The Life and Writings of a Radical Humanist

Abstract

Considering the comparative disregard of Fromm’s thought with that of other thinkers from the same period—particularly his Frankfurt School associates and contemporaries, Adorno, Marcuse, Benjamin,¹ and also slightly later thinkers such as R. D. Laing, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, etc.—there is particular benefit in engaging in an intellectual biographical account of Fromm at the outset. This is apt not only because of the general lack of awareness with regard to Fromm and his contribution to twentieth-century thought, but also by virtue of the impressive degree of continuity that characterizes his writings. An intellec- tual biographical sketch can therefore reveal something of the subtle shifts that took place in the development of Fromm’s thought and that contrib- ute to the radical humanist position that emerges from his body of work. Inclusion of a biographical sketch is of particular importance in the case of Fromm in that, as someone for whom human worth was measured by actions and deeds as much as by words, it will reveal something of the extent to which he attempted to enact his philosophy in his personal life, or at least reveal something of his preoccupation with humanism in both theoretical and practical terms. There is also a more utilitarian reason for opening with such a sketch: outlining Fromm’s intellectual biographical details, including a broadly chronological listing of his major publications, will help to situate the discussion of the later chapters in relation to his life, thereby freeing up these chapters for more substantive and unencumbered discussion.