Erich Fromm: biography, family, main ideas and books of the philosopher. Biographies, stories, facts, photographs E Fromm is a representative

Erich Fromm is one of the most famous sociologists and philosophers of the twentieth century. Fromm is also considered one of the founders of two psychological movements - neo-Freudianism and Fredo-Marxism.

Childhood, adolescence and young adulthood

The future psychologist and philosopher was born on March 23, 1900, into a family of Orthodox Jews in the German city of Frankfurt am Main. Erich's father was a merchant, and his mother was an ordinary housewife. Erich went to a regular national school in his hometown.

In addition to the religious teachings of his people, he studied all other general educational subjects. He was good at all subjects - he was one of the best students in the class, which allowed him to easily enter the University of Heidelberg in 1918, which is considered the most prestigious institution of higher education in Germany.

There he studied subjects in his field: sociology, psychology and philosophy. Erich's scientific advisor was the famous German philosopher and sociologist Alfred Weber. Under his leadership, Fromm defended his doctorate.

He then entered the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute, where he completed his psychoanalytic training. While studying in Berlin, Fromm met one of the key figures in the direction of neo-Freudianism - the American Karen Horney.

Teaching activity, flight to the USA and death

After graduating from the institute, Fromm opens his own psychological practice, which he conducts throughout almost his entire life. It was his rich experience of communicating with patients that helped him collect a rich material base for future discoveries.

In 1933, Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany and began exterminating Jews in Germany. In order not to become a victim of the Third Reich regime, Fromm first escapes to Switzerland, and next year he moves to the USA, where he buys a home in New York. Then the psychologist begins teaching at the prestigious Columbia University in America.

Fifteen years later, Fromm moved to Mexico City, where he began teaching at the National Autonomous University of the city of the same name. There Fromm delves into research and publishes the book “A Healthy Society,” in which he severely criticizes the capitalist system. In the 1960s, Erich decides to engage in political activities and joins the Socialist Party.

In the last years of his life, Erich Fromm worked at the University of Michigan and New York University. In 1968, the professor suffered his first heart attack. In 1974, Fromm returned to Switzerland - to the city of Locarno. In 1977 and 1978 he had repeated heart attacks. Erich Fromm dies in 1980 at his home in Locarno.

Scientific views and works

The most famous works of the professor are:

• The art of hearing
• The art of being
• The Greatness and Limitations of Freud's Theory
• To have or to be
• Human nature
• The human soul and its capacity for good and evil
• Escape from freedom
• Revolutionary character
• Psychoanalysis and religion
• Healthy society.

Fromm tried in many ways to refine Freud's theories. He believed that he paid too much attention to the psychological aspects, while he practically lost sight of the social ones. He considered man's indifference to himself to be the deepest problem of our time. A person must first understand his own problems and only then begin to solve world-class problems.

According to Fromm's theory, Freud incorrectly considered the Oedipus complex. He believed that the issue was not the son’s sexual attraction to his mother, but the pressure the parents put on their children.

Erich Seligmann Fromm is a world-famous American psychologist and humanistic philosopher of German origin. His theories, although rooted in focus on the individual as a social being, using the faculties of reason and love to transcend instinctive behavior.

Fromm believed that people should be responsible for their own moral decisions, and not just for complying with the norms imposed by authoritarian systems. In this aspect of his thinking, he was influenced by the ideas of Karl Marx, especially his early "humanistic" thoughts, so his philosophical works belong to the neo-Marxist Frankfurt School - a critical theory of industrial society. Fromm rejected violence, believing that through empathy and compassion, people can rise above the instinctive behavior of the rest of nature. This spiritual aspect of his thinking may have resulted from his Jewish background and Talmudic education, although he did not believe in a traditional Jewish God.

The humanistic psychology of Erich Fromm had the greatest influence on his contemporaries, although he distanced himself from its founder, Carl Rogers. His book, The Art of Loving, remains a popular bestseller as people seek to understand the meaning of “true love,” a concept so profound that even this work only scratches the surface.

Early biography

Erich Fromm was born on March 23, 1900 in Frankfurt am Main, then part of the Prussian Empire. He was the only child in an Orthodox Jewish family. His two great-grandfathers and his paternal grandfather were rabbis. His mother's brother was a respected Talmudist. At the age of 13, Fromm began studying the Talmud, which lasted 14 years, during which he became familiar with socialist, humanist and Hasidic ideas. Although religious, his family, like many Jewish families in Frankfurt, was engaged in trade. According to Fromm, his childhood took place in two different worlds - the traditional Jewish one and the modern commercial one. By age 26, he had rejected religion because he felt it was too controversial. However, he retained his early memories of the Talmud's messages of compassion, redemption, and messianic hope.

Two events in the early biography of Erich Fromm seriously influenced the formation of his views on life. The first happened when he was 12 years old. It was the suicide of a young woman who was a family friend of Erich Fromm. There were many good things in her life, but she could not find happiness. The second event occurred at the age of 14 - the First World War began. According to Fromm, many usually kind people became evil and bloodthirsty. The search for understanding the causes of suicide and militancy underlies many of the philosopher’s thoughts.

Teaching activities in Germany

In 1918 Fromm began his studies at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. The first 2 semesters were devoted to jurisprudence. During the summer semester of 1919, he transferred to the University of Heidelberg to study sociology with Alfred Weber (brother of Max Weber), Karl Jaspers and Heinrich Rickert. Erich Fromm received a diploma in sociology in 1922 and completed his studies in psychoanalysis at the Psychoanalytic Institute in Berlin in 1930. That same year he started his own clinical practice and began working at the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research.

After the Nazis came to power in Germany, Fromm fled to Geneva and, in 1934, to Columbia University in New York. In 1943, he helped open the New York branch of the Washington School of Psychiatry, and in 1945, the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Psychology.

Personal life

Erich Fromm was married three times. His first wife was Frieda Reichmann, a psychoanalyst who gained a good reputation for her effective clinical work with schizophrenics. Although their marriage ended in divorce in 1933, Fromm acknowledged that she taught him a lot. They maintained friendly relations until the end of their lives. At the age of 43, Fromm married a fellow emigrant from Germany of Jewish origin, Henny Gurland. Due to problems with her health, the couple moved to Mexico in 1950, but the wife died in 1952. A year later, Fromm married Annis Freeman.

Life in America

After moving to Mexico City in 1950, Fromm became a professor at the National Academy of Mexico and created the psychoanalytic sector of the medical school. He taught there until his retirement in 1965. Fromm was also a professor of psychology at Michigan State University from 1957 to 1961 and an adjunct professor of psychology in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at New York University.

Fromm changes his preferences again. A strong opponent of the Vietnam War, he supports pacifist movements in the United States.

In 1965, he ended his teaching career, but for several more years he lectured at various universities, institutes and other institutions.

Last years

In 1974 he moved to Muralto, Switzerland, where he died at his home in 1980, just 5 days short of his eightieth birthday. Until the very end of his biography, Erich Fromm led an active life. He had his own clinical practice and published books. Erich Fromm's most popular work, The Art of Loving (1956), became an international bestseller.

Psychological theory

In his first semantic work, Escape from Freedom, first published in 1941, Fromm analyzes the existential state of man. He does not consider sexual reasons as the source of aggressiveness, destructive instinct, neurosis, sadism and masochism, but presents them as attempts to overcome alienation and powerlessness. Fromm's idea of ​​freedom, in contrast to Freud and the critical theorists of the Frankfurt School, had a more positive connotation. In his interpretation, it is not liberation from the repressive nature of technological society, as, for example, he believed, but represents an opportunity to develop human creative powers.

Erich Fromm's books are renowned both for his social and political commentary and for their philosophical and psychological underpinnings. His second semantic work, Man for Himself: A Study in the Psychology of Ethics, first published in 1947, was a sequel to Flight from Freedom. In it, he focused on the problem of neurosis, characterizing it as a moral problem in a repressive society, the inability to achieve maturity and personal integrity. According to Fromm, a person's capacity for freedom and love depends on socio-economic conditions, but is rarely found in societies where the desire for destruction prevails. Taken together, these works set forth a theory of human character that was a natural extension of his theory of human nature.

Erich Fromm's most popular book, The Art of Loving, was first published in 1956 and became an international bestseller. It repeats and complements the theoretical principles of human nature published in the works “Escape from Freedom” and “Man for Himself,” which were also repeated in many other major works of the author.

A central part of Fromm's worldview was his concept of the self as a social character. In his view, basic human character stems from the existential frustration of being part of nature and feeling the need to rise above it through the ability to reason and love. The freedom to be a unique individual is scary, which is why people tend to surrender to authoritarian systems. For example, in Psychoanalysis and Religion, Erich Fromm writes that for some, religion is the answer, not an act of faith, but a way to avoid intolerable doubts. They take this decision not out of devotional service, but out of search for security. Fromm extols the virtues of people taking independent action and using reason to establish their own moral values ​​rather than following authoritarian norms.

Humans have evolved into beings aware of themselves, their own mortality and powerlessness before the forces of nature and society, and are no longer one with the Universe, as they were in their instinctive, pre-human, animal existence. According to Fromm, the awareness of a separate human existence represents a source of guilt and shame, and the solution to this existential dichotomy is found in the development of the uniquely human abilities to love and reflect.

One of the popular ones is his statement that a person’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become who he really is. His personality is the most important product of his efforts.

Love concept

Fromm separated his concept of love from popular concepts to such an extent that his reference to it became almost paradoxical. He considered love to be an interpersonal, creative capacity rather than an emotion, and he distinguished this creativity from what he saw as the various forms of narcissistic neuroses and sadomasochistic tendencies that are usually cited as evidence of "true love." Indeed, Fromm views the experience of "falling in love" as evidence of an inability to comprehend the true nature of love, which he believed always has elements of care, responsibility, respect and knowledge. He also argued that few people in modern society respect the autonomy of other people, much less objectively know their real needs and needs.

Links to the Talmud

Fromm often illustrated his main ideas with examples from the Talmud, but his interpretation is far from traditional. He used the story of Adam and Eve as an allegorical explanation of human biological evolution and existential angst, arguing that when Adam and Eve ate from the “tree of knowledge,” they realized that they were separate from nature while still being part of it. Adding a Marxist perspective to the story, he interpreted Adam and Eve's disobedience as justifiable rebellion against an authoritarian God. Man's destiny, according to Fromm, cannot depend on any participation of the Almighty or any other supernatural source, but only through his own efforts can he take responsibility for his life. In another example, he mentions the story of Jonah, who was unwilling to save the people of Nineveh from the consequences of their sin, as evidence of the belief that most human relationships lack care and responsibility.

Humanistic credo

In an addendum to his book The Human Soul: Its Capacity for Good and Evil, Fromm wrote part of his famous humanistic credo. In his opinion, a person who chooses progress can find a new unity through the development of all his human powers, which is carried out in three directions. They can be presented separately or together as love of life, humanity and nature, as well as independence and freedom.

Political ideas

The culmination of Erich Fromm's social and political philosophy was his book The Healthy Society, published in 1955. In it he argued in favor of humanistic democratic socialism. Drawing primarily on the early work of Karl Marx, Fromm sought to reemphasize the ideal of personal freedom absent from Soviet Marxism and more commonly found in the writings of libertarian socialists and liberal theorists. His socialism rejected both Western capitalism and Soviet communism, which he saw as a dehumanizing, bureaucratic social structure that led to the almost universal modern phenomenon of alienation. He became one of the founders of socialist humanism, promoting the early writings of Marx and his humanist messages to the US and Western European publics. In the early 1960s, Fromm published two books on Marx's ideas (Marx's Concept of Man and Beyond Enslaving Illusions: My Encounter with Marx and Freud). Working to stimulate Western and Eastern cooperation between Marxist humanists, in 1965 he published a collection of articles entitled Socialist Humanism: An International Symposium.

The following quote from Erich Fromm is popular: “Just as mass production requires the standardization of goods, the social process requires the standardization of man, and this standardization is called equality.”

Participation in politics

Erich Fromm's biography is marked by his periodic active participation in US politics. He joined the US Socialist Party in the mid-1950s and did everything he could to help it represent a viewpoint different from the prevailing "McCarthyism" of the time, which was best expressed in his 1961 article "Can Man Prevail?" A Study of Fact and Fiction in Foreign Policy.” However, Fromm, as a co-founder of SANE, saw his greatest political interest in the international peace movement, the fight against the nuclear arms race and US involvement in the Vietnam War. After Eugene McCarthy's candidacy failed to receive Democratic Party support in the 1968 presidential nomination, Fromm left the American political scene, although in 1974 he wrote an article for hearings held by the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations entitled " Remarks on the policy of détente."

Heritage

Fromm did not leave a noticeable mark in the field of psychoanalysis. His desire to substantiate Freud's theory with empirical data and methods was better succeeded by other psychoanalysts such as Erik Erikson and Fromm is sometimes cited as the founder of neo-Freudianism, but he had little influence on its followers. His ideas in psychotherapy were successful in the field, but he criticized Carl Rogers and others to such an extent that he isolated himself from them. Fromm's theories are not usually discussed in personality psychology textbooks.

His influence on humanistic psychology was significant. His work has inspired many social analysts. An example is Christopher Lasch's The Culture of Narcissism, which continues efforts to psychoanalyze culture and society in the neo-Freudian and Marxist traditions.

His sociopolitical influence ended with his involvement in American politics in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Nevertheless, Erich Fromm's books are constantly being rediscovered by scholars who are individually influenced by them. In 1985, 15 of them founded the International Society named after him. The number of its members exceeded 650 people. The Society is dedicated to encouraging scientific work and research based on the work of Erich Fromm.

"The unfortunate fate of many people -
a consequence of the choice they didn’t make.”

Erich Fromm, "Credo"

German psychologist. One of the founders of neo-Freudianism and Freudo-Marxism.

In 1933 Erich Fromm moved to the USA.

Erich Fromm disagreed with the psychoanalytic concept of personality Sigmund Freud and developed my own concept. In 1941, he published a book: Escape from Freedom, where he argued that modern Western man is a product of culture, driven by both the desire for identity (uniqueness, originality) and the desire to belong to society.

According to Erich Fromm, modern neuroses are unsuccessful attempts to resolve the conflict between the above-mentioned opposing aspirations... The result of non-resolution of the conflict: loneliness and doubts about the meaning of one’s life.

“Fleeing from freedom and focusing on possession is a departure from human nature, a “sin against the Holy Spirit.” Good in humanistic ethics is the affirmation of life, the revelation of human powers. Virtue is responsibility towards one's own existence. Evil is an obstacle to the development of human abilities; vice - irresponsibility towards oneself. This is the credo of Fromm’s humanistic philosophy.”

Nadezhdina V., 100 great ideas and books that will help you change your life for the better, Minsk, Harvest, 2007, p. 230.

In 1973 in the book: The anatomy of human destructiveness / The anatomy of human destructiveness, 1973) Erich Fromm concludes that: “... there is no need for man to outgrow pre-human history. He is by no means a destroyer by his very nature. Its inherent destructiveness is an acquired property. It was history that seduced man, giving rise to pogrom and disastrous passions in him. Freedom is one of the indisputable universal values.

A person desires a role and freedom. But is that the only way? Nietzsche And Kierkegaard drew attention to the fact that most people are not capable of personal action. They are petty, faceless and prefer to be guided by the spiritual standards that have developed in society.

Erich Fromm analyzes a special phenomenon - escape from freedom . The very reluctance to accept freedom has numerous consequences. It turns out that it is not freedom that gives rise to destructiveness, as previously assumed, but precisely abstinence from one’s own will, unwillingness to enjoy the fruits of human subjectivity, which paradoxically leads to destructiveness. A slave, a conformist, is socially beneficial only in appearance. In fact, stifled internal freedom gives rise, as Fromm emphasizes, to syndromes of violence.

So, Fromm considers the birth of destructiveness not in original sin, not in human self-will, but in man’s premeditated rejection of himself, of his own uniqueness. What seems dangerous to the researcher is not freedom itself, as a tempting gift, but abstinence from it, the phenomenon of human irresponsibility and aimlessness.”

Eliasberg N.I., Erich Fromm: humanistic ethics, in Sat.: XX century: People and destinies / Comp. N.I. Eliasberg, St. Petersburg, “Ivan Fedorov”, 2001, p. 306.

Exactly Erich Fromm introduced the term into scientific circulation "pseudothink" : "...in fact, people Seems that they are the ones who make decisions, that they are the ones who want something, when in reality they are succumbing to the pressure of external forces, internal or external conventions and “want” exactly what they have to do.”

Erich Fromm, Flight from Freedom, Minsk, “Potpourri”, 1999, p. 237.

Erich Fromm, “Introducing the concept of necrophilia as the opposite biophilia(falling in love with life), he does not spare colors to describe this wonderful phenomenon: “The biophile, as a personality type, prefers constructive activities to protective ones. He strives to be someone rather than have something. He has imagination and likes to seek out new things rather than reaffirm the old. He values ​​surprise in life more than reliability. He sees the whole before the parts, preferring structures to aggregates. He seeks to influence by love, reason, and example, but not by force, division, administration, or manipulation of people as things. Because he finds joy in life, in all its manifestations, he is not one of the passionate consumers of artificial “entertainment” in fashionable packages. The ethics of biophilia is based on the ideas it develops about good and evil. Good is everything that serves life, evil is everything that serves death.” Among the bright biophiles Fromm calls

Erich Seligmann Fromm - German psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, philosopher, one of the largest representatives of neo-Freudianism - was born in Frankfurt am Main on March 23, 1900. His parents were Orthodox Jews, and Erich received an excellent education for his environment. In his hometown, he studied at a gymnasium, where teaching general education subjects was combined with teaching Jewish religious traditions and the theoretical foundations of religion. After graduating from high school, Fromm became one of those who organized the “Society for Jewish Public Education.”

From 1919 to 1922 he was a student at the University of Heidelberg, where the main objects of study were psychology, sociology and philosophy. Upon graduation, Erich Fromm received a Ph.D. Fascinated by the ideas of Sigmund Freud, he broke with previous values ​​and priorities and showed great interest in the study of psychoanalysis, which he began to combine with practical medicine. Having completed the mandatory psychoanalytic training, in 1925 he organized a private practice. It has become an inexhaustible source for observing people, studying the social and biological components in the human psyche.

Since 1930, E. Fromm taught psychoanalysis at the University of Frankfurt, during 1930-1933. served as consultant in psychoanalysis and director of the department of social-psychological research at the Horkheimer Institute for Social Research. Fromm later improved his knowledge of psychoanalysis at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute, and the contacts made here helped him later get to Chicago. Already in 1932, in the fall, he was invited to give a course of lectures at the university of this American city. When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Fromm emigrated to Switzerland (Geneva), and the following year to New York.

In 1940, Fromm received American citizenship and worked as a teacher at Bennington College and was a member of the New York American Institute of Psychoanalysis. In 1943, he assisted in the opening of the New York branch of the Washington School of Psychiatry, which was then reorganized into the W. White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Psychology. During 1946-1950. Fromm headed this institute. In 1948-1949 was professor emeritus at Yale University; in addition, he was a professor at universities in Michigan and New York.

The period of biography from 1951 to 1974 was associated with living in Mexico, working as a professor of psychology at the National Autonomous University (until 1965). In 1960, the psychologist became a member of the US Socialist Party and even wrote a program for it, which was never adopted as a basis. Fromm combined scientific research and teaching with participation in political life. In 1962, he was one of the observers present at the disarmament conference held in Moscow.

After suffering a heart attack in 1969, Fromm, who also suffered from tuberculosis, began spending the summer in Switzerland. In 1974, he finally moved to this country, his place of residence was Muralto or Locarno. In 1977 and 1978, he suffered a second and third heart attack, respectively, and in 1980, on March 18, he died.

Fromm E., 1900-1980). Philosopher and sociologist, author of the concept of humanistic psychoanalysis.

F. received a philosophical education at the Universities of Heidelberg and Munich in Germany, specializing in social psychology. He graduated from the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute and since 1925 worked as a practicing psychoanalyst. In 1925-1932 - employee of the Institute of Social Research named after. W. Goethe in Frankfurt am Main. He was strongly influenced by the Frankfurt school with its left-radical social and philosophical orientation. F. sought to synthesize Marxist ideas with psychoanalysis and existentialism, showed interest in religious issues, and in 1930 he published the article “Christian Dogma,” in which he tried to combine Marxist sociology with psychoanalysis. In 1933, after the Nazis came to power, he emigrated to the United States and taught at Columbia, New York and Michigan universities. Since 1951 he lived in Mexico; died in Muralto (Switzerland).

F. viewed man as a social being, analyzed the influence on the human psyche of sociocultural factors dominant in society, and acted as a critic of capitalist society. In 1941, F.’s book “Escape from Freedom” was published, in which he outlined the main provisions of his social philosophy, analyzing the existence of man within the framework of Western civilization. These ideas were further developed in the works “Man for Himself” (1947), “Healthy Society” (1955), “Modern Man and His Future: A Social-Psychological Study” (1960), “The Art of Love” (1962), “ Marx's picture of man: from the most important part of the early letters of Karl Marx" (1963), "The Heart of Man" (1964), "Revolution of Hope" (1968), etc. In recent works - "The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness" (1973) and "To Have or be?" (1976) - F.’s social philosophy and concept of humanistic psychoanalysis acquired their final form. He proposed a theory of reformation of society and the achievement of socialism based on psychoanalysis. F. assessed human actions and mass socio-political movements as “mechanisms of escape from reality, which are the driving forces of normal human behavior.” Unconscious "escape mechanisms" located in the deeper layers of the personality include masochistic and sadistic aspirations, withdrawal from the world, destruction and automatic submission.

F., did not distinguish between a patient with neurosis and a healthy person: “The phenomena that we observe in patients with neuroses do not, in principle, differ from those in healthy people.”

Since the 50s In F.'s work, a second theme arose - humanistic religion. Its main provisions are set out in the work “Psychoanalysis and Religion” (1950), and were further developed in the books “Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis” (1960) and “You Will Be Like Gods: A Radical Interpretation of the Old Testament and Its Traditions” (1966).

FROM Erich

1900–1980) - German-American psychoanalyst, psychologist and philosopher, who critically rethought the psychoanalytic teaching of S. Freud about man and culture, criticized the conformist tendency in the psychoanalytic movement of the second half of the twentieth century and advocated for the creative revival of psychoanalysis - for the development of what he called humanistic psychoanalysis.

Erich Fromm was born on March 23, 1900 in Frankfurt am Main (Germany). He was the only child in an Orthodox Jewish family. His great-grandfather was an expert on the sacred books and a Talmud researcher, his father was the son of a rabbi, and his mother was the niece of the famous Talmudist L. Krause, under whose influence he wanted to become a Talmudist. His mother dreamed of him becoming a famous pianist, and before the outbreak of the First World War the boy studied music.

At the age of twelve, the boy was shocked by the suicide of a young artist who took her own life shortly after the death of her father and in her will asked that her last will be carried out so that she would be buried next to her father. Young E. Fromm could not understand how this could happen when the love of a young beautiful woman for her father turned out to be so strong that she preferred death and being in a coffin next to him to the joys of life and painting. Only later, having become acquainted with S. Freud’s ideas about the Oedipus complex, did he come to understand the reasons for the suicide of a young artist that shocked him in childhood.

Subsequent events associated with the First World War also made young E. Fromm think about how and why people succumb to hatred and national self-deification, what are the causes of wars and how is it possible that people begin to kill each other. Later, recalling his youthful experiences, he wrote: “I was tormented by questions about the phenomena of individual and social life, and I longed to get answers to them.”

During his school years, E. Fromm studied Latin, English and French, and was interested in the texts of the Old Testament. After graduating in 1918, he studied law in Frankfurt and philosophy, sociology and psychology in Heidelberg. In 1922, he graduated from the University of Heidelberg, received a doctorate in sociology, and, under the guidance of the German sociologist A. Weber, prepared a dissertation “On the Jewish Law. Toward the sociology of the Jewish Diaspora." In 1926, E. Fromm completed his postgraduate studies at the University of Munich.

In 1924, he met F. Reichmann, who had undergone psychoanalytic training with G. Sachs, practiced psychoanalysis, became his first analyst, and two years later, his wife. Subsequently, he was analyzed by three psychoanalysts, including W. Wittenberg and G. Sachs. Like F. Reichmann, he moved away from Jewish orthodoxy, and later broke with Zionism, which cultivated nationalism. The marriage with F. Reichmann, who was ten years older than E. Fromm, turned out to be short-lived. After more than three years of marriage, they separated, but maintained friendly relations both until the official divorce in 1940, and over the following years, when F. Fromm-Reichmann gained worldwide fame as a psychoanalyst who achieved significant results when working with patients suffering from mental disorders , including schizophrenia.

In 1927–1928, E. Fromm established contacts with the Berlin Institute of Psychoanalysis, where he made such reports as “Treatment of a case of pulmonary tuberculosis using psychoanalysis” (1927) and “Psychoanalysis of the petty bourgeois” (1928). The last report caused a lively discussion, in which famous psychoanalysts of the time participated, including F. Alexander, Z. Bernfeld, S. Rado, G. Sachs, M. Eitingon. In 1929–1930, E. Fromm completed a course of study at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute and opened his office for private psychoanalytic practice. In early 1929, at the opening ceremony of the Frankfurt Psychoanalytic Institute, he gave a lecture on the application of psychoanalysis in sociology and the science of religion. In 1930, E. Fromm was elected as a freelance member of the German Psychoanalytic Society.

In the late 20s and early 30s, he met psychoanalysts such as K. Horney and W. Reich, and also participated in discussions of their reports in the psychoanalytic community. Under the influence of T. Raik, in 1930 he published a discussion article “The Development of the Dogma of Christ. Psychoanalytic study of the socio-psychological function of religion” and a report “On the question of belief in the omnipotence of thoughts” was made. In 1931, he fell ill with pulmonary tuberculosis and was treated in Davos by G. Groddeck, who at different times treated such psychoanalysts as G. Sachs, W. Reich, K. Horney, S. Ferenczi and who told E. Fromm about that his illness was the result of a reluctance to admit to an unsuccessful marriage with F. Fromm-Reichmann.

In 1929, E. Fromm worked at the Frankfurt Psychoanalytic Institute, which received shelter at the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt am Main, headed by M. Horkheimer, who took a course of psychoanalysis with K. Landauer. From 1930 to 1933, he worked at the Institute for Social Research, where he headed the department of social psychology and conducted empirical research, based on which it was concluded that workers and employees in Germany would not resist the rise of Nazism to power. It was during this period that he became acquainted with the ideas of K. Marx and J. Bakhoven, who published works on the theory of maternal law. In 1932, his article “Psychoanalytic characterology and its significance for social psychology” was published, which contained ideas about social character.

In 1933, at the invitation of F. Alexander, E. Fromm came to the USA to lecture at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute, where K. Horney had settled by that time. A year later he moved to New York, where he worked for several years at the Institute for Social Research, which operated in Geneva until 1934, and then joined Columbia University. Within the framework of the institute, he prepared a socio-psychological section, which included ideas about the authoritarian character. This section was included in the collection “Studies on Authority and the Family” published by M. Horkheimer (1936), which predetermined the subsequent study of this issue, which was reflected, in particular, in the widely known work of T. Adorno “Authoritarian Character” (1950).

In the 30s, E. Fromm taught at New York, Columbia and Yale universities, and also collaborated with G.S. Sullivan, K. Horney, F. Fromm-Reichmann and K. Thompson, who, having undergone analysis from S. Ferenczi, subsequently continued it from E. Fromm. Founded in 1938 by G.S. Sullivan journal "Psychiatry" for the first time published his articles in English. Due to ideological differences with colleagues (in particular, T. Adorno and M. Horkheimer), who did not share his critical attitude towards some of Freud's concepts, in 1938 he refused to cooperate with the Institute for Social Research.

In 1941–1943, E. Fromm taught at the American Institute of Psychoanalysis, created by a number of psychoanalysts who left the New York Psychoanalytic Society due to the disqualification of K. Horney as a training analyst (in fact, for her criticism of classical psychoanalysis). In 1943, the commission of this institute did not satisfy the students’ demand to grant E. Fromm, who did not have a medical education, the right to conduct a clinical and technical seminar and, in response to his disagreement with such a decision, deprived him of his teaching privileges. The conflict was predetermined not only by the position of American colleagues who shared the official point of view, according to which psychoanalysts should have a medical education, but also by the deterioration of relations with K. Horney, one of whose daughters was analyzed by E. Fromm, as a result of which her protest against mother.

Some psychoanalysts, including G.S. Sullivan and K. Thompson, left with E. Fromm from the American Institute of Psychoanalysis and, teaming up with colleagues from the Washington-Baltimore Psychoanalytic Society, created a branch of the Washington School of Psychiatry, founded by G.S. Sullivan in 1936. Over the years, starting in 1946, when a branch of the Washington School of Psychiatry was renamed the New York Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis. W. White, E. Fromm took an active part in the work of this Institute and the training of specialists in the field of psychoanalysis. Before moving to Mexico City, he supervised the academic department and teaching staff, and after his departure from the United States, he periodically came to New York to give lectures and conduct seminars at the institute.

From 1949 to 1967, E. Fromm lived and worked in Mexico, where he had to move on the advice of doctors who recommended that his second sick wife, whom he married in 1940, change the climate and try treatment with radioactive sources in San Jose Purna. In 1951 he became a visiting professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the National University of Mexico City. As a training and supervising analyst, he trained a group of Mexican psychoanalysts. In 1953, after the death of his second wife, E. Fromm married again and moved to the suburbs of Mexico City.

In 1956, on his initiative, the Mexican Psychoanalytic Society was founded. In order to disseminate psychoanalytic knowledge in the Spanish-speaking region, E. Fromm organized the publication of the “Psychological Library” series, founded the “Journal of Psychoanalysis, Psychiatry and Psychology,” and also organized a series of lectures in which prominent scientists took part. In 1957, on his initiative, a seminar on psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism was held, in which, along with the then famous representative of Zen Buddhism D. Suzuki, about forty psychoanalysts and psychiatrists took part. For several years, E. Fromm trained psychoanalysts at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Mexico City, and since 1963 at the Mexican Institute of Psychoanalysis. In 1957, together with M. Maccoby and other collaborators, he began to explore the character of a Mexican village. The results of this field research are reflected in the publication “Psychoanalytic characterology in theory and practice. Social Character of the Mexican Village" (1970).

Not being a member of the International Psychoanalytic Association, E. Fromm initiated the creation of the International Forum of Psychoanalysis, which allowed like-minded people to exchange opinions on current issues in the theory and practice of psychoanalysis. This forum was held in Amsterdam (1962), Zurich (1965), Mexico City (1969), New York (1972), Zurich (1974), Berlin (1977).

In the 1960s, E. Fromm took an active part in political events in the United States and the world as a whole. He became a member of the Socialist Party of the USA, prepared a new program, but after it was not accepted by the leadership of this party, he left it. E. Fromm became involved in the political movement in defense of peace, and in 1962 he took part as an observer in the disarmament conference held in Moscow. He was a member of the national committee of the American Civil Liberties Union, supported the campaign for nuclear disarmament, collaborated with the Washington Peace Research Institute, and took an active part in the 1968 election campaign for the nomination of Democratic Senator Yu. McCarthy as a candidate for US President. .

From 1960 to 1973, E. Fromm spent his summer time in Locarno (Switzerland). In 1974, he decided not to return to Mexico, and in 1976 he finally moved to Switzerland. Having suffered three heart attacks, in old age E. Fromm continued to engage in daily meditation exercises, following the teachings of one of the Buddhist monks from Sri Lanka. He died on March 18, 1980 in Muralto, of which he became an honorary citizen shortly before his death. In Frankfurt, where he was born, a posthumous honor took place, accompanied by the awarding of the Goethe Memorial Medal.

E. Fromm is the author of numerous articles and books. His first fundamental work was “Escape from Freedom” (1941), which brought him fame, was repeatedly republished in various countries around the world and contained basic ideas, the creative development of which was reflected in his subsequent publications. Some of his most significant works include “Man for Himself” (1947), “Psychoanalysis and Religion” (1950), “The Forgotten Language” (1951), “A Healthy Society” (1955), “The Art of Loving” (1956). ), “Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis” (1960, co-authored with D. Suzuki), “Marx’s Concept of Man” (1961), “Beyond the Chains of Illusion” (1962), “The Soul of Man” (1964), “You Will like gods. A Radical Interpretation of the Old Testament and Its Traditions" (1966), "Revolution of Hope" (1968), "The Mission of Sigmund Freud" (1969), "The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness" (1973), "To Have or to Be" (1976), "The Psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud - greatness and boundaries" (1979) and others.