (1964)

The general approach taken in this bookreflects the character of the central problem under consideration.While this is as it should be, it may at times pose some minordifficulty for the reader. The work attempts to bring together twoproblem areas that are often treated separatelyhuman characterstructure, qualities, and potentialities, and contemporary social,political, and economic problems. The emphasis differs from sectionto section, but throughout a major objective is to integrate andinterweave these discussions. This is done in the firm belief thata realistic and successful approach to the problems of contemporaryAmerican society is only possible if the analysis of our wholesocial system includes what is called in this book the systemMan. I hope the reader will respond by overcoming the thoughthabits of compartmentalization and not find it too difficult toaccompany me in the jumps from psychology to sociology andpolitics, and back again.

It remains to express my thanks to those whohave read the whole manuscript repeatedly and made many editorialsuggestions: to Ruth Nanda Anshen, to my wife, and to Raymond G.Brown, who in addition has assisted me with valuable suggestions inthe field of economics. I also want to express my thanks to thepublishers for their special efforts, which made it possible forthe book to be published ten weeks after delivery of themanuscript.

E.F.

II. Hope

1. What Hope IsNot

Hope is a decisive element in any attempt to bring aboutsocial change in the direction of greater aliveness, awareness, andreason. But the nature of hope is often misunderstood and confusedwith attitudes that have nothing to do with hope and in fact arethe very opposite. What is it to hope?