- Hardcover: 182 pages
- ISBN-10: 0671085352
- ISBN-13: 978-0671085353
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 13.5 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,638,163 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
First published in 1962, at the same time as Marx's Concept of Man, Beyond the Chains of Illusion is Erich Fromm's personal reflection on the overarching influence of Freud and Marx on his own life work. Deeply troubled by questions of individual and social responsibilities, Fromm began his studies of these two giants - who, ironically, are ever more related to 'the past' even as they are ever more intensely scrutinized today - at an early age. Fromm first establishes a common ground between Marx and Freud. He then proceeds to a unique and brilliant analysis of Freudian and Marxist theory. Throughout, Fromm shows how a sound understanding of both the father of modern psychotherapy and the father of 20th-century communism can lead to a single body of knowledge. His book has the quality of good literature, it is news that stays news and thereby sheds light on Erich Fromm's thinking during a seminal period of his life.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Erich Fromm (1900-1980) was born in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany. His books Fear and Freedom (1941) and The Art of Loving (1956) made him known throughout the world as a psychoanalyst and social psychologist.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Eric Fromm, the once popular psycho-analyst and Freudian Marxist author of classics like The Free of Freedom, The Sane Society and The Art of Loving is only just really entering into print once more.
While Fromm has written books specifically about Freud (Freud: The Greatness and Limitations of his thought) and Marx (Marx's Theory of Man), here in a single text, which I do not hesitate to call his crowning achievement Fromm introduces what he considers to be the essential thinking of each and describes their influence. It is in some ways semi-autobiographical but its aim is also to present these vital ideas to the public, professional and academic audience who formed Fromm's readership.
While it is in some ways more difficult or technical reading than the popular classic The Art of Loving, it isnt more difficult than The Fear of Freedom, Man For Himself or The Sane Society as it deals with psycho-analytical characterology and Fromm's ideas about Marx's theories of human nature and its frustration. As with all his books Fromm's prose is great and despite being dense there's a really tangible energy or passion throughout, its easy to see that Fromm is compelled to write and write from the heart. This book is a literary-theoretical book and not wholly technical like The Art of Listening, which I suspect was intended as a training manual for therapists.
There is a foreword by Rainer Funk, Fromm's literary executor, the first chapter begins with personal antecedents; proceeds to the second chapter common ground; then the concept of man and his nature; human evolution; human motivation; the sick individual and the sick society; the concept of mental health; individual and social character, the social unconscious; the fate of other theories; some related ideas and finally Fromm finishes with his credo.
Fromm's own credo is heartening and pretty demanding, leaving you wondering if he aspired to it or truely achieved it, and the book radiates, like a lot of Fromm's work, an optimistic and hopeful humanism throughout. Curiously Fromm presents disillusionment as a positive and necessary experience, conducive to growth and change for the better.
Other points of interest include explanations of trends in consumerism being closely linked to personality traits and social pressures to exhibit those traits and the idea that on a societal and economic level there is, in the developed world at least, a sort of "maturational crisis" developing. Where psycho-analysts have posited that individual failure to overcome maturational crisis results in neurosis, Fromm presents Marx's theories about business cycles and economic crisis as a corrollary in the economic sphere of life.
The only minor complaint about this book is the omission of an index for ease of reference but it is a minor complaint as the book is highly readable and you will be happy to read entire chapters in one sitting, going back and reading them again.
While Fromm has written books specifically about Freud (Freud: The Greatness and Limitations of his thought) and Marx (Marx's Theory of Man), here in a single text, which I do not hesitate to call his crowning achievement Fromm introduces what he considers to be the essential thinking of each and describes their influence. It is in some ways semi-autobiographical but its aim is also to present these vital ideas to the public, professional and academic audience who formed Fromm's readership.
While it is in some ways more difficult or technical reading than the popular classic The Art of Loving, it isnt more difficult than The Fear of Freedom, Man For Himself or The Sane Society as it deals with psycho-analytical characterology and Fromm's ideas about Marx's theories of human nature and its frustration. As with all his books Fromm's prose is great and despite being dense there's a really tangible energy or passion throughout, its easy to see that Fromm is compelled to write and write from the heart. This book is a literary-theoretical book and not wholly technical like The Art of Listening, which I suspect was intended as a training manual for therapists.
There is a foreword by Rainer Funk, Fromm's literary executor, the first chapter begins with personal antecedents; proceeds to the second chapter common ground; then the concept of man and his nature; human evolution; human motivation; the sick individual and the sick society; the concept of mental health; individual and social character, the social unconscious; the fate of other theories; some related ideas and finally Fromm finishes with his credo.
Fromm's own credo is heartening and pretty demanding, leaving you wondering if he aspired to it or truely achieved it, and the book radiates, like a lot of Fromm's work, an optimistic and hopeful humanism throughout. Curiously Fromm presents disillusionment as a positive and necessary experience, conducive to growth and change for the better.
Other points of interest include explanations of trends in consumerism being closely linked to personality traits and social pressures to exhibit those traits and the idea that on a societal and economic level there is, in the developed world at least, a sort of "maturational crisis" developing. Where psycho-analysts have posited that individual failure to overcome maturational crisis results in neurosis, Fromm presents Marx's theories about business cycles and economic crisis as a corrollary in the economic sphere of life.
The only minor complaint about this book is the omission of an index for ease of reference but it is a minor complaint as the book is highly readable and you will be happy to read entire chapters in one sitting, going back and reading them again.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Sorry if the summary sounds really gimmicky and silly, but that's really what I think. I'm a postgrad psychology student and I just love this book (in fact I'm rather a Fromm's fan, but that does not mean my judgement is somehow biased...). You 'think' you can 'think'? Well, do 'think' again. Read this book and it will certainly broaden your view about everything. Particularly those who need to be analytic and judgemental...
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
Fromm's testament
3 Jun 2012
Format:Paperback
Erich Fromm's Beyond the Chains of Illusion is a book half-way between being a discussion of Marx and Freud and being Fromm's autobiography. As such, it is probably primarily of interest to those interested in Fromm, although its discussion of Marx and Freud is insightful enough to make it worthwhile reading for those interested in them (but don't expect a scholarly work, if you buy it - there was no bibliography or index in the edition I read.) One of the things I most enjoyed about it was Fromm's rejection of the cliche that compares Marx's importance to that of Freud: Fromm declares "That Marx is a figure of world historical significance with whom Freud cannot even be compared in this respect hardly needs to be said", and insists that Marx is a superior thinker to Freud as well. I do not agree with Fromm's Marxism and nor I do necessarily agree with his evaluation of the relative merits of Marx and Freud as thinkers. Fromm happens to be perfectly right that Marx and Freud are in no way comparable as historical figures, however, and his comments about that issue are more honest than might be expected from a Freudian Marxist.
Fromm is often dismissed as an intellectual lightweight. I'm happy to report that Fromm shows greater caution and skepticism than many another Freudian Marxist; this trait is his chief virtue. Regarding the question of whether societies can be sick or disturbed in the same sense that individuals can be, and whether psychoanalysis could usefully diagnose such social aliments, Fromm observes, "I would not say that such an attempt to apply psychoanalysis to civilized society would be fanciful or doomed to fruitlessness. But it behooves us to be very careful, not to forget that after all we are dealing only with analogies, and that it is dangerous, not only with men but also with concepts, to drag them out of the region where they originated and have matured." Fromm's caution about such matters is not matched by skill at philosophical argument, however, as shown by his inadvertently amusing discussion of the unconscious. He avers that, "The term 'the unconscious' is actually a mystification...There is no such thing as the unconscious; there are only experiences of which we are aware, and others of which we are not aware, that is, of which we are unconscious. If I hate a man because I am afraid of him, and if I am aware of my hate but not of my fear, we may say that my hate is conscious and that my fear is unconscious; still, my fear does not lie in that mysterious place: 'the' unconscious." One answer might be, why not? Fromm neglects to explain how it makes sense to say that hate can lie in consciousness or why consciousness is less "mysterious" than the unconscious. By altering a few key words in Fromm's argument against "the unconscious", one could turn it into an argument against "consciousness", one that would be formally identical to Fromm's actual argument and equally convincing or unconvincing.
Fromm is often dismissed as an intellectual lightweight. I'm happy to report that Fromm shows greater caution and skepticism than many another Freudian Marxist; this trait is his chief virtue. Regarding the question of whether societies can be sick or disturbed in the same sense that individuals can be, and whether psychoanalysis could usefully diagnose such social aliments, Fromm observes, "I would not say that such an attempt to apply psychoanalysis to civilized society would be fanciful or doomed to fruitlessness. But it behooves us to be very careful, not to forget that after all we are dealing only with analogies, and that it is dangerous, not only with men but also with concepts, to drag them out of the region where they originated and have matured." Fromm's caution about such matters is not matched by skill at philosophical argument, however, as shown by his inadvertently amusing discussion of the unconscious. He avers that, "The term 'the unconscious' is actually a mystification...There is no such thing as the unconscious; there are only experiences of which we are aware, and others of which we are not aware, that is, of which we are unconscious. If I hate a man because I am afraid of him, and if I am aware of my hate but not of my fear, we may say that my hate is conscious and that my fear is unconscious; still, my fear does not lie in that mysterious place: 'the' unconscious." One answer might be, why not? Fromm neglects to explain how it makes sense to say that hate can lie in consciousness or why consciousness is less "mysterious" than the unconscious. By altering a few key words in Fromm's argument against "the unconscious", one could turn it into an argument against "consciousness", one that would be formally identical to Fromm's actual argument and equally convincing or unconvincing.
4 of 7 people found the following review helpful
inspiring, but ultimately contradictory
5 Mar 2010
Format:Paperback
Okay, I have to admit I think Fromm is very inspiring. He does do a great job of critically analyzing Freud, and shows how Marx's social analysis is vastly superior to Freud's(something which I definitely agree with). He goes to great lengths to show how we are chained to our illusions (be they religions or non-theistic ideologies or in the innumerable other ways so that we feel secure), and shows how we create ideologies out of the great ideas.
HOWEVER, it seems to me that he ideologizes towards the end of the book when he uncritically raves about Buddha, Jesus, the Old Testament (and of course Marx throught the entire book). This final contradiction which I found to be so obvious blew me away...how can someone come so far but then so blatantly and uncritically glorify (ideologize?) the 'Masters' and 'Masterworks', shouldn't he try to bring those down to earth by analyzing them and risk trying to break what may be our grandest illusions?:
1. the reincarnation theory of Buddha,
2. the denial we have of the incredible violence of the Old Testament,
3. or even more bravely possibly criticizing, or at least analyzing Jesus' life and ideas,
4. he could even try to take on Marx, by perhaps at least raising the great debate of Bakunin/Marx concerning Marx's possible authoritarianism and the idea of the 'dictatorship of the proletariat'...?
If he could critically analyze those four Masters, then I would have been significantly more impressed.
I suspect that he may be overly careful about offending and he may even be catering to populist sentiments. He wants the Marxists and the religious folk all in one go. The contradiction and the lack of depth is too much for me to say this is a work of genius (5 stars). 4 stars for trying (but ultimately failing)to legitimately bring us out of alienation and separateness.
HOWEVER, it seems to me that he ideologizes towards the end of the book when he uncritically raves about Buddha, Jesus, the Old Testament (and of course Marx throught the entire book). This final contradiction which I found to be so obvious blew me away...how can someone come so far but then so blatantly and uncritically glorify (ideologize?) the 'Masters' and 'Masterworks', shouldn't he try to bring those down to earth by analyzing them and risk trying to break what may be our grandest illusions?:
1. the reincarnation theory of Buddha,
2. the denial we have of the incredible violence of the Old Testament,
3. or even more bravely possibly criticizing, or at least analyzing Jesus' life and ideas,
4. he could even try to take on Marx, by perhaps at least raising the great debate of Bakunin/Marx concerning Marx's possible authoritarianism and the idea of the 'dictatorship of the proletariat'...?
If he could critically analyze those four Masters, then I would have been significantly more impressed.
I suspect that he may be overly careful about offending and he may even be catering to populist sentiments. He wants the Marxists and the religious folk all in one go. The contradiction and the lack of depth is too much for me to say this is a work of genius (5 stars). 4 stars for trying (but ultimately failing)to legitimately bring us out of alienation and separateness.
18 of 30 people found the following review helpful
A wise book by a truly productive and wonderful human being.
30 Jun 1999
Format:Hardcover
Get a copy of this book. It can change your life. A must read before you leave the face of this earth. An insightful and wise view of life, other people and the world you live in. Fromm is the best. Thank God he lived and wrote everything down for us, and all we have to do is learn from it. After Fromm, you have no excuses for not "getting it".
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
