The anatomy of human destructiveness

Fromm, Erich 1900-1980 (Author).

Summary: In a world in which violence in every form seems to be increasing, Erich Fromm has treated this problem with deep perception in the most original and far-reaching work of his brilliant career. Fromm asks: what is there in the conditions of human existence to lead man to the orgies of destruction and violence in which he has indulged? By drawing on the findings of anthropology, palaeontogy, psychology and history; and including striking character analyses of Stalin, Hitler and Himmler, he shows how the failure to use our capacity for love and reason results in the development of the reverse: we wish to control life absolutely, or to destroy it.

Record details

ISBN: 9780805016048 (alk. paper)
ISBN: 080501604X (alk. paper)
Physical Description: print
576 p. ; 21 cm.
Publisher: Greenwich, Connecticut : A Fawcett Crest Book, 1973.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 529-547) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

1. The Instinctivists -- 2. Environmentalists and behaviorists -- 3. Instinctivism and behaviorism -- 4. The psychoanalytic approach to the understanding of aggression -- 5. Neurophysiology -- 6. Animal behavior -- 7. Paleontology -- 8. Anthropology -- 9. Benign aggression -- 10. Malignant aggression: premises -- 11. Malignant aggression: cruelty and destructiveness -- 12. Malignant aggression: necrophilia -- 13. Malignant aggression: Adolf Hitler, a clinical case of necrophilia -- Epilogue: on the ambiguety of hope -- Appendix: Freud's theory of aggressiveness and destructiveness.