1st Edition
Critique and Affirmation in Erich Fromm Humanistic Politics and the Psychoanalytic Clinic
Critique and Affirmation in Erich Fromm explores the relations between Erich Fromm’s theory and practice in politics and the psychoanalytic clinic – their points of continuity and contradiction.
Drawing on a systematic reading of Fromm's published output, as well as extensive research in the Fromm archives, Matheus Romanetto extracts the fragments of ontology, logic, and ethics implicit in his writings, leading to a re-evaluation of Fromm's place in 20th century intellectual history. Interpolated with the theoretical argument are three historical excursi thematizing Fromm’s practice in political life, religious life, and the psychoanalytic clinic, setting the grounds for a new political sociology of radical humanism and critical theory.
Critique and Affirmation in Erich Fromm will be of great interest to psychoanalysts and to scholars of psychoanalytic studies, sociology, contemporary philosophy, political theory, and critical theory.
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Problems, Methods, Solutions
Part I: Metapsychology And Society
Chapter I: Phenomenology And Dynamics of Erich Fromm’s Works
1. Style and Idea
2. Two Methods Meet
3. Time, Force, and Experience
4. Process, System, and Language
5. Quality and Quantity
6. Logic
Part II: Life And Politics
Chapter II: Anthropology and Sociology
1. The Concept of Life
A) Organic And Psychic Life
B) Organic And Psychic Death
2. The Human Being
A) Evolution
B) Conditions Of Existence
I. Sexual Instinct and Eroticism
II. Aggressive Instinct
C) Human Nature
I. Essential Qualities
II. Laws
III. Essence
3. Society
A) Phylogenesis And Evolution
B) Cooperation And Relatedness
C) Mode Of Production and Alienation
D) Potency and Existence
Chapter Iii: To Go to The Roots: Fromm and Marcuse After The Dissent Debate
1. Theory
2. Ethics
3. Politics
Part III: Ontology And the Clinic
Chapter Iv: Aspects Of Ontology (1937-1964)
1. Phenomenology and Economy
2. Mutual Presupposition, Reflection, And Structuration
3. Affinity and Generativity
4. Convergence and Blends
5. Activity and Contemplation
Chapter V: To Touch Reality: Language and Experience in Erich Fromm’s Clinics
1. History and Suffering
2. Technique and Vitality
3. Truth and Reality
Chapter IV: Critique And Praxis
Chapter VI: Aspects Of Logic and Ethics (1964-1980)
1. Reflexivity
2. Self-Awareness and Conscience
3. Differentiation and Freedom
4. Affirmation and Negation
Chapter VII: To Fill the Hearts of Men with A New Spirit: Politics in Erich Fromm’s Thought and Action
1. Humanism as Political Formation
2. The Social Psychology of Humanistic Movements
3. Humanism and The Way of The World
4. Strategy, Tactics, Principles
5. The Powers That Be and The World to Come
Conclusion: Toward A Political Sociology
1. Psychological Presuppositions to Political Life
2. Goals
3. Mobilization
4. Means
5. Organization
6. Structure
Biography
Matheus Romanetto is a Brazilian sociologist. His work brings together aspects of social theory, psychoanalysis, and philosophy in the investigation of intellectual, political, and religious movements, exploring their social psychology and structure.
"The book is a unique attempt to use all available sources from the unpublished estate of Erich Fromm, to which the author had access as an Erich Fromm research fellow in Tübingen (Germany)." – Dr. Rainer Funk, Literary Executor of Erich Fromm and director of the Erich Fromm Institute Tübingen.
"This conceptually rigorous, clearly written book is a source of inspiration and vitality for clinical work and academic writing. I enthusiastically recommend it to anyone searching for new perspectives on shared values and political action." – Catherine Silver, Senior Psychoanalyst at the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, and Emerita Professor of Sociology at the City University of New York.
